Review: Brilliantly written wonderful concept....
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 3, 2014
I adored the concept of this novel, the way it was written and the characters created. The idea of guides to the afterlife is not an uncommon theme. Medhurst sets the theme apart by creating a detailed “Deadline” world. Her spirits are still very much in touch with their earthly emotions and bound to their earthly loved ones. They’ve no control over the assignments they receive so when word comes down that Danny’s wife has reached her deadline, his friends know it will be a very difficult transition.Medhurst seems to use the scenes to show the humanity of the characters. We learn as much about Charlie in the scene in which he's watching a woman bathe and then witnesses and altercation as we do most characters in the space of a novel.When the bad guy writes in a notebook the method of Mia’s passing, that might be a little much. By that point in the novel I simply didn’t care. I was so focused on following these characters and finding out what happened next that if the bad guy had rented a billboard and posted the way in which he was supposed to kill Mia I would have said, “Yeah, that sounds right.”The ending is brilliantly handled and the novel is engaging throughout. Every in the line of business conversation was worth reading and I did not notice any errors in pacing or of a technical nature that hindered the enjoyment of the work. I would love to read more of this world and these compelling characters though I do not know if Medhurst has planned subsequent works.