Kirkus Review

Originally written as ""by Leigh Nichols""--and published in 1981 as a paperback--this is the first hard-cover publication of Koontz's horror-suspenser, which, after his current chart-topping success with Midnight, should do well. Dual values herein are entertainment and the in-depth Las Vegas background. But the thousands of words given to mounting a Vegas stage show, to the mores and gambling patterns of nickel-dimers and high-rollers have almost nothing to do with the low-horror/ mild-suspense level of the plot, or rather are girders for a never-written mainstream novel. What justifies the Vegas background is that low-profile US government agencies use the bare spaces of Nevada as testing grounds for secret ops. In this case, a supersecret, no-holds-barred project run by the Network is trying to catch up with Russian advances in parapsychological warfare, and it has kidnapped young Danny, a horror-comics addict who is psychically gifted. Danny's divorced mother Christina Evans, who's mounting a spectacular stage show for the Desert Mirage Hotel-Casino, thinks Danny died in a mountain bus accident over a year ago. Supposedly, Danny had been so mangled in the accident that he was given a closed coffin burial, and Tina never saw his corpse. She's just getting over her grief when messages from Danny start appearing on his old bedroom blackboard and on Tina's computer. She then falls in with ex-Army Intelligence operator Elliot Stryker, a widower and attorney, who takes her problems seriously after he is attacked by two agents from Network. He and Tina set out to exhume Danny's body, but are suddenly being chased from Vegas to Reno and into the hills--where a secret lab houses Danny, who is undergoing vicious tests that should kill him but don't. And that's it. Indifferent plot twists take up the slack of Elliot and Tina's Nick-and-Nora sex patter but never reveal an original idea. For Koontz fans only--but they are now legion. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.