From Publishers Weekly
In his imaginative new novel, Koontz soars beyond the limits of Midnight and his other bestsellers. The principal characters, married detectives Julie and Bobby Dakota, agree to help frightened amnesiac Frank Pollard figure out what he does when he's asleep. (Not only can Frank not remember his past, but he wakes up mornings to find mysterious bags of large-denomination bills by his bed.) In due course, Frank and the Dakotas join forces against murderer Candy Pollard and his weird sisters, who want to kill Frank--evidently the sole human in the monstrous family. Candy extends psychic feelers toward potential victims, emanations that are sensed by Julie's younger brother Thomas. A Down's syndrome child, Thomas is telepathically gifted and able to warn Bobby of the demons who threaten Julie. Horror follows horror with each crime perpetrated by Candy & Co. as they come ever closer to the Dakotas and other prey. Besides episodes of shriek-worthy suspense, the book features out-of-body flights, and data on insects and gems of impossible origins, no less unnatural than the Pollard villains, who could incite envy in Lucifer himself. Koontz should lure even more readers to his myriad following with his terrifyingly credible fantasy. Literary Guild main selection. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Pencil in two more best sellers for Koontz, author of Strangers ( LJ 4/15/86), Watchers ( LJ 3/1/87), and Lightning ( LJ 1/88). Originally written under the pseudonym "Leigh Nichols" and published as a Pocket Books paperback in 1979, The Key to Midnight (#8 on the 11/1/89 LJ Prepub Best Sellers List) tells the story of expatriate songstress Joanna Rand, owner of a trendy Japanese night club in Kyoto. When vacationing private eye Alex Hunter recognizes Joanna as the victim of an unsolved ten-year-old kidnapping case, the tale takes an eerie turn into the all-too-real science of mind control and psychological conditioning. In Koontz's latest offering, The Bad Place (#20 on the 11/1/89 LJ Prepub Best Sellers List; Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/89), amiable Frank Pollard hires a husband-and-wife detective team to watch over him while he sleeps. Every time poor Frank nods off, he awakens covered with blood and in possession of some decidedly weird objects. Soon, our detectives discover that Frank is teleporting in his sleep, endlessly pursued by a grotesque genetic freak which threatens to destroy them all. This masterful rendition marks Koontz's full maturation--and the point at which he displaces Stephen King as America's premier weaver of horror yarns. Public libraries should expect big demand for both novels.- Mark Annichiarico, "Library Journal"Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
Carol Cowan and Michael Hanson read as a tag team, each taking a distinct point of view in this novel. One perspective follows the husband-and-wife detective team of Bobby and Julie Dakota; the other follows Frank Pollard, a man who, at the beginning of the novel, wakes up in an alley, his mind empty, his hands covered in blood. The two story lines weave into each other as the Dakotas try to solve the murders that Pollard may have committed. Cowan and Hanson perform Koontz's thrilling story with vibrant, pleasurable intensity. S.D. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Frank Pollard is afraid to fall asleep. Every morning when he awakes, he discovers something strange—like blood on his hands—a bizarre mystery that tortures his soul. Two investigators have been hired to follow the haunted man. But only one person—a young man with Down's Syndrome—can imagine where their journeys might end. That terrible place from which no one ever returns.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

A psychic child warns of danger as a murderous family stalks its amnesiac brother and the married detective team the brother has hired to help him. ``Koontz should lure even more readers to his myriad following with his terrifyingly credible fantasy,'' predicted PW. (Dec.)

Library Journal

Pencil in two more best sellers for Koontz, author of Strangers ( LJ 4/15/86), Watchers ( LJ 3/1/87), and Lightning ( LJ 1/88). Originally written under the pseudonym ``Leigh Nichols'' and published as a Pocket Books paperback in 1979, The Key to Midnight (#8 on the 11/1/89 LJ Prepub Best Sellers List) tells the story of expatriate songstress Joanna Rand, owner of a trendy Japanese night club in Kyoto. When vacationing private eye Alex Hunter recognizes Joanna as the victim of an unsolved ten-year-old kidnapping case, the tale takes an eerie turn into the all-too-real science of mind control and psychological conditioning. In Koontz's latest offering, The Bad Place (#20 on the 11/1/89 LJ Prepub Best Sellers List; Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 9/1/89), amiable Frank Pollard hires a husband-and-wife detective team to watch over him while he sleeps. Every time poor Frank nods off, he awakens covered with blood and in possession of some decidedly weird objects. Soon, our detectives discover that Frank is teleporting in his sleep, endlessly pursued by a grotesque genetic freak which threatens to destroy them all. This masterful rendition marks Koontz's full maturation--and the point at which he displaces Stephen King as America's premier weaver of horror yarns. Public libraries should expect big demand for both novels.-- Mark Annichiarico, ``Library Journal''

AudioFile