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Breathless by Dean Koontz


"Within every chaos, is an eerie order waiting to be revealed. " ~ Lamar Woolsey, chapter 44

This tale of hope amidst the challenge of the unknown and the threats of humanity's capability for cruelty and destruction can be considered as one of Dean Koontz's masterpieces. The plot is no different from most of Koontz's books involving science fiction and suspense and yet he still doesn't fail to surprise me.

The book is divided into three parts. The first is called Life and Death in which he introduces the main characters of the story: Grady Adams, Merlin the dog, Camillia Rivers, Lamar Woolsey, Tom Bigger and Henry Rouvroy. How these characters will affect each other was not clear until the final few chapters of the book. Henry was more like a distraction from the main story although it seemed like he will have a huge impact on the lives of the other characters. Tom Bigger also did not have anything to do with the characters I mentioned but his experience, which wasn't revealed until later, provided some light into the strange events that's been going on in the world. Liddon Wallace is one of those characters with megalomania (characters that are common to most of Koontz's books) and provided  the model for the negative side of humanity. Yet he was somehow redeemed when a strange event took place. His last appearance in the book showed him as still the same proud guy but the experience kept bothering him and forced him to reflect about his life.

Koontz's unmatched talent for imagery was showcased in this book. When he introduced the two strange creatures and described them bit by bit as Grady and Merlin were getting to know them, it was easy to picture out what they look like.

Chapter forty-two described what could be the possible origins of Puzzle and Riddle, and also marked the start of the complications that will affect Grady, Merlin and Cammy. Lamar later plays a big role in explaining another possible theory.

Part two is entitled Death in Life. Here the story peaks. Lamar finally met the duo and things started to become more complicated as the government has now taken over the situation. The reader also gets to experience the events through Puzzle's and Riddle's point of view for the first time in chapter sixty-one. Lamar also spoke of the possibility that the duo were new species, not the products of science. Here Koontz shows he has done research about the subjects he discussed.

Part three is called Life in Death. It is aptly named because the message of this book is about hope. Despite people like Henry and Liddon, there's still hope for humanity. We think that because we are able to explain a lot of things because of science, we already know everything. But even those theories that withstood time can't explain certain things in life. They should not be the basis for how we must live and treat each other and all the creatures we share this world with. 

This book gets a 10 out of 10 rating.
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