Atropos By John Japuntich - A Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Thriller/Adventure Story Worth Looking Into

Atropos by John Japuntich

I learned about Atropos through an email from Kindle Unlimited. First, I was impressed with the cover and then was convinced to add it to my reading list because of a captivating description of the book.

Atropos is a tremendous story that never failed to entertain me as I read. It follows the lives of several alluring characters as they deal with a pandemic. Now I know, thanks to COVID-19, there has been an explosion of books about pandemics wreaking havoc written in the past year. This story is unique and takes a fresh approach. I found the story absorbing, and the characters captivating.

Retired FBI profiler, John Fitzpatrick, learns from a funeral home owner that business is down. John is not one to just let information like that slide by without looking deeper into the situation. He contacts someone who tells him that numbers of deaths are falling everywhere. Alzheimer patients are suddenly becoming lucid, cancer patients are miraculously going into remission, and people in nursing homes are walking out ready to reclaim their normal lives again. Hospitals are laying off workers because there is no business.

In the meantime, John also learns that birthrates are falling at an alarming rate.

All of this is attributed to a virus that spreads through the entire population of the Earth through all means possible. No one knows if it is a manufactured illness or a natural occurrence, but every human on the planet is infected.

John makes it is mission to find the answers as the years tick by.

After the Event took hold on Earth, two astronauts in orbit in a space station learn of what has happened. They are the only two humans in existence who are not infected. Mary Ann Jones and Vasily Ustinov decide they will return to the planet and live their lives as everyone else does. Mary learns she is pregnant upon returning to the surface and her son, Zacharia, shows exceptional brilliance at a very young age. Little does he know what influence he will have on humanity as he grows.

By far, my favorite character in the story is John Fitzpatrick. He is a very dynamic character who is like a snapping turtle. Once he gets his mind on something, he doesn't let go until he has the answers. Throughout the book, John comes and goes at regular intervals, solving mysteries and gaining fame for his doggedness. He has a sense of humor and is a good man.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead!

My favorite plot point is when John solves the case of a serial killer he has been chasing for years, but always seems to be several steps ahead of him. The killer himself is an Alzheimer's patient who becomes lucid once again because of the virus. When he finally can leave the hospital, the killer, once again, begins his reign of terror and takes a hostage. There wasn't any activity from the killer for quite some time, but thanks to an abandoned car, John is, once again on the hunt and finally solves the case.

At the beginning of the book, the author gave me the overarching theme I took away; One should never put all one’s eggs in a single basket. In the beginning of the story, decades before The Event, two friends discuss their visions of the future over beers in a club. One's vision is to see humans move out into the solar system and beyond establishing colonies. The other sees a future where we no longer carry devices to access the internet for information; it would happen inside our brains. It's a long road to the dreams of those two, but that doesn't stop them from their work of seeing those dreams come to fruition. Thanks to the virus, they will live long enough to see what happens to these magnificent dreams.

Aside from the few spoilers I revealed earlier, and the few characters, there are numerous other subplots and characters that drive the story forward at a comfortable pace. There are some parts that some may find disturbing while there is some good humor, some sadness, and times when characters are happy. The story has a wide range of emotional content. What I didn’t see coming was the plot twist at the end of the book, it is worth the read and you'll find yourself shaking your head. I recommend this as a great Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Thriller/Adventure story.

John Japuntich is a registered nurse and project manager for the information systems department in a community hospital. He also has a degree in Anthropology from the University of Georgia, and as such has a profound interest in how people and culture have changed from the past to the present, which heavily influences his writing. He often combines his medical knowledge with his anthropology background when creating new versions of the future.

Well, there it is...

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