Book Review: THE TAKING by Dean Koontz. *** and a 1\2 out of *****

From the late 1990s onwards, the work of Dean Koontz took on a somewhat jarring tone. Novels like Sole Survivor (1997), One Door Away from Heaven (2001), Odd Thomas (2003), and Innocence (2013), were all repetitive thrillers about lost characters in search of redemption, or innocent characters hunted down by irredeemably evil figures, with most of the stories having a religious undercurrent that could be pretty off-putting. Some of these books worked. Many of them didn’t.

Since The Taking, originally published in 2004, seemed more of the same, I dove into it with low expectations, giving it a go mainly because, in an interview with Koontz that I came across recently, he mentioned that he considered The Taking one of his all-time favorite books.

The Taking revolves around Molly and Niel Sloan, who wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of pouring rain, a cataclysmic downpour that threatens to drown their small California town. Quickly, the young couple senses that something tremendous is going on, maybe even the end of the world as they know it. So they venture out of the safety of their home, and seek their neighbors, feeling the need to band together against this otherworldly threat. But they soon come to realize that their neighbors are not what they seem, and that what’s going on surpasses their worst nightmares.

The Taking is Koontz going full-throttle, for better or worse. The book is immensely readable, a true page-turner, and the main character, Molly, is a likable, vulnerable, but innately strong character. But Koontz’s penchant for heavy-handed prose and preachiness also shine through, and he seems more interested in atmosphere and creating a sense of cosmic dread, than in structuring a satisfying plot.

And that’s the thing about The Taking: it’s virtually plotless. The whole story revolves around a concept, not a plot, of seemingly omnipotent and malevolent beings taking over the world, and how Molly and her husband deal with that. There are some interesting sidetracks, and the dialogue is crisp throughout, but the book feels like a short story or a novella expanded into a novel.

That isn’t necessarily a bad thing. And The Taking isn’t a bad book. In fact, it’s a very good one, and, surprisingly, turns out to be one of Koontz’s best, mainly because of Koontz’s ability to hone in on his obsession and fascination with the concept of pure evil, and how good people confront it.

The Taking is a truly disturbing descent into a hellish situation, into a world subverted by evil and paranoia. And even if the scale of the story isn’t as epic as it pretends to be, the imagery, the philosophical implications, and the final revelation make this a haunting metaphysical thriller that leaves a lasting impression and plenty of food for thought.

Recommended for fans of the author and for newcomers alike.

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Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2023.

Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast