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THE NEXT OBITUARY
348 pages, Paperback
Published August 13, 2026
About the author
Elise Crowe
10 books1 followerElise Crowe writes psychological thrillers about secrets, guilt, manipulation, and the moment ordinary situations become dangerous.
Her novels explore unreliable stories, hidden motives, moral ambiguity, and the unsettling question of what happens when the person who controls the narrative knows more than everyone else.
Her books include She Knew the Password, Nothing But the Verdict, The Next Obituary, The Woman on the Seventh Floor, The Woman in the Firebreak, The Thirteenth Key, and The Seventh Course.
Her novels explore unreliable stories, hidden motives, moral ambiguity, and the unsettling question of what happens when the person who controls the narrative knows more than everyone else.
Her books include She Knew the Password, Nothing But the Verdict, The Next Obituary, The Woman on the Seventh Floor, The Woman in the Firebreak, The Thirteenth Key, and The Seventh Course.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 6, 2026
TLDR; Not worth the read. Unpolished and very poorly edited overall.
Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.
I started writing a three star review after the first 10 pages. Then a two star at the quarter point. Then about a third of the way through, it became a one star read. The premise of the book is so good and I was very excited to read it, which is why it pains me to give it a low rating. My main gripe isn’t even with the story, it’s with the bizarre formatting, the obvious lack of editor, and for the writing style choices.
Every sentence has it’s own line break.
Every.
Single.
One.
Amazon says this whole book is close to 800 pages.
It’d guess it’s less than half that with the whole book being formatted like this.
The sentences are short.
They are simple.
It becomes tiring to read shortly after starting.
There is nothing wrong with a shorter, snappier style but in this particular case it just doesn’t work for the whole book because it’s physically tiring to read on the eyes. This sort of style is better used for epic poems and not thrillers. In my opinion, it would have been beneficial if it had much more limited use in choice sections framed by more traditional paragraph formatting. It would have also made the various twists and turns in the plot have more emphasis when used sparingly.
Another formatting choice that I thought was strange was the numbers within the numbered chapters. They were numbered in order inside the chapters before every new “scene” or story beat (which made even less sense from a formatting perspective). I don’t know if this is leftover from what little editing was done, but it didn’t serve any thematic or functional purpose from what I could tell and I was confused why it was there. The same effect could have been achieved with a simple black line to separate scenes. I was especially confused when there were a handful of instances using an ornamental graphic in place of the numbers. I would have stuck with the graphic the whole way through. The extra numbers within the chapter are unnecessary.
Aside from the formatting, writing-wise there are almost no descriptors for how any of the characters are talking. As a result, the dialogue feels flat for the majority of the story, and we really don’t get a strong sense of most character personalities other than what is explicitly told to us through Owen’s perspective. Owen himself does feel slightly more fleshed out, but that’s almost exclusively due to his inner monologue and dry humor-laced one liners. There is also very limited use of environmental descriptors so much of the environment is left to the imagination.
The humorous descriptions from Owen's inner monologue were entertaining and made me chuckle a few times near the beginning. Then, I would come across a line referencing how many letters/syllables were in a word in what was just said or the number of words in a sentence and the number amount would be wrong and take me out of the story:
“She stops beside my desk.
“Office.”
“I’m busy.”
“Now.”
Four letters.
Bad.”
The wrong number thing happened multiple times within the first few chapters, then continued intermittently for the rest of the book. If I wasn’t already kind of invested in the story, I would have put it down because it really annoyed me. Occasionally, there were a few words that didn’t make sense in context, sentences with missing articles (a, the, an, etc.) and others that were one letter off of making sense:
“Lucas hears his cabin mentioned.
He goes to the cabin.
Marian reads water.
What did she do?”
I believe “reads” was supposed to be “treads.”
On top of everything else, there is so much repetition with some phrases and they became very noticeable with the formatting choices as a result to the point of feeling artificial and overly rehearsed. Most of the biggest reveals involve something happening either “quietly”, someone’s words hit “hard” or they “land,” and of course, Owen smiling at something and doing no other stated expression with his face apart from that. There are also quite a few short bursts of description followed by a short descriptor which I noticed in the first quarter of the book and couldn’t stop noticing after.
“Not saint.
Not body.
