Breed

A Novel

By: Chase Novak

Narrated by: Peter Ganim

Critically celebrated novelist Scott Spencer delivers a Rosemary's Baby-like novel of gothic horror, set against the backdrop of modern-day Upper East Side Manhattan.

Alex and Leslie Twisden lead charmed lives-fabulous jobs, a luxurious town house on Manhattan's Upper East Side, a passionate marriage. What they don't have is a child, and as they try one infertility treatment after the next, yearning turns into obsession. As a last-ditch attempt to make their dream of parenthood come true, Alex and Leslie travel deep into Slovenia, where they submit to a painful and terrifying procedure that finally gives them what they so fervently desire . . . but with awful consequences.

Ten years later, cosseted and adored but living in a house of secrets, the twins Adam and Alice find themselves locked into their rooms every night, with sounds coming from their parents' bedroom getting progressively louder, more violent, and more disturbing.

Driven to a desperate search for answers, Adam and Alice set out on a quest to learn the true nature of the man and woman who raised them. Their discovery will upend everything they thought they knew about their parents and will reveal a threat so horrible that it must be escaped, at any cost.

Critic reviews

"Forget vampires, zombies and guys clad in hockey masks brandishing oversized machetes. Chase Novak unleashes truly scary literary horror villains in BREED: Mom and Dad. Novak...explores what happens when one's parents aren't quite the protectors they should be in this excellent horror novel. He probes emotionally deep and heartbreaking themes of family and friendship that seem fresh in a book that's a bit like a mad-scientist movie-or Frankenstein if the monster decided he needed some kiddos in his life.... The kids escape their domestic prison, which shifts gears in BREED from a psychological tale to a high-stakes adventure where your fingers can't flip the pages fast enough.... BREED doesn't need love triangles, twist endings or aspects of a gore fest to keep an audience enraptured. Instead, it's the simple conceit-how do you love parents who do more harm than good?-and a moving ending that make Novak's horror novel a thrill to read."—Brian Truitt, USA Today

"Advanced reproductive technologies prove just a new form of mad science in this timely, engrossing medical thriller.... Novak writes with an energy that propels the reader through the novel's unlikely science and subplots. He also winks enough to suggest that this all could be a black comedy on modern parenting."—Publishers Weekly

"Although the phrase 'I couldn't put it down' is used promiscuously in book blurbs (and reviews) it isn't often that I am so caught up in a novel that I have to finish it before thinking about doing anything else. Of course, the pacing and length of a book plays a big role in this phenomenon-once I raced through the first 100 pages of BREED in record time, finishing off another 210 pages was a realistic goal before turning in for the night.... The grabber...is in the set-ups that convince us we are in the 'real world' rather than some phony B-horror movie netherworld. We believe in the people we meet and the place where they live, so when ghastly things start happening, we have to know how the story will play out.... But the increasingly macabre and truly horrifying developments kept me in a vise-like grip.... BREED substitutes science for the religious mythology of Rosemary's Baby so it is, in some ways, more believable than the Ira Levin classic. Maybe too believable."—Joe Meyers, Connecticut Post

Good; not great

Would you listen to Breed again? Why?

No. Gripping story but once is plenty. I wasn't crazy about the reader, and many parts of the story made you think, "No one would act like this!"

What was one of the most memorable moments of Breed?

The ending itself was probably a good way to bring the story to closure, but the events that got the reader there strained credulity.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

Parents: Your worst enemy.

Any additional comments?

I was amazed to see this on a list of 50 best fiction books of the year. Must not have been a lot of competition -- and I love horror as a genre!

Just wasn't for me

I got half way through and gave up just couldn't get into it just got bored after the first few chapters

terrible

Slow droning for large sections. No emotion investment in any of the characters. Save the credit and pass this one by.

I couldn't care less about these characters

This book started off being quite well observed, but it hit a point where it moves forward in time and after that it became a different book. It was repetitive and boring. Suspending belief only goes so far and then it hits the point where it loses tension and excitement as you stop caring about the characters. Very disappointing after it promises to explore an interesting idea but overdoes it on every front.

3rd time around listen, this one is a keeper!

I'm startled by the amount of negative reviews. I'm hard pressed to find stories with true originality. I never saw this one coming! The weight of the characters and the precise, narration kept me engaged, even through a ten hour work shift. Thanks for the recommendation, Mr. King. This will forever remain a favorite!