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The Taking: A Novel
Unavailable
The Taking: A Novel
Unavailable
The Taking: A Novel
Audiobook9 hours

The Taking: A Novel

Written by Dean Koontz

Narrated by Ariadne Meyers

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

In one of the most dazzling books of his celebrated career, Dean Koontz delivers a masterwork of page-turning suspense that surpasses even his own inimitable reputation as a chronicler of our worst fears-and best dreams. In The Taking he tells the story of a community cut off from a world under siege, and the terrifying battle for survival waged by a young couple and their neighbors as familiar streets become fog-shrouded death traps. Gripping, heartbreaking, and triumphant in the face of mankind's darkest hour, here is a small-town slice-of-doomsday thriller that strikes to the core of each of us to ask: What would you do in the midst of The Taking.

On the morning that will mark the end of the world they have known, Molly and Niel Sloan awaken to the drumbeat of rain on their roof. It has haunted their sleep, invaded their dreams, and now they rise to find a luminous silvery downpour drenching their small California mountain town. A strange scent hangs faintly in the air, and the young couple cannot shake the sense of something wrong.

As hours pass and the rain continues to fall, Molly and Niel listen to disturbing news of extreme weather phenomena across the globe. Before evening, their little town loses television and radio reception. Then telephone and the Internet are gone. With the ceaseless rain now comes an obscuring fog that transforms the once-friendly village into a ghostly labyrinth. By nightfall the Sloans have gathered with some of their neighbors to deal with community damage...but also because they feel the need to band together against some unknown threat, some enemy they cannot identify or even imagine.

In the night, strange noises arise, and at a distance, in the rain and the mist, mysterious lights are seen drifting among the trees. The rain diminishes with the dawn, but a moody gray-purple twilight prevails. Soon Molly, Niel, and their small band of friends will be forced to draw on reserves of strength, courage, and humanity they never knew they had. For within the misty gloom they will encounter something that reveals in a terrifying instant what is happening to their world-something that is hunting them with ruthless efficiency. Epic in scope, searingly intimate and immediate in perspective, The Taking is an adventure story like no other, a relentless roller-coaster read that brings apocalypse to Main Street and showcases the talents of one of our most original and mesmerizing novelists at the pinnacle of his powers.


From the Hardcover edition.
LanguageEnglish
Release dateMay 25, 2004
ISBN9780739301791
Unavailable
The Taking: A Novel
Author

Dean Koontz

Dean Koontz is the author of more than a dozen New York Times No. 1 bestsellers. His books have sold over 450 million copies worldwide, and his work is published in 38 languages. He was born and raised in Pennsylvania and lives with his wife Gerda and their dog Anna in southern California.

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Reviews for The Taking

Rating: 3.5354566322115386 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

832 ratings42 reviews

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  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Classic!!! MUST READ! Once you start, You won't be able to put it down! (Whether it's audio or old fashioned reading) ?
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I've enjoyed a lot of Koontz books. This is not one of them. It was a chore to get through, and the story did little for me. The writing was terrible. It was repetitious and seemed like it was written by a high school student trying to impress a teacher with their vocabulary. I ran into a number of words I didn't recognize, and neither did the Kindle dictionary.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    It took a turn I was thinking about, but didn't think Koontz was doing until I got to the end . Excellent read !
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Another great novel. This one with more deeply religious thoughts and ideas. Great book! I’d love to meet Mr. Koontz and shake his hand
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    SciFi thriller. Could this be our future? Earth cleared.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I was warned by some reviews that I wouldn’t like the ending, but I actually did. It obviously may not work for some people, but for me? I liked the twist. Two thumbs up and five stars for the ending, beginning, and middle. The story was evocative, the prose so descriptive I could see and feel the dark forbidding atmosphere, and the characters were likable.

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Not a very well reasoned ending
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    This was a bunch of rubbish. He threw in a mishmash of Armageddon ideas, sprinkled it with religious overtones and words that I suppose were meant to make him sound smarter and called it a story. I'm pretty sure he's just running out of anything original to write about.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5


    After I'd finished this book, I was left with a kind of 'that ending was absurd' feeling. But the more I thought about it, the more I liked it, oddly enough!

