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Afterlife
In this suspense-packed psychic horror thriller, Julie Hutchinson is driven to the edge of sanity when a brutal murder ignites a series of dark erotic paranormal invasions of her home.
Is it a psychic attack? A ghost? Or something even more terrifying?
"Douglas Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby."— Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author of Watchers, Intensity and Odd Thomas.
Afterlife is a full-length novel, in its hardcover form it was 356 pages. Don't miss other chilling bestsellers from Douglas Clegg, including The Children's Hour and The Hour Before Dark!
Is it a psychic attack? A ghost? Or something even more terrifying?
"Douglas Clegg's stories can chill the spine so effectively that the reader should keep paramedics on standby."— Dean Koontz, New York Times bestselling author of Watchers, Intensity and Odd Thomas.
Afterlife is a full-length novel, in its hardcover form it was 356 pages. Don't miss other chilling bestsellers from Douglas Clegg, including The Children's Hour and The Hour Before Dark!
276 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 7, 2004
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500 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews
May 19, 2010
I just finished this book and really enjoyed it. It has a really spooky tone that I enjoyed very much. There is almost no blood or gore. There is sex in the book, but it's creepy rather than salacious so it works well with the rest of the book. The first half reads like a murder mystery. I found it a nice, pleasant read until I got maybe halfway through it, then the pace really picked up in the second half, and had me compulsively turning pages. The supernatural elements really took over in the second half. The ending does not provide a satisfying dénouement, in my opinion, and feels like a cliffhanger setup for a sequel. I deduct one star for a less-than-satisfying ending. This is my first book by this author, and I'll probably read more by him. I recommend it to any horror fan.
February 24, 2012
Someone should have sat down with Clegg and told him "You're writing a story, a horror/thriller/mystery, not High Literature." Because the book is more or less solid for 260 pages, but then provides no closure -- it finishes up with one of those unresolved "open endings" that you can probably get away with when you're writing for English professors and public broadcasting bookgroups, but not when you're writing for the Joe Average who's looking to be entertained.
Sadly, not recommended.
Sadly, not recommended.
July 28, 2023
Very wordy and I didn't really connect with any of the characters. None of them are very likable.
January 18, 2016
I've been trying to find spooky reads for a while. This one sounded very promising. I have read a Douglas Clegg book before and I thought it was creepy. I expected the same kind of vibe from this book. However, I found myself debating how I felt about it for many days.
I was completely intrigued with how the book began. There were various chapters that gave glimpses of horrific acts happening to various people. For example, a girl being buried alive and a man being stabbed to death. These visions of people suffering made me very curious to figure out what was happening. Then the story introduced the main character, Julie. It was soon revealed that Julie was connected to one of these murders: her husband was the man stabbed to death. The chapters then described Julie's depression and grief in trying to cope with the death of her husband. Things began to get confusing and interesting when Julie learned that her husband was connected to the psychic world. As Julie started digging into her husband's past, strange and erotic things began to happen to her when she slept. To be honest, the things that happened to her gave me the chills.
Unfortunately, the the last few chapters where Julie learned the truth began to lose me. The story became very weird and choppy. The explanation as to what was happening did not make sense at all. It all seemed absurd. The way things were well developed in the beginning quickly became rushed in the last few chapters. The ending was a complete disappointment. It had no resolution. I am Not sure if the story continues in a different book but I simply did not like how things ended in this one at all. It almost felt like the author gave up on his story or was simply trying too hard to be creepy. Because of these last few chapters, my feelings towards the book went down dramatically.
In the end, I found myself with a sour taste in my mouth. This book had such great promise. It started off very strong for it had me hooked from page one. It was disappointing to see how the book switch paths and suddenly ended.
I was completely intrigued with how the book began. There were various chapters that gave glimpses of horrific acts happening to various people. For example, a girl being buried alive and a man being stabbed to death. These visions of people suffering made me very curious to figure out what was happening. Then the story introduced the main character, Julie. It was soon revealed that Julie was connected to one of these murders: her husband was the man stabbed to death. The chapters then described Julie's depression and grief in trying to cope with the death of her husband. Things began to get confusing and interesting when Julie learned that her husband was connected to the psychic world. As Julie started digging into her husband's past, strange and erotic things began to happen to her when she slept. To be honest, the things that happened to her gave me the chills.