Important.”
(One page later)
“Not loved.
Wanted.”
(Same page further down)
“Not fear.
Recognition”
(A few pages later)
“No sirens.
No cinematic urgency.
Just systems.”
There is nothing wrong with using the above narrative formatting or with using repetition as a narrative tool, but this along with the limited vocabulary choices make the writing feel irritatingly monotonous. The little prose that’s included is in severe need of more variation. The dialogue also needs to be differentiated between the characters a lot more. Presently, the majority of the dialogue reads like it’s in the writer’s voice and not the characters. The most offensive thing relating to the dialogue is the complete lack of naming what character is speaking. Unless conversation was less than six lines and limited between two characters, I frequently lost track of who was speaking and when because my eyes were having trouble following the copious amounts of dialogue. If there were more than three speakers in a room I had to slow down and re-read a few times using context clues to figure out who was saying what.
To an extent, the plot also suffers from the same repetition problem. Owen consistently goes against direct orders from his boss at the paper and the police. They tell him that he shouldn’t investigate on his own/call witness on the phone/go to certain places relevant to the obituary letters and there were never any negative consequences. As a result, there was a lack of tension with him and there were no stakes to speak of whenever he went against orders. There is intrigue about other things with the obituaries and the investigation going on, but I had a hard time feeling any sense of suspense because the wording on every page had a line written to sound "profound" but there wasn't any substance behind the words. And if the words did have substance behind them, it was too late. It made me want to roll my eyes because I was so annoyed with how many "profound" sentences were wedged into the story.
To make things worse, the overall plot hook and through line was conceptually solid and made me want to keep reading to give it a chance but I kept having to take breaks because of the issues outlined above. This had the potential to be a really compelling story, which is the most heartbreaking part. However, given all my grievances with this book, I can’t base my review on potential so I give this book one star.
Disclosure: I received a free advance copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.
I started writing a three star review after the first 10 pages. Then a two star at the quarter point. Then about a third of the way through, it became a one star read. The premise of the book is so good and I was very excited to read it, which is why it pains me to give it a low rating. My main gripe isn’t even with the story, it’s with the bizarre formatting, the obvious lack of editor, and for the writing style choices.
Every sentence has it’s own line break.
Every.
Single.
One.
Amazon says this whole book is close to 800 pages.
It’d guess it’s less than half that with the whole book being formatted like this.
The sentences are short.
They are simple.
It becomes tiring to read shortly after starting.
There is nothing wrong with a shorter, snappier style but in this particular case it just doesn’t work for the whole book because it’s physically tiring to read on the eyes. This sort of style is better used for epic poems and not thrillers. In my opinion, it would have been beneficial if it had much more limited use in choice sections framed by more traditional paragraph formatting. It would have also made the various twists and turns in the plot have more emphasis when used sparingly.
Another formatting choice that I thought was strange was the numbers within the numbered chapters. They were numbered in order inside the chapters before every new “scene” or story beat (which made even less sense from a formatting perspective). I don’t know if this is leftover from what little editing was done, but it didn’t serve any thematic or functional purpose from what I could tell and I was confused why it was there. The same effect could have been achieved with a simple black line to separate scenes. I was especially confused when there were a handful of instances using an ornamental graphic in place of the numbers. I would have stuck with the graphic the whole way through. The extra numbers within the chapter are unnecessary.
Aside from the formatting, writing-wise there are almost no descriptors for how any of the characters are talking. As a result, the dialogue feels flat for the majority of the story, and we really don’t get a strong sense of most character personalities other than what is explicitly told to us through Owen’s perspective. Owen himself does feel slightly more fleshed out, but that’s almost exclusively due to his inner monologue and dry humor-laced one liners. There is also very limited use of environmental descriptors so much of the environment is left to the imagination.
The humorous descriptions from Owen's inner monologue were entertaining and made me chuckle a few times near the beginning. Then, I would come across a line referencing how many letters/syllables were in a word in what was just said or the number of words in a sentence and the number amount would be wrong and take me out of the story:
“She stops beside my desk.
“Office.”
“I’m busy.”
“Now.”
Four letters.
Bad.”
