The Taking

Title: The Taking

Author: Dean Koontz

Published in: 2004

Date read: 1st March 2011

Score: 4/5

Genre: Science fiction, Horror, Psychological, Thriller

Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"The Taking" by Dean Koontz, published in 2004, is a gripping and apocalyptic thriller that plunges humanity into an alien invasion from a uniquely unsettling perspective. It blends science fiction with horror, exploring themes of faith, survival, and the unknown.

The story begins on a seemingly ordinary rainy night for Molly and Neil Sloan, a couple living in rural California. However, the rain quickly turns bizarre, composed of a viscous, foul-smelling substance that seems to dissolve everything it touches. This is just the beginning of a series of inexplicable and terrifying global phenomena.

Across the world, the skies are filled with strange, silent lights; weather patterns become chaotic and destructive; and strange, bio-luminescent organisms appear, rapidly evolving and consuming everything in their path. Communication systems fail, society rapidly descends into chaos, and it becomes terrifyingly clear that humanity is facing an unseen, overwhelming threat.

Molly, a spiritual woman, experiences vivid, prophetic dreams that hint at an impending apocalypse and a divine intervention. Neil, a more pragmatic individual, initially struggles to reconcile the unfolding horror with any logical explanation. Together, they embark on a desperate journey to escape the rising tide of destruction and to find a place of safety, not knowing what they are running from or where they can truly be safe.

As they flee, they encounter other survivors, some driven to madness by fear and desperation, others exhibiting surprising resilience. They witness the horrifying transformation of the world around them, as the strange rain continues, flora and fauna mutate, and eerie, ethereal structures begin to appear across the landscape. The invasion is not characterized by ray guns and alien ships, but by a subtle, pervasive, and fundamentally incomprehensible transformation of the Earth itself.

The invaders are revealed not to be conventional aliens but an ancient, cosmic intelligence, a force that has visited Earth before, engaged in a systematic "taking" or harvesting of the planet. Their methods are biological and environmental, slowly transforming the Earth into something unrecognizable, with humanity either being culled or repurposed in terrifying ways.

The novel is a tense and atmospheric exploration of humanity's vulnerability in the face of an alien intelligence beyond comprehension. It balances existential dread with the personal struggle of the Sloans to maintain their hope and faith amidst utter despair.

The climax sees Molly and Neil making a final stand, or finding a last, desperate hope, as the "taking" reaches its horrifying zenith. Koontz leaves the reader with a profound sense of cosmic terror and the unsettling possibility that humanity is merely an incidental part of a far grander, and more terrifying, cosmic plan.

Comments:
A different style from this author who covers so many areas of several genres. Brilliant story and it does make you feel that it could be happening right now.

Books that we've read by Dean Koontz (27):
Demon Seed (1973), Icebound (1976), The Voice of the Night (1980), Phantoms (1983), Darkness Comes (1984), Watchers (1987), Dragon Tears (1993), Mr. Murder (1993), Tick Tock (1996), False Memory (1999), The Face (2003), Odd Thomas (Odd Thomas, #1) (2003), The Taking (2004), Forever Odd (Odd Thomas, #2) (2005), Velocity (2005), Life Expectancy (2005), Brother Odd (Odd Thomas, #3) (2006), The Husband (2006), Odd Hours (Odd Thomas, #4) (2008), Breathless (2009), Relentless (2009), The Silent Corner (Jane Hawk, #1) (2017), The Whispering Room (Jane Hawk, #2) (2017), The Crooked Staircase (Jane Hawk, #3) (2018), The Forbidden Door (Jane Hawk, #4) (2018), The Night Window (Jane Hawk #5) (2019), The Other Emily (2021)