What do you think?
Rate this book
The X-Files: Young Adult #14
Akte X Novel 14 - Leonard Betts
Mulder und Scully werden mit einem Fall konfrontiert, in dem der Gesuchte nicht nur gegen Krebs immun zu sein scheint, sondern sogar davon zehrt.
123 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1999
73 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 30, 2017
“And I hope you’re not suggesting a headless body kicked its way out a latched morgue freezer” – Scully to Mulder (p.13).
Regeneration is a young-adult novelization of the Season Four episode of The X-Files titled “Leonard Betts.” In Pittsburgh, FBI Agents Mulder and Scully investigate the apparent death and regeneration of an exemplary EMT named Leonard Betts, a humanoid mutant who subsists on cancer and possesses unimaginative regenerative abilities.
Regeneration, which chronologically is the last book in the young-adult series, features one of the more fascinating monsters in The X-Files gallery of baddies. Unlike Eugene Victor Tooms ("Squeeze") or the Flukeman ("The Host"), Betts is actually a sympathetic, almost tragic character villain who is murdering cancer-riddled victims to ensure his survival, the deaths of his victims being incidental to his needs. As an EMT, he worked vigorously to help people, and only resorts to murder after a freak accident brings his abnormalities to light. As more and more of this complex character is revealed, readers will have a difficult time seeing Leonard Betts as a genuine monster.
Penned by the three of the show’s more solid writers—the three-headed monster that is Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz—this is a quintessential monster-of-the-week story that will likely stick with readers. Well-executed and with a lingering mystery that gradually reveals itself over that course of the story, Regeneration is also notable for its shocking revelation in the closing pages, the revelation that Scully has cancer. Observant readers will likely appreciate the clever set-up in the book’s climax, the first subtle clue that Scully has cancer revealed through a bombshell of a phrase (“I’m sorry, but you have something I need”) that Leonard Betts used just prior to his attack on Scully.
Regeneration is a faithful adaptation of a quirky yet well-crafted episodic script. Everett Owens (which is a pen name for author/screenwriter Rob Thomas) does a commendable job translating the witty banter between Mulder and Scully, depicting their thoughts and frustrations. There’s so much to like here that even the most adamant fans of the television series will not be disappointed by this wholly satisfactory novelization.
Regeneration is a young-adult novelization of the Season Four episode of The X-Files titled “Leonard Betts.” In Pittsburgh, FBI Agents Mulder and Scully investigate the apparent death and regeneration of an exemplary EMT named Leonard Betts, a humanoid mutant who subsists on cancer and possesses unimaginative regenerative abilities.
Regeneration, which chronologically is the last book in the young-adult series, features one of the more fascinating monsters in The X-Files gallery of baddies. Unlike Eugene Victor Tooms ("Squeeze") or the Flukeman ("The Host"), Betts is actually a sympathetic, almost tragic character villain who is murdering cancer-riddled victims to ensure his survival, the deaths of his victims being incidental to his needs. As an EMT, he worked vigorously to help people, and only resorts to murder after a freak accident brings his abnormalities to light. As more and more of this complex character is revealed, readers will have a difficult time seeing Leonard Betts as a genuine monster.
Penned by the three of the show’s more solid writers—the three-headed monster that is Vince Gilligan, John Shiban, and Frank Spotnitz—this is a quintessential monster-of-the-week story that will likely stick with readers. Well-executed and with a lingering mystery that gradually reveals itself over that course of the story, Regeneration is also notable for its shocking revelation in the closing pages, the revelation that Scully has cancer. Observant readers will likely appreciate the clever set-up in the book’s climax, the first subtle clue that Scully has cancer revealed through a bombshell of a phrase (“I’m sorry, but you have something I need”) that Leonard Betts used just prior to his attack on Scully.
Regeneration is a faithful adaptation of a quirky yet well-crafted episodic script. Everett Owens (which is a pen name for author/screenwriter Rob Thomas) does a commendable job translating the witty banter between Mulder and Scully, depicting their thoughts and frustrations. There’s so much to like here that even the most adamant fans of the television series will not be disappointed by this wholly satisfactory novelization.
February 13, 2018
Damn Scully, sorry you had to find out about your cancer that way!
April 11, 2018
I wanted a quick and easy book to read. After reading some of the other books in the series, I kind of made the series my go to easy book to read in a short period of time.
The book was about the same group of FBI agents going around looking into events that didn’t add up or didn't make any sense. Being one of the later books in the series it still did not change any of the pace from the other books before it. The books introduces a character, named Betts that basically dies from a car accident. After the accident though, his body goes missing. The agents are called in to find out what had happened. They would look into everything that Betts was basically apart of. This leads to them finding holes or things that just didn't make sense. They discover evidence of him actual dying multiple times before and evidence of how he stays alive. They discover that he stayed alive by feeding his body cancerous tumors. Which also explained his reasons for working in the hospital and his ability to identify cancer patients. The agents would than try to go after him due to him also being connected to multiple murders.
The author used the same simple setup that was used in all of the other books in the series. This setup is what makes it such an easy book to read for fun. The authors use in having the reader know more than the characters allows them to somewhat be anxious or anticipate what was going to happen next. Sometimes when reading you have an idea in the back of your head on the ending and most of the time you’re right. The books is fun this way, kinda knowing what's going to happen is fun to think about because you’re kinda also figuring out the case before the agents.
I wish the author could of had more time with Betts. In the book there wasnt alot of time spent with Betts alone. We didn't really get to see what Betts was like from his point of view. We only got to see him as a person from what the agents learn from clues and assumptions. If we got a little more one on one time with Betts I feel like seeing him being hunted would have a more powerful feeling of stress.
The book was about the same group of FBI agents going around looking into events that didn’t add up or didn't make any sense. Being one of the later books in the series it still did not change any of the pace from the other books before it. The books introduces a character, named Betts that basically dies from a car accident. After the accident though, his body goes missing. The agents are called in to find out what had happened. They would look into everything that Betts was basically apart of. This leads to them finding holes or things that just didn't make sense. They discover evidence of him actual dying multiple times before and evidence of how he stays alive. They discover that he stayed alive by feeding his body cancerous tumors. Which also explained his reasons for working in the hospital and his ability to identify cancer patients. The agents would than try to go after him due to him also being connected to multiple murders.
The author used the same simple setup that was used in all of the other books in the series. This setup is what makes it such an easy book to read for fun. The authors use in having the reader know more than the characters allows them to somewhat be anxious or anticipate what was going to happen next. Sometimes when reading you have an idea in the back of your head on the ending and most of the time you’re right. The books is fun this way, kinda knowing what's going to happen is fun to think about because you’re kinda also figuring out the case before the agents.
I wish the author could of had more time with Betts. In the book there wasnt alot of time spent with Betts alone. We didn't really get to see what Betts was like from his point of view. We only got to see him as a person from what the agents learn from clues and assumptions. If we got a little more one on one time with Betts I feel like seeing him being hunted would have a more powerful feeling of stress.
July 30, 2022
"Leonard Betts" was the name of the episode, this is the same thing but with a different name and in book form. The story itself was okay, but this adds nothing to the show.
December 18, 2014
When the body of Leonard betts disappears from the morgue after being decapated in a violet accident . Special agent milder and sully are called to investigate. I strongly recommend this book to hardcore and mystery book readers . Warning this book does have a gorew and blood details in it. But over all it's a very Interesting book . I give it 4 stars.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews