 Cover of The Taking | |
| Author | Dean Koontz |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction, Suspense, Mystery, Horror novel |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
Publication date | 2004 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| Pages | 448 pp |
| ISBN | 0-553-58450-2 |
| OCLC | 59552430 |
The Taking is a 2004 horror novel written by Dean Koontz.
In the midst of an oddly sudden rain storm, author Molly Sloan awakens in the middle of the night. Unable to return to sleep, she leaves her husband Neil slumbering in bed and goes downstairs to work on a manuscript in progress.
Dark shapes huddle on her porch – coyotes from the nearby forest. She wonders what could have frightened such animals into leaving the sanctuary of the deep woods to brave the proximity of human beings. Disturbed, she steps outside, to stand among the wild beasts, and is frightened herself – not by the animals, but by the strange, oddly luminescent rain. On an instinctual level, she realizes that there is something unclean about the rain.
Once she comes back to the house, Molly and Neil search for information in the news. They are only able to gather that the same phenomenon is taking place all over the world, before all communications are lost. They decide to flee their isolated home, gathering with the residents of the nearby small mountain town, in order to prepare a resistance, though they are not even sure against what they will be fighting. After 10 hours of downpour, the rain stops. In its place, a thick, ominous fog obscures everything, reducing trees and buildings to looming shadows. By then, Molly and Neil are in the town's tavern, where around 60 people have gathered with pets and children. It is implied that the phenomenon is the product of an alien invasion.
Unfamiliar noises are heard and strange lights are seen. Peculiar fungi appear in the restroom of a local tavern, and a frightening fungus grows upon trees, lawns, houses, and people alike. From time to time, huge objects drift above the terrified populace, and people feel as if they are known, completely, by whatever or whoever occupies these aerial craft – if the silent, drifting objects are crafts of some kind.
Molly and Neil, accompanying a stray dog named Virgil, set off on a mission to rescue the town’s children, many of whom are trapped in their homes. Meanwhile, the people at the tavern, split into warring factions, struggle against the mysterious threat that has seized their town. Oddly, Virgil seems to be able to supernaturally sense when and where certain children are endangered. It is revealed, later, that other animals are also leading rescue efforts to save other children.
As they search for answers, the townspeople conclude that they are under siege by extraterrestrial invaders who have come as an advance party to reverse-terraform the Earth so that its altered atmosphere will support their alien physiological needs. In doing so, however, they will poison the planet for its human residents, who must die so that the invaders may live. At all times, while they encounter the most horrible and twisted creatures during their journey, Molly senses that the invaders are of the most malignant kind, and that they want nothing but destruction.
After going through different horrors, Molly and Neil are able to save 13 children total, with the help of Virgil and other animals. Molly is convinced that the aliens have allowed them to rescue the children to harvest them for some more terrible end; however, a chain of events leads her to believe that there is still hope, and that the children have been spared for a special reason. After 36 hours of rain, mist, and darkness, a new rain comes, but to the delight of the characters, the new rain is clean, and washes all the monsters, fungus, and diseased alien presences in the world.
At least a year later, Molly, Neil, and eight of the children they rescued are living together in a house. Society has begun a slow path towards reconstruction; most of the survivors are the children, and those who rescued them, plus dogs and cats that helped in the rescues. Molly is now a teacher, and Neil has gone back to work in the church. Most people do not talk about what happened, and the reasons behind the departure of the aliens are never discussed.
However, while the identity or the origin of the invaders is never explicitly explained, at the end of the book, Molly realizes that the invaders were not aliens at all, but that they had actually lived through the biblical apocalypse, and that the monsters were demons, sent to Earth to annihilate humanity. Only a few would be spared, as in the ark of Noah, to rebuild a cleaner world. Several facts through the novel support her belief.
The book ends on a light note, with Molly deciding to write a book again – not to publish it, but for her son or daughter, soon to be born. When Neil asks her what the book will be about, she answers "Hope".
In 2006, it was announced that Sam Raimi's Ghost House productions had purchased the rights to this book and planned to do a miniseries based on it for their new television banner. [1] Neither the series or the Ghost House TV unit came into fruition.
Rite of Passage is a science fiction novel by American writer Alexei Panshin. Published in 1968 as an Ace Science Fiction Special, this novel about a shipboard teenager's coming of age won that year's Nebula Award, and was nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1969.
Odd Thomas is a thriller novel by American writer Dean Koontz, published in 2003. The novel derives its title from the protagonist, a twenty-year-old short-order cook named Odd Thomas. The book, which was well received and lauded by critics, went on to become a New York Times Bestseller. Following the success of the novel, six sequels, Forever Odd (2005), Brother Odd (2006), Odd Hours (2008), Odd Apocalypse (2012), and Deeply Odd (2013), were also written by Koontz. The final novel in the series Saint Odd (2015) was released on Jan 13, 2015. Three graphic-novel prequels, In Odd We Trust, Odd Is On Our Side and House of Odd have also been released. In the postscript to the graphic novel, Koontz states that "God willing, there will be six Odd Thomas novels." A Special Odd Thomas Adventure, Odd Interlude, was released on December 26, 2012, and another Odd Thomas: You Are Destined to Be Together Forever on December 9, 2014.
