“Maybe there’s nothing impossible tonight. We’re down the hole to Wonderland, and no White Rabbit to guide us.”

“If I remember correctly, the White Rabbit was an unreliable guide, anyway.”

BOOK COVER BLURB

On the morning that marks the end of the world they have known, Molly and Neil Sloan awaken to the drumbeat of rain on their roof. A luminous silvery downpour is drenching their small-Californian mountain town. It had haunted their sleep, invaded their dreams, and now, in the moody purple dawn, the young couple cannot shake the sense of something terribly wrong.

As the hours pass, Molly and Neil listen to disturbing news of extreme weather phenomenon across the globe. By nightfall, their little town loses all contact with the outside world. A thick fog transforms the once-friendly village into a ghostly labyrinth. And soon the Sloans and their neighbors will be forced to draw on reserves of courage and humanity they never knew they had. For within the misty gloom they will encounter something that reveals in a shattering instant what is happening to their world…something that is hunting them with ruthless efficiency.

 

PLOT

The story starts with the sentence “A few minutes past one o’clock in the morning, a hard rain fell without warning.” The novel takes off where a small mountain town experiences heavy rain and our main character, Molly gets up. She is a writer and an insomniac, so she decides to complete her manuscript. She sees some activity on the patio and finds 2 dozen of coyotes. They act very friendly. And it seems like they are afraid of something. These mysterious activities continue until Neil gets up and they see the news on the TV. There are more cases of this extreme luminous downpour. Some say it tastes like vanilla and orange extract.

The story continues and tells us the journey of one day in the lives of the Sloans and what mysterious thing happens. I’m trying not to include any spoilers just for the fear of letting the suspense out.

“Discretion seemed advisable even during an apocalypse.”

 

CHARACTERS

The character Molly is a writer and so was her mother. She has wrote 4 books and she is struggling to create a name for herself. She wants to find out if she’s really good in what she does or is she send for some different purpose.

Neil is the perfect husband for Molly. He acts as a support system for Molly at all times and knows what to say to her.

There are many other characters, and most of them children, all of which do some creepy stuff.

“The past and the future are equally unredeemable, and the only time of consequence is this moment, now, where the life occurs, where choices are made for reasons practical and philosophical.”

 

WRITING STYLE

This is the writing style that I love in horror/suspense books. This is the best horror book I’ve read and I think I like it more than Stephen King’s writing. No offence but I’ve only read only one of his short stories book but the writing style of Koontz was better, in my opinion.

The book started with some mind chilling incidents and left me wanting for more. Every chapter ended with something unreal and made me hang thinking what will happen. Koontz definitely knows how to tickle the scare nerve and crisp action on every page, something to look forward to. But there were many scary references from E.S. Elliot like “When you’re alone in the middle of the night and you wake in a sweat and a hell of a fright…”

“We make our own fate, even if it’s figured in the drift of stars.”

 

MY REVIEW

You’ll like it if-

• You like suspense novels
• You are okay with imagining some creepy things
• You want a really short read. (I completed it in a day)
• You’re a fan of E.S. Elliot

You’ll not like it if-

• You don’t like suspense novels
• You don’t like short novels and want to read more
• If you’re uncomfortable with some gory and violent scenes
• If you don’t know E.S. Elliot you’ll not get the references from his work

I loved this book and it made me want to read more of Dean Koontz works.

I’ll give a 5/5.

Until then…

Happy Reading!

You can find The Taking here.

 

 

Guest review contributed by Vrushali. Vrushali reads books like people eat food. As an aspiring writer, she enjoys examining the form of writing when she reviews books.