The Key to Midnight
The Key to Midnight is a suspense-horror novel by American writer Dean Koontz, released in 1979 under the pseudonym Leigh Nichols. It is considered Koontz's first success.[1]
Overview
In the 1995 paperback edition, Koontz states that The Key to Midnight "is not like anything else I have done"; he also explained that he revised the novel for that year's edition, cutting 30,000 words and adding 5,000.[2] In August 2010, Koontz released a "better" version in Paperback.
Plot synopsis
Lisa Chelgrin is a US Senator's daughter. Her life has been erased and true past blocked. Her imposed, fake new identity is Joanna Rand. A detective, Alex Hunter, is hired to track Lisa down, but he finds nothing. Years later, during a vacation in Kyoto, Japan, he views a lounge act in which Lisa Chelgrin performs. Her name is different than it was before, and she is older, now working as the nightclub owner and singer. Nevertheless, the detective knows it is she. He sends for his dead-case file, and his privately employed messenger is almost killed delivering it. Someone is watching him and Lisa.
At the same time, a person known as The Doctor (Inamura) is trying to find a way around Lisa's memory block. He assumes that by removing a "password" or "pass-phrase," he can access Lisa's true memories. Under hypnosis, however, Lisa can only repeat the phrase "tension, apprehension, and dissension have begun," instead of answering the questions The Doctor asks her about her true past. After the first series of events, Lisa and Alex try to deal with their respective pasts so they can survive.
Characters
- Lisa Chelgrin/Joanna Rand
- Alex Hunter
- The Doctor/ Omi Inamura
- Mariko
- Franz Rotenhausen/ The Hand
- Tom Chelgrin/ Ilya Lyshenko
- Wayne Kennedy
- Ursula Zaitsev
- Anson Peterson/ Anton Broskov
- Antonio Paz
- Ignacio Carrera
- Marlowe
References
External links
- The Key to Midnight Book Review
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- Star Quest (1968)
- The Flesh in the Furnace (1972)
- Chase (1972)
- Demon Seed (1973)
- Shattered (1973)
- Dragonfly (1975)
- Invasion (1975)
- Night Chills (1976)
- The Face of Fear (1977)
- The Vision (1977)
- The Key to Midnight (1979)
- The Voice of the Night (1980)
- The Funhouse (1980)
- Whispers (1980)
- The Mask (1981)
- The Eyes of Darkness (1981)
- The House of Thunder (1981)
- Phantoms (1983)
- Darkfall (1984)
- The Servants of Twilight (1984)
- Twilight Eyes (1985)
- The Door to December (1985)
- Strangers (1986)
- Watchers (1987)
- Shadow Fires (1987)
- Lightning (1988)
- Midnight (1989)
- The Bad Place (1990)
- Cold Fire (1991)
- Hideaway (1992)
- Mr. Murder (1993)
- Dragon Tears (1993)
- Winter Moon (1994)
- Dark Rivers of the Heart (1994)
- Icebound (1995)
- Strange Highways (1995)
- Intensity (1996)
- Ticktock (1996)
- Sole Survivor (1997)
- Fear Nothing (1998)
- Seize the Night (1998)
- False Memory (1999)
- From the Corner of His Eye (2000)
- One Door Away from Heaven (2001)
- By the Light of the Moon (2002)
- The Face (2003)
- Odd Thomas (2003)
- The Taking (2004)
- Life Expectancy (2004)
- Prodigal Son (2005)
- Velocity (2005)
- City of Night (2005)
- Forever Odd (2005)
- The Husband (2006)
- Brother Odd (2006)
- The Good Guy (2007)
- The Darkest Evening of the Year (2007)
- Odd Hours (2008)
- Your Heart Belongs to Me (2008)
- Relentless (2009)
- Dead and Alive (2009)
- Breathless (2009)
- Lost Souls (2010)
- What the Night Knows (2010)
- The Dead Town (2011)
- 77 Shadow Street (2011)
- Odd Apocalypse (2012)
- Deeply Odd (2013)
- Innocence (2013)
- The City (2014)
- Saint Odd (2015)
- Demon Seed (1977)
- The Passengers (1977)
- Watchers (1988)
- Whispers (1990)
- Watchers II (1990)
- The Face of Fear (1990)
- Servants of Twilight (1991)
- Watchers 3 (1994)
- Hideaway (1995)
- Intensity (1997)
- Mr. Murder (1998)
- Phantoms (1998)
- Watchers Reborn (1998)
- Sole Survivor (2000)
- Black River (2001)
- Frankenstein (2004)
- Odd Thomas (2013)
- Oddkins: A Fable for All Ages (1988)
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