Stories about children living on the streets are always heartbreaking, yet Dean Koontz's The Moonlit Mind is also hopeful. Crispin lives on the streets by choice, surviving with the help of a singular dog. Though they're constantly on the run from Crispin's mother and step-father, Crispin finds himself unable to leave the city until he understands everything he saw at his step-father's house. Three years after he flees, he's finally ready to return. Koontz builds the supernatural aspects of the story with a masterful touch, so that even at their crescendo, they fit naturally into the narrative. Taut pacing, a fascinating storyline, and unflinching descriptions of a life on the run combine into a powerful story about relationships: between a boy and his dog, between two children whose experiences add years of maturity to their ages, between man and time. Crispin's will to survive--and to make things right--no matter what brings hope to even the darkest parts of the narrative.