The Key to Midnight

Customer Reviews:

A Great Mystery!.......2007-07-10

Joanna and Alex are a great couple of characters. They spring to life! The backdrop of Japan, with Joanna being a club owner makes for a very dark, mysterious, but not quite seedy existence. The story is suspenseful and the resolution is not one you're going to see coming.

Edge of your seat suspense with a very interesting mystery. I've been known to skip a page or two here and there. I don't recall skipping any part of this book. I remember quite vividly hanging on every word!

New to Koontz.......2007-04-09

I have only been reading DK for about three year now. So I am more familiar with his newer work. I have been trying to read the old stuff and this was pretty good. I thought the twists and turns were almost hard to keep track of, but for the most part "classic" Koontz.

One of Koontz' Best Early Novels.......2007-01-24

Back in the 1970s and early 1980s, Dean Koontz was a struggling writer of paperback novels. In order to make a living, he wrote under a variety of names that was not his own. Koontz's most successful pseudonym was "Leigh Nichols" -- under this name, he wrote five bestselling romantic suspense novels. THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT is the first of these books, and was re-released in the 1990s under Koontz' own name.

THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT is a highly enjoyable romantic thriller. It mainly takes place in Japan, and Koontz does a great job of describing Japanese culture, which he obviously has a lot of respect for. The two main characters are likable and complex, and the plot is fast-paced and interesting.

This is not a horror novel at all, although there are a few graphic violent and sexual scenes. Still, there is very little in this book that is truly gross or disturbing.

THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT isn't a masterpiece, but it's a fine entertainment by one the best genre writers working today. This book is easy to read and is a nice way to spend an afternoon. If you're looking for classic Koontz, though, my advice is to try one of his later novels, such as WATCHERS, LIGHTNING, INTENSITY or ODD THOMAS.

Great ending but..............2005-10-13

This is an interesting book becouse it shows Koontz going off in a different direction. As he states in the books Afterword, this is his only novel in the Acion/suspence/romance genre. Actually I thought it was trying to be in the same genre of most of James Patterson books. The probem I found with the book was that it developed too slowly. We have the same unanswered questions on page 360 as we had in the beginning. It's not until the book has as few as 50 pages left does it really get going. Descriptions of mundane activities is fine. It ads color and depth to the charactors but I thought it was excessive here. They got out of the cab, went to the museaum, checked into a hotel, made a phone call, blah blah blah. Thankfully the whole story gets turned around and it reallly has a stunning conclusion, but it was hard for me to get there. Interesting read, but I found books like Intensity, and Sole Survivor much more interesting.

Not the usual Koontz.......2004-07-11

This book is more of a detective mystery than the usual horror book you see from Dean Koontz. As far as writing from Dean Koontz, I place it second only to Watchers although it is very different.

Koontz: Three Complete Novels: Cold Fire; Hideaway; The Key to Midnight

Average customer rating:

a great buy for more than one reason!
It does not get better than this...
master of mystery keeps the hits coming again and again

Koontz: Three Complete Novels: Cold Fire; Hideaway; The Key to Midnight
Dean Koontz
Manufacturer: Putnam Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

General | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0399146261
Release Date: 2000-08-24

Book Description

"Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but a literary juggler." --The Times (London). In this compilation of chilling tales, he continues to captivate with complex characters and riveting suspense. A psychic and a reporter do battle with an unseen enemy in Cold Fire, while Hideaway explores the meaning of death and the transcendent power of love. In The Key to Midnight, published in hardcover for the first time, a woman awakes to find that her identity and memories have been manufactured for her.

Customer Reviews:

a great buy for more than one reason!.......2007-05-19

i am deployed to iraq and have a great love for reading. the biggest problem with this is how fast i read. i might read a book every 2 days or so and i dont always have enough foresight to bring more than one book along. with the three novels in one, if i finish a book while im out, i have two more right there with me. i recomend you buy this for the convenience, quality of writing and the decorative hardcover makes a nice addition to any library.

It does not get better than this..........2006-11-03

Koontz X 3...all in one book. And, at this low price. He is one of the most prolific writers of our time. His characters constant battles between the forces of good and evil hijacks you into staying up into the wee hours of the morning. It is hard to put any of his creations down. I just can't wait for the third installment of Frankenstein! Keep up the great stories Mr. Koontz.

