Near-Life Experience

by Emma G. Rose

Eric just wants to do his job as an EMT. He's mostly recovered from the freak accident that put him in the hospital. There's just one thing still bothering him--the ghosts. At least, he thinks they're ghosts. They only seem to show up when one of his patients is close to death. In Eric's case, "close to Death" is more than a figure of speech. The Reaper is not thrilled about Eric's newfound abilities. Humans aren't even supposed to see the souls of the nearly departed. They're certainly not supposed to talk to them. Where did Eric get this inhuman power? Most importantly, can Death put a stop to it before bureaucracy gets involved? If they don't solve the mystery quickly Eric might not be the only one who has to pay a price.

314 pages, Paperback

Published July 24, 2020

About the author

Emma G Rose is a Maine author of contemporary fantasy and mythological weirdness. She intended to become an intrepid girl reporter like Nellie Bly. Then she spent Christmas Eve on a riverbank waiting for rescue divers to pull a body from the water. That's when she stopped waiting and wandered off to explore the world instead. She believes that stories can blaze a trail through the darkness and lead us back to the light. What you do when you get there is up to you.

Reviews

[Cyndi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Our hero's natural instinct is to save people. When he takes a risk to save a little boy and ends up almost dying, his entire life changes. He begins to interrupt Death's job, and he isn't pleased.
A good book with lots of gods and goddesses and one guy's search for answers.

[Kimberly Braley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a story that hooked me in after just one chapter and kept me turning the pages as fast as I could! A great mix of the real world and what lies beyond, it kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next and how Eric and Death would get out of the mess they were in! Thank you for another great read, cousin!

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this book after having read Nothing’s Ever Lost. This story follows Eric and his life as an EMT, but also brings you through an afterlife like experience, after Eric meddles with death and fate. By far one of the best books I have ever read.

[Mark Harbinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Cosmic Case of Office Politics ~ A Review of Near-Life Experience

The protagonist (but not the main character, we'll get to that in a second) is Eric Silva, a snarky first responder. By the end of the third chapter of Emma Rose's debut novel (2020), Eric has been [spoilers, sort of] killed, sort of, and [spoilers, sort of] resurrected, sort of. Also by then, we are introduced to the true main character—and that character is Death. That's right, the guy with the scythe and dark robe, although in all fairness he does do his best to be stylish throughout the book. The thing is, Death soon realizes that Eric can actually see and affect the souls traveling from the here and now to the after-life. And Death realizes this is a sign of a cosmic disturbance that he needs to rectify. This is a classic event-driven speculative work: ie, something has gone off the rails and it is up to Death to put it right…even after his apparent demotion!

I really enjoyed this book, overall. The beginning is especially strong. The dialogue is snappy and the excitement of the opening scene pulls you in (or should I say 'out', like a soul?). Throughout the first half of the book, the universe continues to expand as Rose skillfully weaves the meta-mythology of her universe with the threads of all the attendant Gods that serve on Death's Board, in the bureaucracy of the after-life that was one of my favorite parts of the novel, by far.

Rose’s prose style is sharp and clear. Death is especially likable throughout (in a curmudgeonly uncle sort of way) and even ends up being somewhat put upon—I mean, for an omnipresent character who is never really in any danger. In that way, Rose does a really nice job of creating tension. The stakes are cosmic and they work to drive the plot. It's a lot of fun.

As for characters, Near-Life Experience features Eric, his best friend Andy, his Sister and his Mom, as well as a bevy of cosmic characters (Gods of various historical mythologies), plus the human souls who needed work, after they passed on. Another fun player is Morpheus (no doubt in a nod to Gaiman) the keeper of the Dream World. The Sandman here, just as in Gaiman's work, is Death's brother. Only, in a role reversal, in this book, Morpheus is the life of the party.

The book very much has a YA vibe to it—which is fine, except that it suffers from what a lot of YA suffers from—lack of deeper characterization. Here, really none of the characters are fully fleshed out. His family act out their main personality traits and deliver what they need to deliver. Romances that are hinted at in the first act become romances in the third act as promised in a fairly straight-forward manner. The harpy Mom is an over-the-top nag. The best friend is dutiful. Even the protagonist, Eric, for all he goes through, is pretty much the same guy (personality wise) at the end as he was in the beginning. There is a nod towards this being a "hero's journey" for Eric—but, he started out in Chapter One as a first responder, who nearly dies trying to save a child, so that isn't really the growth I was looking for, either.

