Rob Deakin mungkin seorang laki-laki biasa. Ia lahir di Inggris, kemudian ikut dalam Perang Dunia Pertama. Tapi suatu ketika ia, dalam keadaan sekarat, ditemui oleh seseorang misterius yang kemudian membuat Rob menjadi manusia yang luar biasa: tubuhnya bisa sembuh dengan cepat dan akibatnya ia tidak bisa mati. The primary theme is as much a philosophical reflection on humanity and the sometimes sordid, sometimes mundane details of living, loving, and dying as it is a rote recital of events and people from a seemingly disengaged and disinterested main character. Rob comes off as mechanical and emotionless even before he is changed by his mysterious interaction with The Medic. The characters are wonderful; not just Willow, but her new found companion Ruby, the mysterious Raven and Rev. Goddard. All of these come across as three dimensional and, good or bad, they are believable.

I started this book as I usually do, right before bed. I generally read for an hour or so then fall asleep around 9:30-10:00-ish. I stayed up till 1:30 in the morning that first night, then read all the next day (even though I read a LOT, I'm a pretty slow reader much to my annoyance). I read this every chance I got until about the 70% mark when I stopped. I didn't want it to end. I loved it so much I didn't want to continue because that would mean I had finished it and would no longer be experiencing it for the first time. Does that make sense? My husband said that made no sense, lol.My undergraduate degree is in philosophy, so this book spoke to me. What is the nature of humankind? Of death? We humans want to live more than anything. What if we were gifted (?) an eternal life? How would our lives change? Would we descend into darkness as Rob did? I, of course, cannot predict, but the thought occupies my time.

What follows is a cursed journey through a century of incredible change, seen through the eyes of a man immune to death, while he searches endlessly for the answers to what makes him so unique. If there's one thing this story has, it's atmosphere. Coming from the other end of the country I have no idea what the south west is like (apart from a few holidays in the general area), but Kruse has created a sense of time and place brilliantly.

I usually try very hard to find something good to say about everything I read. I don’t believe there really are any “bad books.” A Life Eternal may have me revise that opinion. But he’s a good character to watch the world through the eyes of. And the characters he meets along the way… well they all change him in their own unique way.

An If there's one thing this story has, it's atmosphere. Coming from the other end of the country I have no idea what the south west is like (apart from a few holidays in the general area), but Kruse has created a sense of time and place brilliantly. What kind of trouble would you get into if you were immortal? Rob is a soldier in WWI and suffers injuries fighting that should have killed anyone, but when he’s on the verge of death, a strange man touches him, and Rob recovers fully. Doctors are baffled. Sooner or later it becomes obvious that Rob isn’t aging. What’s going on?

Praise for Haven Wakes

This book truly shows the talents of Fullerton; a modern John le Carre mixed with a hint of Clive Cussler. All in all a fabulous, well-researched, gripping thriller. This book should be a movie; it has everything needed. A Life Eternal. To discover you are immune to death, to understand you have been chosen to live forever, an eternal life, unable to die, to be killed, to live on in perpetuity...A gift or a curse? As you do not physically age, but those who you love do and journey through their lives towards their own mortal ending.

And that is only the first part. From Dunkirk to D-Day, the Cuban Missile Crisis to the fall of the Berlin Wall, the horrors of the twentieth century intensify while Deakin faces a new threat: a man who knows his secret and desires it for his own dark purposes. Sam once again is on the trail of X-Ray and nothing is going to stop him getting his man. There is also the shadowy 'Widower Maker' to contend with, a serial killer who is as gruesome and awful as any character can be. All in all, Sam has his hands full, but, being the man he is, he isn't going to stop until he's won the day. He searched for the medic who bestowed upon him what he began to believe was a curse. He began to realize that he despised humankind. Their pettiness irked him and he seemed jealous of their happiness. Humans were a lost cause to him.Actually, the first chapter is quite good, and there were several beautiful sentences I highlighted, which perhaps raised my expectations too high. This fascination with endless life is what drew me into this story, and it was what kept me reading when I became a little weary of the main character. Rob Deakin is equal parts everyman and no-man, but is ultimately generally unlikeable and his “glass half-empty” personality made the times he lived through, and the people he interacted with more ‘history textbook’ and less ‘historical novel’. The writing style is solid and again, very much like reading a first person interview. It reminded me of "Interview with the Vampire" by Anne Rice, in its style, but Rob’s unburdening of self is less story and more ‘police report”...”I did this, and then I did that, and then I went here...”. So I'm a huge horror fan. It's my go-to genre. I love the adrenaline, I love the seemingly neverending fought against Evil and how all these characters overcome their plight. It seems the more intense the horror, the greater the cottage too overcome... But like with all good things you need a break. I wanted something to warm my heart, bring treats to my eyes, and yet keep my attention and interest. This book did just that.