    I enjoyed reading the book though. Dean Koontz definitely has a large vocabulary and tends to use five descriptions when one would do, which at times does make the story slightly less accessible I found.

    A good read though, with a very thought-provoking ending - after a couple of days anyway...!

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Hidden for spoilers...Definitely not his best as far as I was concerned, seemed as though he was just cranking it out. I must admire his vocabulary, but honestly using sussuration three times in one book is a little much? If it weren't for the ending, I probably would have rated it lower, but the tie in to Armegeddon (did I even spell that right?) was a different twist on that story that I enjoyed thinking about and I think it will drive me back to the Book of Revelations to consider some more. But as satisfying as that was, I was still left with the sense that he pulled the arm on some literary slot machine and the three different subjects that randomly lined up became the basis for the book....

    1 person found this helpful

  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really liked the idea of this book, The writing was very descriptive and the characters were easy to fall in love with.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Just too over done for my tastes. I suppose if you can fully give in the the unbelievable.... not just in the subject matter, but in how the characters act, etc. I like Koontz. His descriptive text are outstanding and he makes me understand the scene and the players with humor and clarity, but this is just too much. I really feel like his later books he was more controlled and I appreciate the restraint.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Set in a small town in California, Molly Sloan and her husband Neil wake up to strange, downpouring rain that animals are having extreme negative reactions toward, which is part of massive changes taking place in the world. All forms of communications, including the Internet, are down. The novel starts off strong, and Koontz keeps a narrow focus, something which he isn't always capable of doing. Molly and Neil investigate what is happening and find out that aliens are taking part in an invasion of the planet, one of my favorite literary topics. Even more disturbing, the aliens are reanimating the dead. The Sloans find themselves in a battle against aliens in their town.By keeping the focus only on this small town, Koontz is able to personalize his tale as opposed to dealing with a worldwide invasion. In certain ways it is reminiscent of the movie Signs. There is sufficient tension throughout, and the pace is strong. Dean Koontz is often hit or miss, but this one kind of hits the middle. Definitely not the worst that Koontz has written, it's also not up to par with his best novels.Carl Alves - author of Blood Street
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The last time I was so creeped out reading a book, it was Stephen King's 'Pet Sematary'. This one by Dean Koontz made my skin crawl with its lurid descriptions. Yet I was gripped, enthralled by the macabre buffet of words, insatiated through morbid curiosity. As for the story, it ends in such a way that I would term as 'a twist to the pre-tribulation rapture'.

    Note: It's probably 'tame' by others' standard, but I don't have a strong stomach for anything creepy and scary.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    "The Taking" was the first Dean Koontz book I read and the one that made me search for more of his work(just finished reading "The Face").

    This book is well written and it's extremely entertaining and gripping; it has a great beggining and all the supernatural surprises are made to function by Dean Koontz extraordinary visual descriptions.
    After one year some of the visual memories of when I read the book are still alive, but so is the fact that the ending is somewhat of a disapointment.

