Author: Marcus Sakey
Genre: Fantasy, thriller
Published on: July 18, 2017 by Thomas & Mercer
Between life and death lies an epic war, a relentless manhunt through two worlds… and an unforgettable love story.
The last thing FBI agent Will Brody remembers is the explosion — a thousand shards of glass surfing a lethal shock wave. He wakes without a scratch. The building is in ruins. His team is gone. Outside, Chicago is dark. Cars lie abandoned. No planes cross the sky. He’s relieved to spot other people — until he sees they’re carrying machetes.
Welcome to the afterlife.
Claire McCoy stands over the body of Will Brody. As head of an FBI task force, she hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep in weeks. A terrorist has claimed eighteen lives and thrown the nation into panic. Against this horror, something reckless and beautiful happened. She fell in love… with Will Brody. But the line between life and death is narrower than any of us suspect — and all that matters to Will and Claire is getting back to each other.
When it comes to novels (especially sci-fi) it all has been done before. Even novels about a life after death. Still, Afterlife manages to feel fresh and intriguing. I’ve read a few books by Marcus Sakey before—the Brilliance saga. He has a distinctive writing style and extraordinary imagination. I started this book with high expectations. Is Afterlife as compelling as it sounds? Read on to find out.
The main character is Will Brody, an FBI Special Agent. He’s in Chicago working an unusual serial killer case. An unknown subject has been murdering random people with his sniper rifle. Leading the task force to catch this murderer is Claire McCoy, the Assistant Director of the Chicago FBI office. After 18 casualties, the city is in full panic. One day Will follows a clue that he hopes will end in him catching the sniper. He goes to a church to stop the killer’s reign of terror once and for all. Unfortunately, Will doesn’t realize he walked into a trap until it’s too late. A bomb goes off, killing Will instantly.
With the hero dead, is the book over? No. Claire McCoy is still alive. She’s sad and angry that the sniper took Will from her. Unbeknownst to the rest of their team, Will and Claire were in love. They had plans, and now those are gone. But Claire is not one to lose her head even after a personal tragedy. She isn’t leading an elite FBI task force for nothing. Claire is professional, intelligent, and highly skilled. She vows to catch the sniper, not just for Will, but for the people of Chicago.
Afterlife is about, well, life after death. That means Will’s story is far from over. He wakes up, feeling disoriented. Will doesn’t realize that he’s dead. When he exits the building, Chicago looks unusually silent and deserted. Will looks in the direction where he spotted the sniper just before the explosion. Soon after, though, Will runs into some people. He yells for them to run for cover. The people don’t stop walking toward him. Then Will realizes they’re carrying machetes.
It doesn’t take long before Will finds out that he’s dead. The afterlife is so like the living world that it’s no wonder he didn’t know at first. It’s so imaginative and detailed. The author no doubt spent time working out the details and rules of this book’s world. Also, the sniper case that Will and Claire are working on ties into the afterlife. I’m not going into detail to avoid spoilers, but it’s compelling. In the afterlife, Will also meets new allies. This makes it obvious that these things aren’t happening in Will’s head. They’re very real, at least in the book’s world.
Besides the sniper serial killer, there’s another main antagonist in Afterlife. Unlike the sniper, this other guy is much, much older and vastly more powerful. He’s basically a god in the afterlife. This person pops up throughout the book, telling the story of how he came to be. I found his chapters a little confusing. Most of them are set in the past, so that too threw me off the main story a bit. The mechanics of power in the afterlife are rather…vampire-like. Will had no idea of the kind of entities that exist in the afterlife. He’s going to need more than his skill and a team of untrained survivors to face what’s coming.
Afterlife was nothing short of stunning. The world of the afterlife that the author created feels so original and considerably well-developed. I’d go as far as saying even avid sci-fi readers don’t come across books like this one every day. I’m not giving away more about the story. This is a book you must experience without spoilers. Afterlife certainly blew me away. The protagonists, Will and Claire, are also compelling. Despite being separated, they don’t let death stand in the way of their love…or justice. Just because Will’s dead doesn’t mean he stopped being an FBI agent. That makes him a valuable, natural leader. Claire is also one of the best heroines I’ve read about. She is not a damsel in distress at all. Claire’s even smarter than Will. It speaks a lot about him that he doesn’t resent that. Will never bemoans that his love interest is smarter and has a higher rank than him. I admired that a lot.
My rating: ★★★★ 1/2
4.5 stars - A fantastic page-turner!
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