Fear Nothing

Chris Snow suffers from xeroderma pigmentosum, aka XP, a condition which makes him vulnerable to skin cancer and eye problems. He cannot be in the light, especially the sun, cannot go out during the day. You might say he is allergic to the light. He is a night person. His father is dying from cancer and his mother was killed in a auto accident two years ago. He keeps his house dark, lights with candles. When he goes over to the few friends he has, they dim their lights. It is by candlelight in the hospial that he visits his father just before his death. Later he wants to bury a picture of his mother with his dad and in the morgue he happens on a couple guys switching his dad's body before it was supposed to go to the funeral home. Thus begins an adventure that is typical Dean Koontz, with Koontzian characters that are sometimes bizarre, sometimes crazy, sometimes shady and always very real. So real that you feel like you are running from the bad guys right along with Chris and his friends. And then there is Chris' highly intelligent dog Orsen and a whole passel (troup actually) of very bad monkees. How does Dean Koontz do it, write books as good as this?

Christopher Snow, called Snowman by his friends, is a twenty-eight-year-old writer who is doomed to a life of darkness because of a rare genetic disorder called xeroderma pigmentosum, or XP for short. He's normal in every way except that exposure to ultraviolet rays - even from fluorescent lights - could be fatal.His father has just died. But when the hospital turns the body over to the mortuary, it's switched for one of a hitchhiker, who was a victim of a brutal beating that ended with someone plucking out his eyes. Snowman sets out to discover why and finds himself involved in a mystifying tale that involves all of Moonlight Bay, a quaint California coastal town.Snowman goes to the mortuary but is discovered. There is a chase that wind up with Snowman following an intelligent cat into an underground drainage catacomb that's full of hundreds of animal and human skulls.Snowman eases himself back into the darkness and goes home, where he gets his faithful dog Orson and heads out in search of answers. There are it seems, animals in town who are a whole heck of a lot smarter than they have a right to be. Some good, a troop of monkeys apparently not so good. In due course he finds out that his quiet little town has been a hotbed of DNA research and that his mother was involved in some sneaky governmental work that involved intra-species gene therapy. And he learns a little something about his dog.This book is typical Koontz, a thriller as well as a scary read that grabs you from the first page and pulls you right into the story. I loved the characters, Christopher, Bobby, Sasha, but most of all I loved Orson the dog and I believe you will too.

I was a big fan of Dean Koontz throughout most of my teen years up till now. I first picked up a book of his when I was suspended from school for a few days and I finished that book within that time frame. The book I picked up was Dark Rivers of the Heart and it was a gripping book full of suspense and anxiety. From then on, I had read every single one of his books, loving most of them. His novels just were better suited for me, unlike Stephen Kings erratic pace and massive storyline crossovers, Dean Koontz novels followed a straight line, most of the time anyway. I was waiting patiently when I heard about Fear Nothing coming out on paperback. I bought it the day it came out and read it in 3 days. The story was just awesome and the characters were easy to like and love. As any Dean Koontz fan knows, he loves dogs and they often become a bigger character then most people would expect. Orson, the black lab in Fear Nothing was probably the main character behind only Chris Snow. Chris's medical condition was also a unique one to me, I had never heard of it before this book (well Michael Jackson doesn't count) and it added another form of desperation for the heroes of this saga.Another interesting thing about this book was that it was the beginning of the Apocalypse. The enemy was an unseen one, the worst kind that you could imagine. A threat of nuclear bombs and meteors are always going to be there, but what about something that changed you from within and you didn't even know it? It was a scary thought to behold and Koontz mastered the compulsive anxiety of the characters. The pace is good, the story is good, the characters are good, and it even has a part II called Seize the Night. This is still one of my personal favorites and it is a compelling read. If you haven't read it yet, I suggest you do, it's a great book.5 out of 5.

One of my favorite authors, he captures the book and maks it feel as if your there. I was shaking as I turned and flipped through each page. The book shows you what things look like from the dark side. And what happens when an experiment goes extremely wrong.... The ending is wonderfull! I have never looked at monkeys the same way either... This book was far better than any of King's work that I've read! - Mindy, age 12

This is a great book, and most people say it's bad because "it ends just about where it gets good", but no, the second book is out already, "Seize the Night" and "False Memory" is coming out soon. Seize the Night is Much Much better than Fear Nothing, and I thought Fear Nothing was amazing when I read it, Koontz' best, next to Lightning and Sole Survivor, atleast.