Unfortunately, the the last few chapters where Julie learned the truth began to lose me. The story became very weird and choppy. The explanation as to what was happening did not make sense at all. It all seemed absurd. The way things were well developed in the beginning quickly became rushed in the last few chapters. The ending was a complete disappointment. It had no resolution. I am Not sure if the story continues in a different book but I simply did not like how things ended in this one at all. It almost felt like the author gave up on his story or was simply trying too hard to be creepy. Because of these last few chapters, my feelings towards the book went down dramatically.
In the end, I found myself with a sour taste in my mouth. This book had such great promise. It started off very strong for it had me hooked from page one. It was disappointing to see how the book switch paths and suddenly ended.
July 12, 2016
Afterlife: A psychic Horror Thriller
There is a phenomenon that I have personally found to be true, that is the fact that when a person you love or care about dies, most people tend to forget or maybe CHOOSE to forget anything bad associated with them. We perhaps choose to remember only the good, even to the point that we make up good things "to remember". Such a thing has happened in Julies life. Her husband Hut has been murdered and she believes he or his ghost is visiting her in her dreams. She has explicitly sexual dreams and are such that she has captured them on video tapes. This makes her question her sanity and sends her on a searchof anything psychic trying to find explanations as to what is happening. The lives of her two children and hers too are as t risk. And as she finds her answeres it leads down darker paths. This SUPERNATURAL THRILLER is HORROR at it's most graphic. I RECOMMEND with a warning ! This tale is beyond scary...
There is a phenomenon that I have personally found to be true, that is the fact that when a person you love or care about dies, most people tend to forget or maybe CHOOSE to forget anything bad associated with them. We perhaps choose to remember only the good, even to the point that we make up good things "to remember". Such a thing has happened in Julies life. Her husband Hut has been murdered and she believes he or his ghost is visiting her in her dreams. She has explicitly sexual dreams and are such that she has captured them on video tapes. This makes her question her sanity and sends her on a searchof anything psychic trying to find explanations as to what is happening. The lives of her two children and hers too are as t risk. And as she finds her answeres it leads down darker paths. This SUPERNATURAL THRILLER is HORROR at it's most graphic. I RECOMMEND with a warning ! This tale is beyond scary...
November 25, 2021
Few points up front:
-grammatically fine, no errors observed. (that's the high point, btw)
-has a premise that could start any CSI episode.
-has an ending that makes Stephen King's endings look stellar by comparison.
Otherwise, Afterlife was a perfunctory effort capturing routine grief over loss, with typical anger management moments with family, well-trodden psychic explanations that everyone knows of (or has googled at some point, including name dropping for effect), some repetitious erotic? dream/ghost? sequences, and a few plot threads that should have been pursued to conclusion.
There is an intention to be specific about the lack of true death toward the finale. However, without any concrete proof, or enough exposition about "Ability X" (yes, he calls it that), Clegg attempts to paint a story from our mired, vague history of psychic investigations into a revivalist, Lazarus type-thing, of sorts.
All of this comes way too late after meandering around with the lead character's effort to deal with loss after her husband's death, and subsequently, his body goes missing (because that's a thing here.)
Like watching an 80's slasher movie, holding your breathe, eager for the killer to appear, you aren't paying attention to the plot while waiting for the killing to start. Unfortunately, while reading this book, one is left just holding their breathe the entire time, until the last page, then you exclaim "Huh?"
Can't murder someone that can't die, ergo, no killer. And with this premise, there is no Afterlife.
Thanks for reading.
-grammatically fine, no errors observed. (that's the high point, btw)
-has a premise that could start any CSI episode.
-has an ending that makes Stephen King's endings look stellar by comparison.
Otherwise, Afterlife was a perfunctory effort capturing routine grief over loss, with typical anger management moments with family, well-trodden psychic explanations that everyone knows of (or has googled at some point, including name dropping for effect), some repetitious erotic? dream/ghost? sequences, and a few plot threads that should have been pursued to conclusion.
There is an intention to be specific about the lack of true death toward the finale. However, without any concrete proof, or enough exposition about "Ability X" (yes, he calls it that), Clegg attempts to paint a story from our mired, vague history of psychic investigations into a revivalist, Lazarus type-thing, of sorts.
All of this comes way too late after meandering around with the lead character's effort to deal with loss after her husband's death, and subsequently, his body goes missing (because that's a thing here.)
Like watching an 80's slasher movie, holding your breathe, eager for the killer to appear, you aren't paying attention to the plot while waiting for the killing to start. Unfortunately, while reading this book, one is left just holding their breathe the entire time, until the last page, then you exclaim "Huh?"
Can't murder someone that can't die, ergo, no killer. And with this premise, there is no Afterlife.
Thanks for reading.
April 7, 2022
There are few things that annoy me more than a good idea gone to waste. The central premise of Afterlife was really interesting but the story couldn't do it justice and the ending was a dull thud which made the whole experience a waste of time. I didn't really need to read one weird-sex-dream-with-a-ghost/zombie let alone constant repetitions.
The only thing I got from this novel was a further reinforcement of my life-held conviction that if I'm ever going to get up to no good, I'm not going to let someone follow me with a camera.
The only thing I got from this novel was a further reinforcement of my life-held conviction that if I'm ever going to get up to no good, I'm not going to let someone follow me with a camera.
October 11, 2024
Is this part of a trilogy I didn't know about? This didn't just have an ambiguous ending, it stopped halfway through. To be positive, most of this would make a good beginning of a book. But... well I can't really say any more of that without giving spoilers. But I can't recommend it at all as what appears to be part of a book. There have been books written where the author dies halfway through writing it that have better endings.
December 10, 2019
Wish I'd never started this book!!
Author took forever to get anywhere in the story!! Then when you thought MAYBE it's going somewhere,it's over!! If the wife had at least done SOMETHING at the end,I might have given 2stars but she didn't!! It just ended!! Major letdown and I normally like Cleggs books..
Author took forever to get anywhere in the story!! Then when you thought MAYBE it's going somewhere,it's over!! If the wife had at least done SOMETHING at the end,I might have given 2stars but she didn't!! It just ended!! Major letdown and I normally like Cleggs books..
January 12, 2020
Started this book, realized it had read it before.
No a bad book, but at the beginning I think of Dr. Xaviers School for gifted children...lol and I remember disliking the ending. So i skimmed. First 1/2 of the box k is good, second 1/2, not good...plus...I
Still dislike the ending.
Growl.
Not one of Clegg’s best.
No a bad book, but at the beginning I think of Dr. Xaviers School for gifted children...lol and I remember disliking the ending. So i skimmed. First 1/2 of the box k is good, second 1/2, not good...plus...I
Still dislike the ending.
Growl.
Not one of Clegg’s best.
September 25, 2017
More deranged than spooky. I thought it was choppy. And I always felt as if I was missing something.
October 28, 2020
I am not a fan of super creepy horror; this for me, had a more Twilight Zone/Sci-Fi feel to it. Great writing and flow, I read it within two days. Wild plot, gripping story!
December 11, 2021
I loved the suspense and supernatural aspects of this books. Was a quick read for me and I was hooked in the first little bit of the book.
March 23, 2013
AFTERLIFE, by Douglas Clegg, starts with a series of montage chapters , each just long enough to make you want to know what happens, but none of them obviously connected to the others. A boy is trapped in some sort of test lab, burning to death. A girl is buried alive, suffocating to death. A man is stabbed to death by a killer able to vicariously feel the moment when life descends into death. At the close of the montage, Afterlife settles into telling the story of Julie Hutchinson, an ER nurse with two children who have psychic tendencies. Julie also has a husband - a deceased husband, who was murdered in what appeared to be a random act of violence. The initial chapters describing Julie's grief are pitch perfect, even if the content is less "horror" than it is "drama." Clegg understands the poignancy and revisionism of loss, and Julie drifts through the first half of the book, her mind flooded with beneficent memories of her husband, ignoring the coldness and distance that was the reality prior to his death. The only time Julie comes alive is during lurid dreams where a grotesque version of her late husband comes to her and asks if she "wants him inside of her." This is where the book started to lose my interest due to repetition interspersed with dribs and drabs of information about Julie's late husband's shadowy past, a past that is exposed far too late in the book to be truly examined. The final reveal, which brings together the montage chapters from the beginning of the book, also happens far too late in the plot. Without spoiling the details, Clegg's characters posit that people with psychic abilities are able to transcend death of the physical body, and thereby return immortal. This is morally, ethically, philosophically and scientifically fascinating. I am sorry that Clegg expended more plot time and character energy on ghost rape scenes instead of on the investigation of this premise. AFTERLIFE has an interesting start, a fascinating premise, and a failure to deliver on either.