    Still, a very enjoyable Koontz book.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Oh deary me. It all started out so well in the first 50 or so pages. It was tense and slightly creepy and a little scary. I thought I was on to a winner... and then the rubbihs started to happen. Ideas came which I felt were a bit stupid and the author seemed to lose the plot a little bit.I spent a lot of the time geting annoyed that the author was stringing me along without any real direction and I had a feeling the ending would let me down. It did. Turns out it's not really and alien invasion at all. It is in fact a sort of punishment for the sins of humanity, and the devil has brought his minions to literally unleash Hell on Earth. The Rapture has returned! What a way to let me down, slapping me round the head with a slice of religious gumpf.Mainly felt let down because the start was so promising but then it all went to pot. The writing style was engaging when I gave a monkeys about what was going on and I'll say again that the initial 50 pages were excellent.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    While the point of a horror novel is to be creepy (even if only at times), this novel is more like the B or C grade horror movies that one might watch with friends and provide commentary over (a la Mystery Science Theater 3000). The twist is predictable and the plot comes together way too easily. Pass on this one. Try Door to December or Hideaway by Koontz instead.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    On one of my mother's many bookshelf clean-outs, this book was one of the ones she had that I pulled from the pile because it looked interesting. Needless to say, I was not disappointed. I was not familiar with Dean Koontz other than by name, so I had no pre-conceived notions of what I was getting into. All I knew was that the blurb on the book jacket sounded like something right up my alley!Now, I can tell that Koontz is not the pinnacle of horror writing, so if you are looking for something incredibly deep or cerebral, you won't find it here. However, if you are looking for a horror novel that has its fair share of thrills and chills and you don't mind reading another author's spin on the "alien apocalypse" story, then look no further. I was incredibly impressed by how Koontz effectively unnerved me and I was gripped throughout the entire novel.I'd recommend this book to other people like myself who like horror, but on a much lighter "beach read" scale.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is typical Koontz fare: creepy, suspenseful, unrealistic but still fun to read. He won't win any awards with this, but it's good, fun beach read.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is one of my favorite Dean Koontz book. I loved it and couldn't put it down.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Creeeeepy! Obviously it's a bit similiar to many other stories out there, but still a morally refreshing yet haunting read.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    My first and only Dean Koontz novel. I chose it at random without any preconceived notions about DK and his work. Whilst the start was very atmospheric and had bags of potential, I found myself becoming increasingly bored with it. I think the reason for my boredom, was its similarity to so many other novels of its type. It didn't really bring anything new to the table. I might as well have picked up War of the Worlds. I like to rotate my authors so as not to become too jaded with one particular writing style or genre, but reading this following from Stephen Kings "Bag of Bones" was such a let down. I'll probably try one or two more of his books as I'm sure I've just been unlucky, but this time I'll try and make my selection a little more carefully.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Not one of Koontz's better works. Koontz is very often entertaining but is never amazing, in my opinion, and this is bad even for him. It starts out strong, but gets more implausible and ridiculous as it goes along, and finally, the ending is just trash--complete religious propaganda. It really felt like a bait and switch job. And certainly Koontz's utterly uninformed views on global warming and other subjects, which are interjected throughout the book, could (and should) have been left out. I normally get a little bored and annoyed by his completely unsubtle political and opinion commentary, but this book drove me nuts. I would tell all but the most die-hard Koontz fanatics to skip it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very creepy book. An alien invasion of sorts, resulting in the end of civilization as we know it. There are survivors, but for how long will they survive? We only get a hint of what has happened in the major cities; this story takes place in a small mountain community in California. The end of the book was odd for me. Why did the aliens come? To "cleanse" the earth? If so, whom for? Still, the book was haunting.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Um, wow. This was really terrible. I have no idea why I finished it. Basically, there's a bunch of sparkling rain and people start seeing weird stuff in mirrors, and everybody immediately assumes that it signals an alien invasion. They're right, which saves a bunch of time, but I'm still not sure how they knew. The prose is a solid shade of purple, people suspiciously quote T.S. Eliot, and dolls get possessed. And because this is a Koontz novel, there are magical dogs, questionable science, preachy theology, and a serial killer. I saw the "twist" ending a mile away, but thought "No, that would be too silly, even for Koontz" - and was of course completely wrong. Clearly nothing is too silly for Koontz. I've liked several of his other books, but this was simply awful.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I read this in two and a half days, which means I liked it. Koontz is a good storyteller. Some folks dislike his flowery prose, but in general, I actually like it except for the over the top moments, which, well, they happen. Fairly early in the story I think I pretty much had part of this figured out, but there is enough interesting stuff to keep you guessing, and some genuinely creepy moments to cause one to make sure the doors are locked. It was a good read.