The wrong number thing happened multiple times within the first few chapters, then continued intermittently for the rest of the book. If I wasn’t already kind of invested in the story, I would have put it down because it really annoyed me. Occasionally, there were a few words that didn’t make sense in context, sentences with missing articles (a, the, an, etc.) and others that were one letter off of making sense:
“Lucas hears his cabin mentioned.
He goes to the cabin.
Marian reads water.
What did she do?”
I believe “reads” was supposed to be “treads.”
On top of everything else, there is so much repetition with some phrases and they became very noticeable with the formatting choices as a result to the point of feeling artificial and overly rehearsed. Most of the biggest reveals involve something happening either “quietly”, someone’s words hit “hard” or they “land,” and of course, Owen smiling at something and doing no other stated expression with his face apart from that. There are also quite a few short bursts of description followed by a short descriptor which I noticed in the first quarter of the book and couldn’t stop noticing after.
“Not saint.
Not body.
Important.”
(One page later)
“Not loved.
Wanted.”
(Same page further down)
“Not fear.
Recognition”
(A few pages later)
“No sirens.
No cinematic urgency.
Just systems.”
There is nothing wrong with using the above narrative formatting or with using repetition as a narrative tool, but this along with the limited vocabulary choices make the writing feel irritatingly monotonous. The little prose that’s included is in severe need of more variation. The dialogue also needs to be differentiated between the characters a lot more. Presently, the majority of the dialogue reads like it’s in the writer’s voice and not the characters. The most offensive thing relating to the dialogue is the complete lack of naming what character is speaking. Unless conversation was less than six lines and limited between two characters, I frequently lost track of who was speaking and when because my eyes were having trouble following the copious amounts of dialogue. If there were more than three speakers in a room I had to slow down and re-read a few times using context clues to figure out who was saying what.
To an extent, the plot also suffers from the same repetition problem. Owen consistently goes against direct orders from his boss at the paper and the police. They tell him that he shouldn’t investigate on his own/call witness on the phone/go to certain places relevant to the obituary letters and there were never any negative consequences. As a result, there was a lack of tension with him and there were no stakes to speak of whenever he went against orders. There is intrigue about other things with the obituaries and the investigation going on, but I had a hard time feeling any sense of suspense because the wording on every page had a line written to sound "profound" but there wasn't any substance behind the words. And if the words did have substance behind them, it was too late. It made me want to roll my eyes because I was so annoyed with how many "profound" sentences were wedged into the story.
To make things worse, the overall plot hook and through line was conceptually solid and made me want to keep reading to give it a chance but I kept having to take breaks because of the issues outlined above. This had the potential to be a really compelling story, which is the most heartbreaking part. However, given all my grievances with this book, I can’t base my review on potential so I give this book one star.
September 30, 2026
The Next Obituary
By - Elise Crowe
These are my unbiased thoughts on The Next Obituary.
There was one little thing that gave me pause: Pages 27 and 28 have lines that feel accidental: “Dophene's right hand closes around a pen when I say 2008. Small” and “But when I say 2008, her right hand closes around a pen. Small.”
Other than that, the author has a good sense of humor and a clear voice.
The story is a very conversational, first-person script that is easy to follow and kept me glued to my computer screen for way too long, in a good way.
The characters are all distinguishable from one another, which I really enjoyed. Each character had their own personality and place within the story that made perfect sense.
I also really enjoyed the way the story unfolded. It kept me interested enough to keep reading, and before I knew it, I had finished the 328-page manuscript in one sitting.
The author's ending on Beatrice's obituary is also quite poetic, in my opinion.
The book is well written, and I truly loved it. It has humour, personality, interesting characters, and a writing style that made it very easy for me to settle into the story and just keep going.
Sometimes you pick up a book thinking, “I'll just read a little bit,” and then suddenly you realise you've been sitting there for hours. The Next Obituary was one of those books for me.
I genuinely enjoyed reading it, and at moments, I even felt like the main protagonist was talking directly to me when sharing his thoughts. The prose was unpolished, but the story was great.
I received a free advance copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.
By - Elise Crowe
These are my unbiased thoughts on The Next Obituary.
There was one little thing that gave me pause: Pages 27 and 28 have lines that feel accidental: “Dophene's right hand closes around a pen when I say 2008. Small” and “But when I say 2008, her right hand closes around a pen. Small.”
