The Taking Summary

The Taking

Published: 2004

Author: Dean Koontz

Genre: Action, Adventure, Fiction, Ghost, Gothic, Horror, Occult, Psychological, Romance, Science Fiction, Supernatural, Suspense, Thriller

Check out the review of this book here:

The Taking

Summary

Molly Sloan awakens in the middle of the night in the midst of an unusually rapid heavy rainstorm. She leaves her husband Neil in bed, unable to sleep, and goes downstairs to work on a screenplay she is working on.

Coyotes from the adjacent woodland gather on her doorstep in huddles. She wonders what could have terrified such creatures into fleeing the safety of the deep forests and exposing themselves to human contact. 

She walks outdoors, disturbed, to stand among the wild beasts, and is terrified — not by the animals, but by the unusual, strangely glowing rain. She recognizes, instinctively, that the rain is dirty.

Molly and Neil scour the news for information once she returns home. They can only gather that the same phenomena are occurring all around the planet before all contact is lost. 

They decide to abandon their remote house, meeting with the people of a nearby little mountain town to prepare a resistance, despite the fact that they have no idea what they would be fighting against. 

The rain finally stops after ten hours of pouring. A heavy, gloomy fog has replaced it, obscuring everything and transforming trees and buildings into towering shadows. 

Molly and Neil are now in the local bar, where about 60 people have come with their pets and children. The occurrence is said to be the result of an extraterrestrial invasion.

Unusual sounds and lights are heard and observed. Strange fungi sprout in a local tavern's lavatory, and a terrifying fungus spreads on trees, lawns, buildings, and people alike. 

Huge things glide above the scared populace from time to time, and people feel as though they are entirely known by whatever or whoever fills these aerial ships - assuming the quiet, drifting objects are crafts of some type. 

Molly and Neil set off on a quest to rescue the town's youngsters, many of whom are trapped in their houses, accompanied by a stray dog named Virgil. Meanwhile, the tavern's patrons, divided into warring groups, battle the strange menace that has engulfed their town. 

Surprisingly, Virgil appears to be able to tell when and where particular youngsters are in danger. Later, it is discovered that other animals are directing rescue attempts to save other youngsters.

As they seek answers, the townsfolk come to the conclusion that they are under attack by extraterrestrial invaders who have arrived as an advanced group to reverse-terraform the Earth so that its changed atmosphere will support their alien body’s needs. 

However, while doing so, they will poison the planet's human inhabitants, who must die in order for the invaders to exist. 

Molly feels that the invaders are of the most malignant sort and that they seek nothing but devastation at all times. 

Even when they face the most horrifying and twisted animals on their quest, Molly and Neil are able to save 13 children with the assistance of Virgil and other animals after going through many tragedies. 

Molly is certain that the aliens permitted them to save the children in order to harvest them for some more heinous purpose; yet, a series of circumstances lead her to feel that there is still hope and that the children have been spared for a unique cause. 

After 36 hours of rain, mist, and darkness, a new rain falls, much to the satisfaction of the characters, and wipes away all the monsters, fungi, and sick alien presences on the planet.

Molly, Neil, and eight of the children they rescued had been living in a house for at least a year. Society has begun a sluggish process of restoration; the majority of survivors are children and those who saved them, as well as dogs and animals that assisted in the rescues. 

Molly is now a teacher, and Neil has returned to his church job. Most people don't talk about what happened, and the reasons for the aliens' departure are never mentioned. 

However, while the identity or origin of the invaders is never fully addressed, towards the conclusion of the novel, Molly discovers that the invaders were not aliens at all, but they had really lived through the biblical apocalypse and that the monsters were demons sent to Earth to exterminate mankind. 

Only a few would be saved, like on Noah's Ark, to rebuild a better world. Several facts in the story corroborate her opinion.

The novel concludes on a lighter note, with Molly resolving to write another book — this time for her soon-to-be-born son or daughter, rather than for publication. When Neil asks her what the book will be about, she responds, "Hope."

Useful Search Related Words & Keywords

Alien Invasion, Black Lake, Husband Neil, Koontz Books, Left Behind, Molly And Neil, Odd Thomas, Waste Of Time, Years Ago

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