One exception is an exquisite scene within a scene, where a background character (Hector, the step-dad) gets to say his piece and force Andy—and the reader—to check our assumptions at the door.

But, at the level of what it sets out to do (a normal guy getting caught in some cosmic melodrama) this book really delivers. The key to this book is that author Emma Rose does not play the outrageous plot for camp or laughs. Like Adam West in the old (1966) Batman TV show, Death, Eric and everyone else in the cosmic gallery are absolutely and utterly earnest about what is happening. And that is what makes it work (and be truly hilarious, in some parts).

Rose is a self-published author I look forward to seeing more of in the future.

7.5/10 ****

[Dylan West · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dialogue Done Right. And who knew death could be so funny?

I don't usually fall for stories that remake Greek and Roman myths in a modern light. It's been done so many times. However, this book does it so well that I don't care.

Let's start with Death. His dry humor and personality endeared me right away. And his internal response to a chatty librarian in the afterlife was perfect: "He was justifiably cross at the prospect of being greeted as though he were a guest in a cafe rather than the King of Terrors himself." And when the woman asks him for ID and he pulls his iconic scythe from thin air.

I love how the author portrays the complexities of human emotion. Especially around 52% where two characters are processing their grief about a friend's coma.

As for the writing quality... have you ever read books on how to improve your writing? Remember how they like to give examples of what good writing looks like? You could flop this novel open to any random page and find worthy candidates.

Some parts I found memorable:

-"It wasn't like he opened his bathroom door in the morning to find Beetlejuice sudsing up in his shower" (this one made me do a spit-take)
-"...and not at all because the idea of Andy in a war zone made her feel like she'd swallowed a hand grenade."
-"...as though he'd done it out of spite and not because he'd spent the night doing CPR on a guy whose organs sloshed in his chest cavity with every compression."
-"A cloud so ... white and fluffy it could have come out of a Care Bears cartoon."
-"Each step they took sent a puff of dust up from the arid ground, so they ended up walking in a sad little dust cloud, like Pigpen from the Charlie Brown cartoons."
-There's a scene where a young guy scolds his dad for letting a woman (a single, self-sufficient mother) cook him dinner while her son is in the hospital. I love the dad's response: "If making me dinner soothes her pride enough to allow me to buy her groceries and make sure her car gets serviced, well it seems like an even trade to me." And I love this follow up observation about the dad, named Hector: "Andy blinked rapidly while the world reordered itself into a new shape around Hector as a steady man with a good heart."

This is one of those rare books I'll be going back to read again someday. Try it for yourself and you'll see what I mean. The imagination poured into this work is a drink offering I'm sure any pantheon would gladly accept.

There are now three things that are certain in life:
-death
-taxes
-this author's other work floating over from the afterlife onto my kindle in the foreseeable future

[Heather Gadd · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fans of Neil Gaiman’s Good Omens and the Percy Jackson series will enjoy this creative tale recounting the daily life of Death and a human that throws a wrench in his routine. Many familiar characters pop up in this story, such as Roman and Greek gods, and more lesser known deities from around the world, but all of them bring something interesting to the table. The human characters are relatable and real, artfully created and equally important to the storyline. I enjoyed the banter between characters, human or otherwise, the different situations they fall into, and the subsequent pragmatic resolutions. You will not regret diving into the crazy world constructed by Emma G. Rose.

This book was a real treat and I’m thankful to the author for the gifted copy. The opinions are my own.

[Caryn Reveling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story of a regular EMT who dies briefly and when he wakes up he has a power to see the souls of the dying. Death is there and witnesses this human's inhuman power. Death and the EMT have to work together in the other world to find out who did this to him.

I love how Emma interwove the Roman and Greek Gods into the story as helpers, hinders, and of course the tricksters. So, who did this and for what purpose.

Our EMT is on a Hero's Journey to save an unbound soul and get the answer to what happened to him.

[Tracey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was recommended by a friend and I have read another book by this author that I liked. This one was an interesting storyline and I hadn’t read something like it before, it was very interesting and creative. It was a quick read and I’m glad to have read it.

[Donna · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing adventure! I look forward to reading more books from this author

[Dayana Arabadzhieva · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beshe mi malko skuchna v nachaloto no posle stana interesna