Other than that, the author has a good sense of humor and a clear voice.
The story is a very conversational, first-person script that is easy to follow and kept me glued to my computer screen for way too long, in a good way.
The characters are all distinguishable from one another, which I really enjoyed. Each character had their own personality and place within the story that made perfect sense.
I also really enjoyed the way the story unfolded. It kept me interested enough to keep reading, and before I knew it, I had finished the 328-page manuscript in one sitting.
The author's ending on Beatrice's obituary is also quite poetic, in my opinion.
The book is well written, and I truly loved it. It has humour, personality, interesting characters, and a writing style that made it very easy for me to settle into the story and just keep going.
Sometimes you pick up a book thinking, “I'll just read a little bit,” and then suddenly you realise you've been sitting there for hours. The Next Obituary was one of those books for me.
I genuinely enjoyed reading it, and at moments, I even felt like the main protagonist was talking directly to me when sharing his thoughts. The prose was unpolished, but the story was great.
I received a free advance copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.
October 2, 2026
I received a free advance copy of this book and am leaving an honest review.
This book had an intriguing premise with plenty of potential, but the execution ultimately didn’t work for me.
My biggest issue was the conversational formatting. Although I understood what the author was trying to achieve, there was simply too much of it, and I often found it distracting. The book also revisited some of the same subjects and ideas, which made parts of the story feel repetitive.
That said, I still found the overall concept compelling, and finished this book fairly quick.
This book had an intriguing premise with plenty of potential, but the execution ultimately didn’t work for me.
My biggest issue was the conversational formatting. Although I understood what the author was trying to achieve, there was simply too much of it, and I often found it distracting. The book also revisited some of the same subjects and ideas, which made parts of the story feel repetitive.
That said, I still found the overall concept compelling, and finished this book fairly quick.
October 3, 2026
The premise of this book was promising, but unfortunately the writing itself completely pulled me out of the book. I really wanted to like this book, but while the plot was decent, the writing made it difficult for me to get through.
I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review!
I'm used to the more clipped writing style that's popular now, especially since it's written in first person. I wouldn't mind as much if it was just the character's way of speaking or internal monologue, but every character spoke in the same clipped (often one word or incomplete) sentences, which proved that it was simply the writing style instead of a conscious choice. The formatting also made it harder to keep up with who was speaking. Nearly every sentence was a new line, especially in dialogue, but a new line didn't necessarily mean that a different character was speaking. Context can only help so much when each line is under 5 words long. I don't mind that style when it's used for dramatic effect, but writing it that way throughout the entire book made it feel so much longer than it was.
The plot itself was engaging, and was what kept me pushing to the end of the book. The concept of early obituaries tied to real murders was intriguing, and I felt there were enough twists to keep me engaged. I liked the second mystery woven in, though I felt things could have felt more suspenseful at times. I didn't guess the culprit, though I did guess a few other twists along the way.
I really wanted to like this book! It had so much potential, but it was also in dire need of an editor. There were a few errors that weren't caught before publishing. However, it was a quick, light read and if you don't mind a really clipped writing style the story itself is worth reading!
I received this book for free in exchange for my honest review!
I'm used to the more clipped writing style that's popular now, especially since it's written in first person. I wouldn't mind as much if it was just the character's way of speaking or internal monologue, but every character spoke in the same clipped (often one word or incomplete) sentences, which proved that it was simply the writing style instead of a conscious choice. The formatting also made it harder to keep up with who was speaking. Nearly every sentence was a new line, especially in dialogue, but a new line didn't necessarily mean that a different character was speaking. Context can only help so much when each line is under 5 words long. I don't mind that style when it's used for dramatic effect, but writing it that way throughout the entire book made it feel so much longer than it was.
The plot itself was engaging, and was what kept me pushing to the end of the book. The concept of early obituaries tied to real murders was intriguing, and I felt there were enough twists to keep me engaged. I liked the second mystery woven in, though I felt things could have felt more suspenseful at times. I didn't guess the culprit, though I did guess a few other twists along the way.
I really wanted to like this book! It had so much potential, but it was also in dire need of an editor. There were a few errors that weren't caught before publishing. However, it was a quick, light read and if you don't mind a really clipped writing style the story itself is worth reading!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews