by Dean Koontz
First published 1989
FBI agent Sam Booker arrives in Moonlight Cove to investigate a series of disturbing deaths that local authorities have dismissed as accidents. The small California coastal town seems peaceful on the surface, but Booker discovers residents living in terror. Meanwhile, wheelchair-bound Vietnam veteran Harry Talbot witnesses strange behavior from his neighbors through his telescope. Tessa Lockland comes to town searching for answers about her sister's supposed suicide, refusing to believe the official story. As night falls, the three find themselves trapped in a community where people are being systematically transformed into something inhuman. A powerful corporation has been conducting secret experiments on the townspeople, turning them into regressed, violent creatures. Booker, Talbot, and Lockland must survive until dawn while uncovering the truth about the conspiracy that has consumed Moonlight Cove. Their fight becomes a desperate battle for their humanity against forces that would strip away everything that makes them human.
Genres: science-fiction, mystery, horror, thriller, action
Vibes: dark, fast-paced, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-allies, found-family, man-vs-society
Setting: Moonlight Cove, California
Period: 20th-century
Mass Market Paperback · Berkley
Content warnings: body-horror, graphic-violence