AFTER

Ashby’s latest is a page-turning supernatural thriller that explores humankind’s oldest question: “Is there life after death?”

Afflicted with terminal cancer, billionaire Mark Long has been told he has mere months to live. Fixated on what comes after (if anything), he anonymously offers a $5 billion prize to anyone who can prove to Long’s satisfaction that there is some kind of life after death. Requiring applicants to first deposit a $25,000 bond in a trust account, the contest is quickly whittled down to three finalists. Professor Megan Finlay, chair of the Holmes Parapsychology Institute at the University of Edinburgh, is close to a breakthrough. She specializes in near-death experiences—what she calls “transcendence of spatio-temporal boundaries”—and winning Long’s multibillion-dollar prize is a necessity. The funding for the financially troubled institute ends in a matter of months. If the institute closes, Finlay’s entire life’s work will be all but forgotten. Another finalist is Aidan McKnight, former Navy SEAL and head of Acheron Capital Partners, who is addicted to challenges. When he hears about Long’s contest, his assistants find Hundra Benteen, a Montana-based “sensitive” (don’t call her a medium) who—in an industry filled with scammers, frauds, and charlatans—just may be the real thing. When McKnight meets Benteen, she turns his world upside down by knowing intimate information about his father, a SEAL who disappeared and was believed to have been killed during a botched 1983 mission in Grenada. Can Benteen communicate with the spirit of McKnight’s father and pass along any critical information? The last finalist, the Swiss National Institute for Paranormal Studies, doesn’t exist and is a front for Maxim Azimov, the world’s most notorious cybercriminal and mastermind of AI Deepfake technology. As Long’s battle with cancer draws to its inevitable end, Azimov plots to permanently eliminate each of his competitors.

Many narrative elements are worthy of note here. The character dynamism is exceptional. Even secondary characters, like Finlay’s assistant, Dougal Brown, are meticulously portrayed, three-dimensional, and emotionally compelling. The multiple storylines—which largely follow the three competitors and their respective quests—are continually intertwining, which keeps the momentum brisk. Additionally, bombshell plot twists will rivet readers until the very last page. The supernatural element gives the novel its fitting dark atmospherics: “It sprang, a crushing weight that crumpled the chair under him, driving the remaining breath from his lungs. As he looked into the fiery eyes and the glinting canine fangs, he knew it was the end. He tried to recite a prayer but volition had been sucked out of him. Strangely, as he plunged into unconsciousness, it seemed as if the creature was somehow melding with him, body to body, soul to soul.” But it’s the deep, esoteric examination of life after death from multiple perspectives—reincarnation, karmic retribution, tormented spirits seeking peace, reconnecting with loved ones who have passed, etc.—that make this such a memorable thriller.

A profoundly moving read that will stay with thriller aficionados long after they finish the novel.