Forever After
A Dark Comedy
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- £8.49
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- £8.49
Publisher Description
Michael Holland is a grim reaper working the worst beat in the worst town. Michael’s best friend is a pot-smoking tooth fairy, his boss is the angel of death, his psychiatrist can read his mind, and he counts bogeymen, demons, and clones as his acquaintances.
His nine-to-five is a succession of stupidity, clearing up the remains of the latest Darwin Award winner or dealing with the detritus of some apocalyptic clerical error, and it only seems to be getting worse. Michael is as equally disillusioned with death as he was with life, but at least life made more sense.
In Forever After, Michael and his friends battle confused succubi, tormented psychopaths, evil henchmen, and a demon who thinks he’s Santa Claus. This darkly humorous novel is set in a fantasy world that exists parallel to ours—a world where anything is possible, very little makes sense, and nothing is as it seems.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Jester (An Idiot in Marriage) makes an unsuccessful foray into dark comedy that simply tries too hard. For the 30 years since Michael Holland's untimely death, he's worked as a reaper who collects the souls of the dead and turns them in for credits, like an Uber driver of the afterlife. He has the worst beat in his anonymous town: Brittleside, the home of the dregs of society. The series of interconnected vignettes, many told through Michael's conversations with his psychiatrist, details Michael's metamorphosis from a simple bystander in his own existence to an active but very annoying participant who's fueled by self-righteous indignation. The catalyst for his change is an unknown force who has taken great offense at the reaper's side assignment of sleuthing. Along with his friends Chip (who exists to be a source for toilet humor) and Naff (a record keeper whose characterization is paper-thin), Michael stumbles through cases involving mysterious werewolf deaths, clones, Santa Claus, and a serial killer. The novel's rapid vacillation among graphic horror, psychological thriller, and Michael's agitated musings ensures that it's light on comedy but heavy on lowbrow jokes. Most readers won't last to the thoroughly unsatisfying cliffhanger ending.