In ufology, alien implants is a term used to describe physical objects allegedly placed in someone's body after they have been abducted by aliens. Claimed capabilities of the implants range from telepresence to mind control to biotelemetry. As with UFO subjects in general, the idea of "alien implants" has seen very little attention from mainstream scientists.
Geist is an action-adventure video game developed by n-Space and published by Nintendo for the GameCube, released on August 15, 2005, in North America, on October 7, 2005, in Europe and on November 3, 2005, in Australia. A Japanese release was cancelled.
The Funhouse is a 1980 novelization by American author Dean Koontz, based on a Larry Block screenplay, which was made into the 1981 film The Funhouse, directed by Tobe Hooper. As the film production took longer than expected, the book was released before the film.
Twilight Eyes is a horror novel by American writer Dean Koontz, released in 1985 and 1987. Throughout the book, a character with the self-appointed name "Slim MacKenzie" uses his psychic powers to hunt Goblins – a kind of monster that seems to have the ability to mimic human beings.
Cold Fire is a 1991 horror novel written by the best-selling author Dean Koontz.
Invasion is a 1975 horror novel by American writer Dean Koontz, originally released under the pseudonym Aaron Wolfe. In 1994 Koontz re-released the book under the title Winter Moon, including updates and revisions. Winter Moon is the current title under which the book can be purchased.
Intensity is a 1995 horror novel by American author Dean Koontz. According to Koontz, he wrote the novel with the intention of subverting the commonly-held idea that thrillers must have periods of low action to move the pace along, instead opting to keep the tension high throughout the novel and moving from conflict to conflict without periods of released tension.
Spooksville is a series of 24 children's horror fiction books by American writer Christopher Pike. All 24 books were first published between 1995 and 1998. The series is set in a remote town in the USA and revolves around the lives of five of its young inhabitants. Although intended for a younger audience than his adult and young adult fiction, they contain some violence and may be considered unsuitable for younger children. A television series based on the book was commissioned and premiered on October 26, 2013, on the Hub Network.
Brady's Beasts is an animated television series about a monster-loving boy named Brady Plunkett, who is the protagonist of the series. It premiered on March 25, 2005, on YTV. A total of 26 episodes were produced.
Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 American supernatural horror film directed and co-written by Sam Raimi with Ivan Raimi, starring Alison Lohman, Justin Long, Lorna Raver, Dileep Rao, David Paymer, and Adriana Barraza. The story focuses on a loan officer, who, because she has to prove to her boss that she can make the "hard decisions" at work, chooses not to extend an elderly woman's mortgage. The old woman secretly places a retaliatory curse on her that, after three days of escalating torment, will plunge her into the depths of Hell to burn for eternity.
The Invader is a 1997 film directed by Mark Rosman.
Scooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders is a 2000 American direct-to-video animated science fiction romantic comedy mystery film. It is the third direct-to-video film based on Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. The film was produced by Warner Bros. Animation in association with Hanna-Barbera. It is the third of the first four Scooby-Doo direct-to-video films to be animated overseas by Japanese animation studio Mook Animation. Unlike the previous films and despite the grimmer atmosphere, it has a lighter tone since it's real monsters that are on Mystery Inc.'s side and the disguised human beings are the main villains.
What the Night Knows is a 2010 novel by bestselling author Dean Koontz. It reached No. 1 on the New York Times Bestseller List. Following the events of the novella "Darkness Under the Sun," it follows the life of John Calvino, a survivor of a violent attack on his family and current police officer. In the aftermath of Billy Lucas's brutal slaying of his own family, Calvino notices many similarities between Billy Lucas's family and his own, and Lucas knows more about Calvino than he possibly can. Spooked, remembering the attack of that left his family dead so many years ago at the hands of the late Alton Turner Blackwood, Calvino starts worrying that Blackwood, or his memory, might be back, and the family Calvino created may be in danger.
Shake, Rattle and Roll Fourteen: The Invasion is a 2012 Filipino science fiction horror anthology film directed by Chito S. Roño, and the fourteenth installment of the Shake, Rattle & Roll film series. The film stars an ensemble cast including Dennis Trillo, Lovi Poe, Janice de Belen, Herbert Bautista, Paulo Avelino, Martin Escudero and Vhong Navarro.
Deeply Odd (2013) is the sixth thriller novel in the Odd Thomas series by American writer Dean Koontz.
Tales of Halloween is a 2015 American comedy horror anthology film consisting of ten interlocking segments, each revolving around the holiday indicated by the title. Segments were directed by Neil Marshall, Darren Lynn Bousman, Axelle Carolyn, Lucky McKee, Andrew Kasch, Paul Solet, John Skipp, Adam Gierasch, Jace Anderson, Mike Mendez, Ryan Schifrin, and Dave Parker.
Holly Webb is a British children's writer. She studied Classics at Newnham College at Cambridge University, Byzantine and Medieval Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art, and then worked as an editor until 2005. She lives outside Reading with her husband Jon and her three children, Ash, Robin and William.
Molly Tanzer is an American fantasy, horror, and science fiction writer. She won the Colorado Book Award for historical fiction, and has been nominated for the Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, and the Wonderland Book Award. She is known for genre-bending fiction that combines horror and fantasy with strong female protagonists, depth of characterization, and realistic interpersonal relationships.