Here After by Sean Costello

 Here After is a crime thriller with a supernatural leaning and covers the deepest emotions of family loss.

 

Peter Croft is holding his dying son in the hospital, ready to join him in the afterlife as soon as it happens to make sure he is okay. But as Peter moves with David to the next plane, he has a vision about David and is brought back by a medical team. Once fully recovered, but enraged at the failure, he leaves the hospital and notices a particular picture on the Missing Children board. Why he is drawn to this picture he doesn’t know, but something in him pulls him and he feels compelled to try to find the missing boy.

 

When Peter comes to his senses and realises he is no private investigator, he knows he needs to deal with David’s death and joins a bereavement group. He is already no stranger to family loss with the passing of his wife. Here he meets Roger, whose son Jason went missing three years prior. He and Roger become good friends and one night, while at Roger’s house, he realises he has seen Jason’s room before – in his death vision.

 

This leads to a time-sensitive mystery to solve; one where the missing children may have a connection. Peter starts getting help from a supernatural source, but with just a hypothesis and no actual evidence, who will believe him?

 

This book really gripped me from the beginning. With the opening section about David dying and Peter wanting to go with him, I was curious as to how this was going to work if he was dead. Then, as we move through his grief, the author has managed to convey the depths of his despair and, as you read, you can feel his overwhelming ache and the desperation he feels.

 

I loved the supernatural twist and the “is he going crazy” possibility. I didn’t even care if the *spoiler ahead* physicality of staying alive without consistent food or water was feasible. The fact that Peter was willing to go to extreme lengths or try new ideas about things made the story real. And all his flaws just added to layers the author managed to give him.

 

Roger was another well-written character, as he often said or did things that were completely wrong, but understanding his grief and how he must have tried to cope through the years explained a lot. The ending of the book was a punch in the gut, but it was exactly the right way to end the story.

 

I wasn’t planning on reading the entire story in one fell swoop, but every time I put it down, I’d pick it up again and say just one more chapter. Well, that went on until the story was done. And the fact that it was almost error free added to the enjoyment. The author has a wonderful style of writing and I’ll definitely be reading more!