Couple wants desperately to have a baby but simply can’t. As all good horror stories go they look to an alternative pregnancy method which gives them what they always wanted, only this time twins. Maybe? Preggers and happy the two know their lives are about to change for the better, but instead they change for the worst.

If you’re like me you have probably already come to the conclusion that the couple have some demonic devil spawn that forces them to pull drastic measures to kill off said demon spawn. It’s only natural that we would go there seeing as almost every movie, book, and television series has. Fortunately new horror story writer Chase Novak avoids the usual stereotype by going in an all together brand new direction that makes for an interesting story that envelopes you in fear, but gives you wiggle room to laugh at the black comedy buried within. So what is Breed really about?

Alex and Leslie Twisden have led the charmed life. Alex has found the love of his life in Leslie and Leslie has found the love of her life as well, plus he’s loaded. Unfortunately after several attempts and numerous alternative pregnancy methods, the Twisden’s just don’t seem to have what it takes to get there biology straight with the nature of having children. They are forced to watch couples, strangers and friends, who lovingly coo in the face of their offspring, become agitated by the angelic voices of children at the opera, even find sex becoming more and more a simple chore rather then a pleasure. Oh what can the Twisden’s Do?

In the barren circle of childless couples who frequent the same support groups in hopes of coming across some alternative method they may have not attempted, the Twisden’s meet a couple who, after many failed attempts at having a child, have miraculously had one. Alex has to succumb to a bit of arm twisting but finally he gets the number of the doctor and the two are on their way to a gray foreign country where a doctor, who has had many successes, awaits them.

Alex and Leslie welcome a baby boy and a baby girl into their lives, Adam and Alice. Years later the two children find themselves locked in their rooms at night, the strange sounds from their parents moving about the house at these times growing strong and more violent. One day Adam decides enough is enough and begins his plan for escape, but more importantly, his plan to discover the answers to what happens when he and his sister are shut in at night.

Novak begins his novel on a very human level. A couple trying and failing to have a child. It’s engaging and interesting enough to hold you while he sets up the next chapter of Breed. Then when he’s done with that tale I felt that he kind of borrowed a page from Dean Koontz. No claims of plagiarism here or anything, just that Novak keeps a real human quality to the tale as he begins to weave science fiction and horror together, neither becoming too big or too small in contrast with the humanity of a couple suffering and two small children attempting to discover the answers to the unanswerable questions in the midst of the unexplainable but real scenarios that unfold before them.

I had an engaging experience with Breed. It was cleverly written and an intense read overall. While the novel does end satisfactory it did tend to slow down an awful lot. You have this really intense factor going and then all of a sudden it seems like the book is about to end only to go on another twenty or thirty more pages. I really felt like, if the book had ended at a certain crucial moment and things gone just a bit differently, we could have passed on those long drawn out pages at the back end of the book that seemed like overkill. Still, that was Novak’s vision, and while it bored me a little, it did close most of the novel off allowing you to use your imagination for what follows.

I would suggest this book to Dean Koontz or Stephen King fans. It’s human, funny, intense, and imaginative. At only three hundred and eleven pages it’s a quick read and one you’re likely to fly through in only a few of days. It definitely goes in a new direction as far as the whole pregnancy horror story goes. So definitely check it out and let us know what you thought. Enjoy.