4 out of 4 stars
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“Fate had chosen me and the two women I loved to prevent God from meeting His Grim Reaper before His replacement could be named.” As soon as I read this line, I knew that this book, Damaged Beyond All Recognition by Alan Felyk, was going to be one hilariously funny wild ride! I wasn’t wrong. This is a science fiction comedy, written in the first person from the perspective of Paul Tomenko.
Paul Tomenko is an orphan with the aspiration to become a writer. While at college, where he was close to flunking out, he met Maggie Mae and fell in love. Maggie Mae is quite possibly the most intelligent person on the planet. As she is about to graduate, she is offered a very prestigious job at Bioprovedence. The only condition she has to fulfill to get the job is she has to break up with Paul. This is because of some left wing articles he had written for a publication called “Cosmic Circles” which had made him famous.
Distraught at the breakup, Paul buys a cabin in the mountains. On the way there, he has to swerve to avoid Allie as she is getting out of her car. This causes Paul to lose control and crash his car into a tree. As he is about to enter Heaven he collides with God. This causes God to send him back to Earth, where his body has been resuscitated.
His editor hires him a secretary after this event, she just happens to be the person who caused his near fatal accident. She ends up moving in with him and they fall in love with one another. Paul is committed to waiting for Maggie and so the relationship stays in the friend zone.
Reaching for a can of food in a high cupboard, Paul accidentally positions his arms in a manner that gets him transported to God’s library. A place he can enter because he has touched God. While he is in there, God informs him that He has made a mistake and none of the souls of the dead can recall any memories. This is a big problem and could cause the end of all life forever. God recruits Paul to solve this little problem. Does he manage to find a solution? What happens in the love triangle? You’ll have to read Damaged Beyond All Recognition to find out.
This is a superb comedy. Alan writes in a style similar to Douglas Adams. He had me in stitches most of the way through the book. However, there were parts of the book that made me cry too, most notably the ending. The plot of this story is unique, as far as I know, with several unexpected occurrences throughout the book. The twist at the end was totally unexpected. The story seems to be complete and not part of a series, though a few comments made near the end could possibly be used as the basis of a sequel. I really hope there is one because I’ve enjoyed this novel more than any other I’ve read this year.
I loved this entire book; I couldn’t point to anything and say I wish Alan had missed that part out. The part I found the best was the way that Paul and Maggie first got together. I don’t know how to explain it, but if you read the book you’ll know what I mean.
The characters are all fully formed with lots of detail. Alan describes their appearances with lots of detail so I know exactly how they look. Their backgrounds are provided though some of the background isn’t revealed until very late in the story. When you come to that point you realize what motivated them to do what they did.
This book is excellently proofread; I only found a handful of mistakes in the entire book. It is excellently written and incredibly funny. I have no qualms about giving this a rating of 4 out of 4 stars. I think this book would appeal to many people, including fans of sci-fi, comedy, romance and apocalypse stories. I do think that people who have a problem with an author poking fun at religions should avoid this book.
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Damaged Beyond All Recognition
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