Innocence by Dean Koontz (2013) Bantam (6/15)

The story of Addison Goodheart, who because of his appearance, must hide from man so as to not cause them to attack him.  He was born in the woods in a cottage and birthed with the help of a midwife, who wanted to kill him as soon as he came out from his mother.  Even she, the woman who bore him could only stand to look at him for moments at a time.  Over the first 8 years of his life, she tried to kill him six times, but in the end could not bring herself to do the deed.  After his eighth birthday, she gave him a backpack and insisted he leave – since he had mostly raised himself in the woods, this was not a problem, but the night she sent him away, she took her own life.

He hopped into the back of a heavy-hauler truck and hid beneath a tarp and rode to the city.  There he met a man who was like him and who then raised him and became his father.  But even that came to an end a decade later when two policemen came upon them in a snowstorm and insisted on identification.  When his father removed his ski mask, the police shot him to death and then beat him.  Addison was able to hide away until they left.  Then he disposed of the corpse as he’d been instructed to do.

Another eight years passed with him living in a subterranean room and venturing out only when he was sure he would not be seen.  Then one night, in his favorite place, the city library, he saw a girl being chased by a man.  The girl, Gwyneth, dresses and uses makeup to appear like a marionette.

The story goes from there, showing man’s fear of innocence and how the world ends and is renewed.