Reviewed by Marie Steyn for Readers' Favorite

As Fate Would Have It by David M. Brooks is about a man who experiences a bungee-jump gone wrong at the State Fair and sustains an injury to his head after the bungee cord broke. His girlfriend is with him in the accident because they jumped together; she lands in the hospital and dies a few days later. Chris was out cold for a while with a concussion but otherwise came away unscathed. He then starts dreaming the same dream every night in which he sees some people standing around a grave, a priest with an open book, and then the coffin opens and the same person lies in the coffin, night after night, until the person begins to wither away and later disappears, only to be replaced by another person. He can’t stop the dream from happening for “The mind’s eyes have no lids.” Chris can talk to the person in the coffin and even obtain information such as phone numbers. But he has a lot of questions: Why does he dream these dreams? Do the people in the coffin really exist? Can he save them? Can he cheat "fate"? He starts to believe that the dying people had somehow opened a psychic channel that links their subconscious minds to his and that he sustained some kind of brain injury with his concussion that enabled him to use more of his brainpower than a normal person.

I really enjoyed As Fate Would Have It and only stopped reading when I was really tired or had to do chores. It amazed me that David M. Brooks could weave a story with so much imagination. The name of the main character, Chris, is quite appropriate for it plays on the word Christian or even Christ, even though Chris is not at all a Christian, but he does try to save the dying, just as Christ saved the human race. There are many great twists that kept me on the edge of my seat and lots of philosophy about who we are, who determines our future, and what "fate" really is. The last quarter of the book was more thriller than the first part, which was more paranormal and even horror. The writing style is very pleasant and I found As Fate Would Have It to be a comfortable read. Each character is systematically introduced to the reader and that prevented me from having to go back every now and then to check who the person was again. I thoroughly enjoyed As Fate Would Have It and will definitely read other works from David M. Brooks.