
Cavell is devastated by the loss of her son, she is still able to live her life, and it's mentioned that she now plans to open a craft store to occupy her time. The epilogue also shows that Henry is now actively working to cope with his suicidal thoughts rather than simply letting them overwhelm him, suggesting that he's in a better place mentally and emotionally after his nightmarish experience with the aliens.
Bittersweet Ending: Duddits, Pete, Beaver, Underhill and many others die, but Henry and Jonesy survive the experience, the Byrus invasion is thwarted and both Mr. He plots to put his alien fungus into the water supply so he can spread throughout the world and take it over. Gray, the leader of the aliens invading who possessed and took control of Jonesy because of his near death experience at the beginning of the novel. Several other infected soldiers follow suit. Underhill is Forced to Watch their suicides psychically, unable to do anything about it. Better to Die than Be Killed: Mac Cavanaugh and Frank Bellson decide to take their own lives after being infected with severe cases of the Byrus. Berserk Button: Don't call Kurtz “sir”. Beleaguered Assistant: Archie Perlmutter has the thankless task of being Kurtz's assistant, and has to suffer being on the receiving end of Kurtz's insanity. Battle in the Center of the Mind: Between Mr. Ax-Crazy: Kurtz is, to put it simply, utterly batshit insane. Cavell are the only surviving characters to appear in more than a couple of scenes. By the end of the book, Jonesy, Henry and Mrs. Anyone Can Die: Beaver and Pete both die in the first half of the story. Eventually, he pulls a Heel–Face Turn and teams up with Henry. Kurtz views this as a weakness, and decides to kill him once he outlives his usefulness. Anti-Villain: Owen Underhill is one of Kurtz's top men, but is horrified by Kurtz's actions and willingness to murder innocent civilians.
Alien Invasion: The Byrus, a species of alien parasites, invade Earth after hijacking some spaceships from another alien race.The Alcoholic: Although he attempts to deny it, Pete is definitely one.Was made into a film directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring Thomas Jane, Timothy Olyphant, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Morgan Freeman, Donnie Wahlberg, and Tom Sizemore in 2003. As the infection develops, the plot thickens. The army arrives led by the psychotic Colonel Abraham Kurtz who puts the area under quarantine.
It becomes revealed that he's infected by an alien parasite.
Upon doing so, Duddits bestows the boys with telepathic powers.Īs adults, they go on an annual hunting trip where they come across a delirious stranger talking about lights in the sky. As kids, they saved Douglas "Duddits" Cavell, a boy with Down syndrome, from a group of bullies. Gary Ambrose "Jonesy" Jones, Pete Moore, Joe "Beaver" Clarendon and Henry Devlin are four lifelong friends. Dreamcatcher is a 2001 novel written by Stephen King.