But, as I said prior, three novels...one book...low price...Dean Koontz...it does not get better than this!

master of mystery keeps the hits coming again and again.......2001-04-06

I have read many of Dean Koontz's books, my favorites being "Fear Nothing," "Sole Survivor," and "Strangers".I really enjoy how his hits are being published in sets of three now, and I recomend that more readers will start exploring these new sets.(except for those people who start reading and can't finish till its done, because they wouldn't be able to sleep for a while reading all three stories in a row) My favorite story out of this set would have to be "HideAway," for I, like many people, have a interest in death and the power of love. The other titles, "Cold Fire" and "Key to Midnight", are intense and extremely "well discriptive", as are all of his books. I would recomend this "set" to any reader who has read at least a book or two by Koontz, for the newly-reads will need to have some experiance in intense/mystery. Well, i hope that this advice served you all well, and i wish the best for all of you Koontz readers, new and experianced!

Average customer rating:

The Key to Midnight
Leigh Nichols
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GQMSNU

Average customer rating:

THE KEY TO MIDNIGHT

Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000GSIYS6

Average customer rating:

The Key to Midnight

Manufacturer: Dark Harvest
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HKA0LC

Average customer rating:

The Key to Midnight
Leigh Nichols
Manufacturer: Pocket Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000J1O060

Average customer rating:

Key to Midnight 36fl
Dean R. Koontz
Manufacturer: Berkley Publishing Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

Psychological & Suspense | Thrillers | Mystery & Thrillers | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0425147525

Average customer rating:

Keys to Midnight Uk
Dean R. Koontz
Manufacturer: Trafalgar Square
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Average customer rating:

The Midnight Challenge (Literary Land)

Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Readers | Words & Language | Reference | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0582500737

Nora Roberts - Random Selections (Key of Light, Key of Knowledge, Chesapeake Blue, Brazen Virtue, Sacred Sins,The Villa, Midnight Bayou, Rivers End, Carolina Moon, Hot Ice, Sanctuary. Face the Fire, Gabriel's Angel,)

Average customer rating:

Nora Roberts - Random Selections (Key of Light, Key of Knowledge, Chesapeake Blue, Brazen Virtue, Sacred Sins,The Villa, Midnight Bayou, Rivers End, Carolina Moon, Hot Ice, Sanctuary. Face the Fire, Gabriel's Angel,)
Nora Roberts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000R185YU

Amazon.com

The saga of Easy Rawlins that began in 1990 with Devil in a Blue Dress, continues in A Little Yellow Dog. Working as a janitor at Sojourner Truth Junior High School, Easy is asked to care for a small dog owned by the attractive Idabell Holland, a teacher at the school. When Idabell's husband is murdered, Easy finds himself mixed up with a gang of criminals engaged in looting Los Angeles schools and smuggling heroin from France. Idabell and Easy fall into a sexual liaison, but in the wake of it, Idabell is found stabbed to death in the passenger seat of Easy's car. While at first Easy thinks the murders are a "simple falling out of thieves," a surprising twist on the level of "The Maltese Falcon" reveals the truth.

Book Description

November 1963: Easy's settled into a steady gig as a school custodian. It's a quiet, simple existence -- but a few moments of ecstasy with a sexy teacher will change all that. When the lady vanishes, Easy's stuck with a couple of corpses, the cops on his back, and a little yellow dog who's nobody's best friend. With his not-so-simple past snapping at his heels, and with enemies old and new looking to get even, Easy must kiss his careful little life good-bye -- and step closer to the edge....

Customer Reviews:

Potent, original, capable, sexually puerile .......2006-02-05

Having been knocked a bit sideways by RL's Dream I thought I'd give something else of his a go.

This guy can write. Particularly in the final third as the story builds the intensity is gripping. He capably paints a cast of gritty urban characters, and hurls his protagonist `Easy' through Marlowesque investigation, dangerous engagement with cops and crims, beating and final climactic bloody resolution (in LA, no less). Easy is a good balance of resource and vulnerability and has his virtues. In many ways this is a better than average read. Moreover there are distinctively African-American insights.

Where I hesitated to rate this any higher than a B came from the odd sexual morality. This review in a sense overstates it because it's only a minor aspect of an otherwise solid and occasionally striking book. And I'm really unsure (as an Australian Caucasian) just how to relate this to the significance of the Afro-American context. Is `Easy' meant to be a troubled individual, or is he in some ways meant to be racially emblematic? It feels like Mosley deliberately underpins the book with Negro values that, perhaps, he's happy to have at odds with my own. Or perhaps he wasn't even vaguely trying to write for an audience like me.

