CALL ME WHEN YOU'RE DEAD

A bookworm seeks retribution in this novel about eternal friendship.

Taylor’s protagonist is Eleanor Birch, a medical librarian. Eleanor always looked forward to gatherings with the glamorous Sasha Cole, her longtime friend from prep school. But Sasha makes an odd request at their latest lunch. Referring to her often absent boyfriend, adman Jon Neel, Sasha tells Eleanor: “If anything ever happens to me, I want you to get him.” Baffled by Sasha’s entreaty, Eleanor jokingly agrees to do so. Then Sasha dies in a car accident, crashing into the tour bus for the band Mother’s Laundry. Sasha’s will leaves Eleanor $50,000 to pay for her mission to “get” Jon. At Sasha’s funeral, Eleanor meets the man who will become her accomplice, actor Tony Lowe. Tony helps Eleanor move to New York City and amplify her beauty. He even comes up with a scheme for Eleanor’s crusade: “Listen, seduce and abandon.” To get to know Jon, Eleanor is forced to immerse herself in his bizarre world of advertising, the setting for much of the novel. She also befriends Jon’s mentally disabled brother, Walter, and Walter’s girlfriend, Susan Dietz. Eleanor eventually reaches her goal, only to find out how badly she misinterpreted Sasha’s wishes. In this layered story, Taylor has woven a heartstrings-tugging story of change (whether it’s growth or not is for readers to judge). Eleanor emerges from her chrysalis while Jon becomes a more well-rounded human. It’s almost as if someone has plans for them. Unfortunately, Jon’s agency co-workers remain largely vile people. Still, the author’s well-researched work transports readers and Eleanor, a stranger in a strange land, to the insular world of advertising. What’s odd is that Eleanor, a very intelligent woman, has such trouble getting a true handle on what Sasha meant for her to do. Was it simply vengeance for Jon’s shutting out Sasha, who notoriously picked the wrong men, or was it something more? But this book wouldn’t have been nearly as compelling without Eleanor’s confusion.

This intriguing tale successfully combines reprisal and renewal.