The Taking

The Taking is a 2004 novel written by Dean Koontz.

Plot summary

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, silvery rain that has an odd scent.

She and her husband flee their isolated home, gathering with the residents of the nearby small mountain town. A thick, ominous fog obscures everything, reducing trees and buildings to looming shadows. Word reaches them that the eerie weather conditions they face have been encountered by everyone else around the planet as well. Then all communication is cut off.

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, accompanied 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 friends and neighbors, 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, although, in doing so, they will poison the planet for its human residents, who must die so that the invaders may live.

Their belief is plausible. There is only one thing wrong with it. It’s not true. Instead, something much worse is happening, both to them and to the rest of the world.

While the identity or the origin of the invaders is never explicitly explained, at the end of the book Molly postulates that the invaders are actually demons that have come to Earth from Hell. Their motives, therefore, would be to simply destroy and kill.

External links

• Dean Koontz's official web site