Afterlife Crisis

May 25, 2020
Graham returns to the world of Beforelife for another comic adventure, this time turning the focus onto chatty, well-meaning, and self-absorbed Rhinnick Feynman. Rhinnick has been hired by the mayor of the Afterlife, an alternate version of Detroit, to investigate Isaac Newton, whom the mayor believes to be up to something nefarious. The job quickly snowballs into a mayhem-filled mission to stop Newton from altering history forever. Complicating matters is Rhinnick’s belief that he is a character in a book, at the mercy of a mysterious Author’s whims. The screwball plot sees Rhinnick searching for Zeus, convincing a psychiatrist at the Detroit Mercy Hospice to release the patients, and desperately trying to avoid getting married. It’s jumbled, brisk, and not particularly concerned with making sense. Rhinnick himself is a comic figure in the vein of P.G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster, and the story relies on his charm to succeed. Some readers may be frustrated by the convoluted action, but fans of wacky doings and zippy dialogue are sure to be entertained.

June 5, 2020

Even though Rhinnick Feynman just assisted in saving the world of the afterlife, the Detroit mayor tasks him with a new mission: find Isaac Newton and stop his plans before he unravels the very nature of existence. Thinking this will also be his way to find his best friend Zeus, who suffered a mindwipe from Socrates and disappeared, Rhinnick accepts his quest. As Rhinnick searches for Isaac, he discovers small and then bigger changes in Detroit. At first, he chalks this up to the revisions of the unknown Author who controls his fate. As Rhinnick investigates more, he finds himself engaged to two separate women and once again encountering many Napoleons. VERDICT Law professor Graham (Beforelife) may have been aiming for a story combining elements of Douglas Adams and P.G. Wodehouse, but the corny and juvenile jokes, confusing worldbuilding, and meandering, fourth-wall-breaking narrative only proves to frustrate readers looking for a more cogent tale. However, fans of the author's first book may enjoy this latest fantasy adventure.--Lynnanne Pearson, Skokie P.L., IL

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 15, 2020
This sprawling novel blends droll comedy, scientific conspiracies, and a strange take on the afterlife. Graham follows his 2017 novel Beforelife with another book set in the same world: an afterlife that follows many of the same physical laws as our own and also includes a version of the city of Detroit. The novel's narrator is one Rhinnick Feynman, a man who believes this universe is actually the work of "the Author Himself," who is constantly rewriting certain details of the residents' lives. Yes, it's a winkingly metafictional take on the afterlife, given an additional flourish by Rhinnick's Wodehouse-esque narration. ("Dashed inconvenient of the chap, I'll admit," he observes of one of the Author's changes.) The literary homages don't stop there, though: There are also allusions to H.P. Lovecraft's fiction--and, yes, one character does say "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman." The plot involves Rhinnick investigating the odd changes to his world and what that might have to do with a group of people known as "Napoleons," who believe they're living through cycles of reincarnation. The man responsible for the bizarre happenings may well be Isaac Newton, engaged in a sinister plot to alter the fabric of the landscape. As that all suggests, this is a very crowded novel--which at times feels at odds with Rhinnick's jocular narration. The mashup of erudite comedy and grand cosmic theorizing may find its admirers, but it frequently feels both too busy and insufficiently kinetic. Graham's novel is ambitious, but its tone and plot are in conflict with each other.

COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.