The Servants of Twilight

Previously issued as a paperback original under the pseudonym Leigh Nichols, this is one of Koontz's better thrillers. Single parent Christine Scavello and her young son Joey find themselves confronted by a madwoman, Grace Spivey, who fancies she discerns the Antichrist in Joey's cherubic visage. Spivey is the charismatic leader of a religious cult whose fanatic members do her every bidding, including murdering the little boy, and everyone who stands in their way. After the police fail to provide adequate protection, Christine turns to private detective Charlie Harrison, whose business and home are soon firebombed by the cultists, and two of his men murdered, even as he finds that he is falling in love with Christine. The narrative moves along briskly until the last third, at which point a frantic chase sequence goes on too long. Nevertheless, this is a better than average adventure with supernatural overtones. The possibility of Joey's actually being the Antichrist is a deftly handled (and unresolved) tease. (March)