Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz is a book about darkness and those who roam in it. The main character is Christopher Snow. He has light sensitivity. He can only move about the town of Moonlight Bay at night, in the darkness. Fear Nothing is the first book in the Moonlight Bay series. The story is Christopher Snow’s father dies but his body is switched with another. Christopher sets out on a journey to find out why. The story was frustrating. People would call Christopher up, talk in code, and say it is life or death. But, they would then talk around the issue. All the talk is pointless because his father buried the secrets anyway. The beginning of the book is the best where Christoper explains his life and deals with his father’s death. This book was a reread for me. I rated it low. When I read the first chapters, I was very impressed. I thought I got it wrong years ago, then it quickly unraveled. Koontz has a chase scene that goes on for too long. The character even doubles back. I like the way it ended, but it is too long. Koontz often includes either a dog or cat in every story. He doubles down by including both. I do like how they both contribute to the story. I think the story would have worked better if the story had dual narrators Chris and his dog Orson. The novel’s pace is slow. Still, there’s too much filler. We get a background of the former owner of his best friend’s house, which was completely unnecessary. Koontz gives a full breakdown of all the trees in the forest and plants at the funeral home. The book does have two terrifying scenes the ending and an explanation/confession from the police that shook my bones. The book is pretty light until the police tell what is happening in the town and his thoughts. The ending was exciting and action-packed. Fear Nothing was published on January 1, 1997.

Plot Summary: Christopher Snow wakes up dreading a call that his father has passed away. He gets a call telling him it is the end to get to the hospital to have his final goodbye. Christopher has an unusual ailment that makes him sensitive to light. Sunlight can be deadly, and an overhead fluorescent light can burn him. So, Christopher prefers the darkness. He gets a ride to the hospital in a special tinted car that his girlfriend a late-night disc jockey drives. He makes it to the hospital to say his final goodbyes. The last piece of wisdom that his father shares are to “Fear Nothing”. Christopher stays in the room as orderlies come and take the body away. Then, he remembers he forgot to leave a picture of his dad and mother together. This was before her death with his father as he gets cremated. Christopher heads down and witnesses his dad’s corpse getting switched to a dead body with no eyes. In his attempts to stay hidden, he leaves his father’s suitcase and the man switching the bodies takes it. Chris waits until darkness. He goes to the funeral home where, as a kid, he used to watch the bodies get cremated. He watches as the body with no eyes gets cremated, by the funeral home director. He knocks on the door trying to see his father for the last time, seeing what the director will say. He says, that his dad has already been cremated. He sneaks around back to the window to see the director agitated but continues with the cremation. Christopher makes a noise near the window. As he runs away, a whole squad armed with helmets and flashlights pursues him. It is not just the funeral director. He escapes and calls the police. Before he can meet up, he sees the man who switched the body talking to the police chief. Christopher knows he must solve this mystery on his own or with his smart dog Orson.

What I Liked: The moments of terror were all psychological and were very effective at making me squirm. I think the overall story was a good idea but not executed the best. The beginning of this novel is so good. I liked the thematic work that was done at the beginning and very clever prose about death. The ailment of Christopher Snow only allowed in darkness works well for the story. Fear Nothing is a great title and I like how it was worked into the story. I did like the flashback of Chris and Bobby spying on the funeral director cremating as kids. Bobby was an interesting character I liked when he would joke around with Christopher. I liked Orson the dog When Christopher would guess what he was saying. Since this book was a reread, I listened to most of it on audiobook. Keith Szarabajka did a great job with all the characters, especially Orson the dog.

What I Disliked: The plot made no sense. The bad guys owned the town and have gotten rid of the body whenever they pleased. They didn’t need Christopher’s dad’s body at all. The pace was pretty slow. The book had two very annoying chase scenes. Both of the chase scenes went on too long. Chris should have seen the pack creatures. They had escaped years ago and, like him, can only come out at night. We missed an opportunity by not seeing a videotape or hearing a recording of Chris’s mother. That would have helped shed light on a lot of the information. The bad guys were lame and messed with people more than went for the kill.

Recommendation: Fear Nothing is a good title because you will pretty much fear nothing from this story. The beginning is good but goes downhill and never rises from it. I do not recommend you read this book. There’s a good story in there somewhere but in this instance, Koontz did not tell it.

Rating: I rated Fear Nothing by Dean Koontz 2.2 out of 5 stars