OK, what I'm talking about is the way that Easy - in so many ways an in control, mature, far-sighted, sharp, cool guy - seems to be consciously presented as a dumb animal in the opening scene - setting the book up more as soft-porn than a sophisticated crime novel. Easy himself is aware of the incongruity:

I'd been on good behavior for more than two years. I was out of the streets and had my job with the Los Angeles Board of Education. I took care of my kids, cashed my paychecks, stayed away from liquor.
I steered clear of the wrong women too.
Maybe I'd been a little too good. I felt an urge in that classroom, but I wasn't going to make the move.
That's when Idabell Turner kissed me.
Two years of up early and off to work dissolved like a sugar cube under the tap.

It's not merely titillation - but it is, make no mistake, titillation - and even if there's more going on, starting like that is very much a cynical use of voyeurism to get people in early. It just seems such an immature (or different?) view of sex.

Is it just stepping up the flirtations of a Chandler novel: in Farewell, My Lovely Marlowe fairly happily allows himself to play around in the seductive charms of a dangerous woman - is this simply Mosley kicking it up to 90s flirtation (i.e. from a little `foolin' around' to all the romance of instant rutting on a desk)? But I wonder if there's more - if it's simply that teenage thing of presenting a hero who has to show, "Hey, I'm in control, but I'm no prude." He's not writing James Bond farce here, so it's not excusable as daydream absurdity.

I'm skating on very thin ice here - I've got nothing to go on but the pap of the media's presentation of black America (we get plenty of US TV over here) - but is Mosley celebrating this sexual beast as part and parcel of the dormant avatar of the semi-mythical powers of the `streets' - presented here much as a dangerous magical power that can be drawn on but will exact a price. Is he deliberately suggesting that his Negro hero, as a Negro, has latent and at times uncontrollable urges for sex, risk and violence? For a white writer to hint at such animal tendencies would be, I suspect rightly, condemned as libellous racial stereotyping. Again, is this, rather, just something in `Easy', and never meant to be generalised? Sure it's the theme of a million `street' style T & A rap bluster music videos, but I thought Mosley would be somewhere beyond their openly stupid misogyny.

I suspect that Mosley would simply realise that whatever he was saying, I just didn't `get it'.

Whatever, this is one of those well written books that I just can't recommend as highly because I find something too offensive. I mean, it's not as offensive as, say, Fry's The Hippopotamus or Golsdworthy's Wish (again, both gifted writers), but I can't really just ignore the trivialisation of sex; I would have been able to thoroughly enjoy this aspect of the book if instead of sex he had have had Easy merely kiss Idabell (or, later, Bonnie). Moreover, handled well this would have been at least as powerful (and a world less gratuitous). If Easy had have, for example, found himself out of the blue passionately kissing a woman he'd hardly spoken to, when he'd had no other intimate relationship for years and was unsure about commitment, it would be just as valid to continue immediately afterwards:

When I leaned over to kiss her forehead I experienced a feeling that I'd known many times in my life. It was that feeling of elation before I embarked on some kind of risky venture. In the old days it was about the police and criminals and the streets of Watts and South Central LA.
But not this time. Not again. I swallowed hard and gritted my teeth with enough force to crack stone. I'd slipped but I would not fall.

A kiss can mean a lot. It can open up a whole new potentiality in a relationship - and be a risk that a cautious mind might regret having taken. It can also maintain an attractive innocence. I will probably be dismissed by some as being too childish in response to an adult novel. But for Mosley to treat sex like this feels juvenile to me: isn't he old enough to have worked out that commitment and relationship and sex have a bit more going on than this puerile opening daydream?

Like I said, I don't suppose I was the audience he was aiming at with that.

just like the other guy said..."too convoluted and unlikely.".......2005-06-29

"call me fool."

that's what easy rawlins says to us when idabell makes things very informal between them. that is the answer to all the questions you might have about this muddled and somewhat confusingly stupid story about a woman who could have made everything right if not for her love for a little yellow dog. when you read the book and wonder why easy did this and why he did that and how come he didn't do this smart thing or that smart thing, just remember what he tells us early on in the beginning. "call me fool."

two shady twins are dead, one of them found on the grounds of the school easy works for. through some rather unbelievable circumstances, other than because easy is black and the cops are mostly white, easy is a suspect for at least one of the killings. instead of telling the police the truth, which isn't always smart when you're black in the 60's, he lies to them. over and over again. instead of playing dumb, he lies. that's not the smartest move either. so let's just keep going with this story, calling him "fool." this "easy" fable of double homicide turns into something frighteningly worse as the gangsters get meaner, the whites get more evil and the blacks tell worse lies. when idabell asks easy to temporarily care for her "little yellow dog," everything falls to pieces and his nice little model citizen charade goes to crap, literally. before long, easy is about to get killed, about to lose his job, about to go to jail and about to clean up dog feces.