  • Rating: 1 out of 5 stars
    1/5
    Half a star for the brilliant con-artistry that must have been required to get such a ridiculously bad novel published. The prose was horrible - and I say this as a fan of a lot of Koontz's work. I mean, it was really, really bad. Purple doesn't even begin to cover it. It was a rambling, lurid, barely coherent mess of a book. I struggled through to the end because I hate to leave a book unfinished, but it took me about three months to read it, where a decent book of similar length will take me a day or two, on average. And it wasn't just the writing; the storycrafting was also terrible. Aside from being almost unbearably boring, it was also in places incredibly stupid, with poorly thought out events, random consequences, zero-dimensional characters and an ending that was a such a complete rip-off it made me actually resent the author for making me plow through the book to get to it.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    "The Taking" is Dean Koontz's version of the end of the world. It focuses on a young couple, Molly and Neil Sloan, who wake up early one morning to a strange rainfall. Turning on their television, they soon realize that the whole world is under attack and they head into town to find other survivors. Along the way they encounter zombies, unnaturally large bugs, other unknown creatures lurking in trees, dolls that self-mutilate, UFO's, and a fungus that threatens to overtake everything. Molly determines that she was left alive to protect the surviving children, so she and Neil, along with the help of a dog that seems almost human, set out to find the children and start a new world, if they survive. "The Taking" is the written equivalent of a B movie - you know it's really bad, but you can't stop reading it. Koontz focuses on one character - Molly - and consequently the other characters, including Neil, are nonentities and readers don't care what happens to them. It's hard to feel sympathetic for characters that are killed because you know nothing about them. And Molly herself is a one-dimensional character. The reason the characters are so one-dimensional is Koontz's writing. He spends too much time telling readers what is going on instead of showing them. A perfect example is what happened between Molly and her father when she was eight years old. Instead of bringing readers into the classroom with Molly and her father (which would have been a terrific way to open the book) Koontz tells readers what happened halfway through the book, in alternate paragraphs, as Molly encounters her father as an adult. The scene where Molly and Neil listen to the astronauts being attacked in space should have been especially frightening, the reader should have been able to imagine the horrors along with Molly and Neil but it just didn't work. Finally, Koontz didn't seem to know how to end the book. The last few pages seem rushed. The aliens simply leave and he glosses over the setting up of a new civilization by having all the corpses mysteriously disappear and mentioning that there was enough canned food to last for years. Conveniently enough, all the survivors were in useful professions - doctors, dentists, nurses, engineers, architects, carpenters and mechanics - all chosen for their talent. No policemen or firefighters are mentioned - Koontz seems to have created a perfect world. The description on the back of the book made the book sound really interesting, but the description was the best part of the book.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    *minor spoilers* Well, I don't want to give too much away as a book such as this relies heavily upon suspense. Simply put, it was okay. The basic premise: it begins raining one night, but this is no ordinary rain--it's one bad mamma-jamma: torrential, luminous, and occurring at precisely the exact same time all over the world. Defense satellites are out of commission, strange alien creatures run amok, and people begin to go insane. And that's all before the crap really hits the proverbial fan. Now the other thing about books such as this is that the most obvious explanation for whatever weird ass creepiness is going down is beaten like a dead horse to the point that you know it can't possibly be that explanation. Instead, you have to pay attention to the theory that's being ruled out as a possibility, yet mentioned peripherally and in often subtle ways throughout the book. Therein lies the problem with The Taking--the clues weren't subtle enough and I pretty much had it all figured out from the very first one (seriously, can you mention "Legion" and not be obvious?) I desperately hoped that Koontz was going to throw in a plot twist so craftily, well, crafted before the end that I would have to cede the victory to him ("Well played, Dean," I imagined myself saying by the book's end, "but you shant cozen me next time with your verbal trickery.") Instead, all I can say is, "Better luck next time, and play your cards a little closer to the vest--don't name the freakin' dog Virgil."
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    If you can accept or ignore the premise at the end, The Taking is an excellent book. A very clever take on what armageddon could be like, it starts out with a creepy, eerie quality that leaves us a little uncomfortable. After a while, the truly weird terrors begin. In an era where we have been fed a steady diet of alien invasion movies, this book seems all too feasible, making it all the more terrifying. In my opinion, this one of Koontz's best works. Not a book to be read at night or during a thunderstorm, The Taking should, nevertheless, be on everyone's reading list.