Breathless by Dean Koontz

Title:  Breathless
Author:  Dean Koontz
Pages:  431
Genre:  Suspense / Thriller
Publisher:  Random House, 2009
Series:  Stand Alone

Synopsis:  In the stillness of a golden September afternoon, deep in the wilderness of the Rockies, a solitary craftsman, Grady Adams, and his magnificent Irish wolfhound, Merlin, step from shadow into light ... and into an encounter with enchantment.  That night, through the trees, under the moon, a pair of singular animals will watch Grady's isolated home, waiting to make their approach.

A few miles away, Camillia Rivers, a local veterinarian, begins to unravel the threads of a puzzle that will bring to her door all the forces of a government in peril.

At a nearby farm, long-estranged identical twins come together to begin a descent into darkness...In Las Vegas, a specialist in chaos theory probes the boundaries of the unknowable....On a Seattle golf course, two men make matter-of-fact arrangements for murder...Along a highway by the sea, a vagrant scarred by the past begins a trek towards his destiny.

Review:  This story is about our future and the evolution (or what we thought was the evolution) of our species.  It takes everyone from an ex-Army sniper to a budding serial killer and makes five completely separate lives all part of the story.  And the story is about Puzzle and Riddle, two beings who have appeared out of nowhere.  They are wonderful and smart and far better people than most humans.  And they are our future.

Of course, the powers that be are scared.  Homeland Security cannot control or understand what's happening, so they treat this gift like a threat.  Fortunately, not even the United States government can control Mother Nature.

If you're at all interested in reading a story full of miracles mixed with science which includes enough thrills and mystery to knock your socks off, this novel is just the ticket.  I can't begin to tell you the hopeful and wistful feelings I was left with.  I wish, so much, that Puzzle and Riddle (and their brethren) were real.

Rating:  9 / 10