the dog, however, is very funny. he hates easy so much it's crazy. when easy is being beaten up by a bad guy, he sees the dog in the distance and waits for the dog to help out so that he could get a breather. but when the dog attacks him instead, a scene about sheer brutality becomes pretty funny.

with some backstory about several, and i do mean several, key characters, we're off and running with this yellow dog tale that doesn't disappoint nor does it relieve. it's just there. there for the moment, there for the heck of it, but there. in classic mosley fashion, we get a whirlwind of characters that we've mostly forgotten about by page one-hundred, but they return by page two-hundred as important links in this whodunnit chain. you really have to be a fan of these rawlins mysteries to keep up with mainstays like mofass, jewelle, jesus, feather, mouse and jackson. for the most part, these characters never really go away, so as long as you are familiar with the books, the introductions of new characters who are mostly just along for this single story shouldn't be much of a problem. well, usually it's not, but the convoluted plot kept spinning me into a weird place where i didn't know my right from my left, let alone my ups from my downs. not one of walter's better books.

i miss easy the drunk from earlier novels. easy the womanizer, the street runner. now, his words are pretty well-written to compensate for his life changes, but i miss the old easy. he was much more exciting. fool or no, he was right about one thing from the very first page - it was the dog's fault.

Too Convoluted & Unlikely.......2004-11-05

The fifth book in Mosley's Easy Rawlins series finds Easy in 1963, working as a maintenance supervisor for a public school in the Watts area of Los Angeles. For two years he's been living clean, having given up the "street life" and heavy drinking to work a straight job, while taking care of the two children he's taken in. Much is made of his desire to live a low-key, normal life, and yet... when a corpse turns up on the grounds of his school, he instinctively lies to the police, when telling the truth would likely have kept him out of the whole mess. Granted, it's well established in the series that the police are rarely (if ever) to be trusted, and there's always been a tension in the series about the allure of the "street life", however, when balanced against the moaning and groaning about wanting to lead a quiet life and raise his kids, it just doesn't make sense.

Instead, Easy lies--not to protect himself--but on behalf of a beautiful teacher he has a ten minute hookup with and who happens to be the corpse's wife, and even then, there's no clear reason for the lie. Soon, a second corpse shows up, and the lead investigator intuits that Easy's hiding something. Given several chances to come clean, Easy instead opts to plunge back into the streets to try and solve the multiple murders himself, which of course only puts him in a more compromising situation. Yes, it's made abundantly clear why a black man would not want to get involved with the police no matter what in 1963 (and not much has changed in 40 years), but wouldn't the savvy Easy of the previous four books would surely recognize that in this instance, simply being truthful is more likely to placate the police than his surly evasiveness?

From the start, the plot is wildly convoluted, and it grows ever more improbable. Almost as improbable as the transformation of his hell-raising, crazy friend Mouse, who at this point has also settled down with a wife and kid. Yes, one expects characters to transform over the course of a series, but in Mouse's case, the transformation is so utterly at odds with his stated nature that it seems entirely unreasonable. In any event, Easy runs back and forth all over LA, trying to solve the murders for the police he's trying to stay one step ahead of. The pieces of the puzzle are very complicated, and include a series of thefts from the school district, a herion smuggling operation, and of course, a few lovely ladies. The one thing that really keeps the book interesting is Mosley's vivid supporting characters, from low-lifes to bureaucrats, white, Hispanic, Asian, they all come alive on the page. Ultimately, though, one of the weaker books in the series.

A woman, a murder, a dog.......2004-06-25

In Mosley's fifth Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins mystery it's 1963 and streetwise, brooding Easy has established a "straight" life for himself and his two adopted street children. The supervising custodian of a school in Watts, Los Angeles, he arrives for work to find Mrs. Turner, a young, lovely teacher, distraught because her husband wants to kill her dog.

A couple hours later there's a dead man in the school yard, the teacher has disappeared and Easy's stuck with a yapping mutt while the police fit him - a black man with a shady past and an attitude - for murder.

Rawlins is a man of few words, keeping most of his dialogue interior. Mrs. Turner is beautiful, alluring, available.

"'Call me Idabell,' she said.
Call me fool."

Easy has his weaknesses but understands them. He's proud and as the bodies mount up, he evades the cops and pursues his own investigation - as much for the excitement as to save his own skin.

Mosley's style is all personality - strong, eloquent, streetwise, stubborn, vivid and determined. Easy tracks his quarry with savvy and cynicism - if he doesn't get the murderer, the cops will get him.

Mosley's latest is a tightly plotted, fast-paced and thoughtful read. Pure pleasure.

But why is he... I had to keep asking.......2004-05-23

Here's a guy who is just trying to keep his life clean, after having a questionable past. He is obviously not involved in this killing, yet he continuously puts himself in situations that will get him linked to the case.

All he had to do was tell the truth from the start. Someone who had such a sordid past, and had since managed to straighten out their life, would just keep their eyes down, and be as honest with the police as possible.

At the begining, he keeps repeating that he doesn't want the police to get too interested in him, since he didn't get his job by honest means, and he doesn't want them to find out.

Turns out, he got his job the same way 85% of Americans get their job; A friend put in a good word for him. How he got this new friend was a bit unscrupulous, but their is no amount of investigating that would have uncovered that.

Even so, if he didn't want the police getting too interested, why did he keep putting himself in places and with people that were linked with the crimes.

The whole plot was just way too ridiculous for me to let go and enjoy the story, which, by the way, I thought was written with too choppy a style of writting anyway.

BTW, has anyone else noticed, at least three of the five star ratings are identicle to the word?

Average customer rating:

Martyrs - They're not just Cannon-fodder anymore

Hunter Book: Martyr (Hunter Book)
Mike Lee , and Philippe Boulle
Manufacturer: White Wolf Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Role Playing & Fantasy | Puzzles & Games | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1565047451

Customer Reviews:

Martyrs - They're not just Cannon-fodder anymore.......2004-06-15

I like Martyrs, they are just so willing to slow down a big baddie so I can get a better shot. Once again White Wolf expands on the basic character from the core book and lets your Martyr in the group play better. I still like to have them get the cr@p beaten out of so I can kill the monsters though.

Book Description

Bladder cancer is one of the most common cancers--and one of the least discussed. But bladder cancer, like other kinds of cancer, will greatly change the life of anyone who has the disease. Learning to live with the challenge of bladder cancer means getting good medical care, building a support group, and gathering as much information as you can.

In The Guide to Living with Bladder Cancer, Dr. Mark Schoenberg and the faculty and staff of the Johns Hopkins Genitourinary Oncology Group provide this much-needed information, telling you what you need to know about symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment. The book also includes valuable insights into patients' experiences and ways of coping, with statements from patients providing a personal perspective. Fully illustrated, The Guide to Living with Bladder Cancer helps make medical information accessible.With information and advice from leading doctors in the field, The Guide to Living with Bladder Cancer will be the bible for patients and families facing difficult and important decisions.

Customer Reviews:

This is a superb book on a dreadful disease, .......2006-05-06

written by a very talented and capable doctor. Johns Hopkins is an outstanding facility, filled with top-level physicians.
Dr. Schoenberg rises to the top! He is straight forward and chillingly honest with his patients. You can believe what he says when the patient is under great pressure to make a decision about a very serious condition and surgery. This book is most helpful in helping a patient make a wise decision. I have not found another book that spells it out and tells it as it is. I own two copies and am constantly allowing friends to borrow one while they make this terrible discovery and decision on their life and future. Highly recommend it.

It's good to know you're not alone!.......2003-10-18

Bladder cancer is a very common form of cancer. It is a messy disease and painful. Despite its frequent occurrence, there is little public discussion of its symptoms or treatments. So until I became a bladder cancer patient, I knew essentially nothing about this disease.

But bladder cancer patients need good information fast. There are critical treatment decisions to be made right after the initial diagnosis, and the choices one makes will affect one's future quality of life to a major degree. Discussions with one's urologist are helpful, but there is much to learn if one wishes to make informed decisions.

Mark Schoenberg's book provides the essential facts to help bladder cancer patients make those critical decisions. I know: it helped me.

Extremly well written.......2002-12-09

Written in plain English, so you can understand everything that's necessary about bladder cancer. No need to sit with a medical dictionairy to explain terms, since everything is put in plain words. I have bladder cancer and this book has put the disease in perspective for me. I would advise anyone that wants to understand this form of cancer to read it now.

Tells what is needed to know about symptoms.......2001-07-06

Bladder cancer is the fourth most common cancer and the least discussed: Dr. Mark Schoenberg's Guide To Living With Bladder Cancer tells what is needed to know about symptoms, diagnosis and treatment. Chapters move from the basic initial signs of such cancer to treatment options and bladder preservation therapy. A quite comprehensive portrait evolves.

Very informative.......2001-06-21

This is the only book about bladder cancer that I found for the general public. It's very informative and well written with a general optimistic tone. It was very helpful to understand the diagnosis and treatment options.

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