August 22, 2009
The novel opens with a few brief glimpses of its themes: a scene at a government school called Project Daylight, a woman suffocating, a man being killed by someone reading his thoughts.
Then we meet the main character, Julie Hutchinson, a woman with some marital problems but an undying love for her kids. We soon find out that the dead man is Julie's husband, "Hut" Hutchinson, which sucks for her. She goes through some depression about his death, seeing a shrink and trying to make sense of life without her husband. She also wants answers about his life — Was he cheating on her? To what lock do a strange set of keys belong? What really happened in the childhood he avoided talking about?
read more...
Then we meet the main character, Julie Hutchinson, a woman with some marital problems but an undying love for her kids. We soon find out that the dead man is Julie's husband, "Hut" Hutchinson, which sucks for her. She goes through some depression about his death, seeing a shrink and trying to make sense of life without her husband. She also wants answers about his life — Was he cheating on her? To what lock do a strange set of keys belong? What really happened in the childhood he avoided talking about?
read more...
September 12, 2010
This is the June selection for the 2008 Cemetery Dance Book Club. It's September so they are late. Really LATE. They need a production coordinator with a license to carry...
Anyway, it is a signed and limited (to 1250 copies) edition.
I enjoyed this read - a lot. The ideas portrayed were presented well. I felt a connection to all the characters. The pacing of the story went well. This is simply a well done story.
To end it with that last line, leaving me to imagine what goes on from there, that was beautiful.
Anyway, it is a signed and limited (to 1250 copies) edition.
I enjoyed this read - a lot. The ideas portrayed were presented well. I felt a connection to all the characters. The pacing of the story went well. This is simply a well done story.
To end it with that last line, leaving me to imagine what goes on from there, that was beautiful.
March 28, 2011
3 and-a-half stars.
OK I should have figured this out sooner than right near the ending, but really, I like to just let it happen! I like reading about sex as much as anyone, but it got redundant. And I liked the ending: "My god, you're zombies!!!" etc. It was maybe unintentionally funny. And then the ambiguity was nice. Most other authors would have piled on some more exposition right then, but Clegg just drops the bomb. Pretty tough.
OK I should have figured this out sooner than right near the ending, but really, I like to just let it happen! I like reading about sex as much as anyone, but it got redundant. And I liked the ending: "My god, you're zombies!!!" etc. It was maybe unintentionally funny. And then the ambiguity was nice. Most other authors would have piled on some more exposition right then, but Clegg just drops the bomb. Pretty tough.
January 15, 2012
Trying hard with this one, am on page 41.
The husband is dead, the husband who emotionally blackmailed his wife into staying home with his kids, one of which is his, not hers and violently disturbed. Who never calls when he is going to be away all night, leaving her wondering if he is dead, cheating or at work.
She is devastated; I am thinking that she should be breaking out the champagne at being rid of him. Am having trouble getting into the swing of the plot as consequence.
The husband is dead, the husband who emotionally blackmailed his wife into staying home with his kids, one of which is his, not hers and violently disturbed. Who never calls when he is going to be away all night, leaving her wondering if he is dead, cheating or at work.
She is devastated; I am thinking that she should be breaking out the champagne at being rid of him. Am having trouble getting into the swing of the plot as consequence.
October 19, 2013
Disappointing read. The whole book was a lot of Julie dealing with her grief and struggling to understand the secret psychic aspects of her husbands life. the first half of the story was enough to keep me reading but once it got into the meat of the story and felt rushed. The "ending" of the book is the story just stopping. Julie spent the whole book trying to understand and to convince everyone else she wasn't crazy and you never see a conclusion to that.
August 2, 2009
The book cover grabbed my attention and I started reading. This book is a fast-paced horror book. In the 1970s, a school called the Daylight Project, for children with special abilities, burned down. Now, someone is killing the survivors. Great story involving ESP, psychic abilities and hallucinations.
September 28, 2015
Good character development, but no likable characters. No spoilers here, but the very end of the book sucked any gusto that this story had going for it away. Felt like Clegg just had to cap off the story and wrote a half page of italics to do so. Big fan of the author, but barely a fan of this book. Still worth a read for those who appreciate his writing.
November 3, 2016
The story is not exactly what the general description of the book leads you to believe it is, but that's a good thing: It's more emotionally involving and gets the reader to relate more. Some very true and interesting perspectives on death are given throughout this. The ending came on rather abruptly. I would love more of this story and plan on reading more Clegg.
February 17, 2009
I've been a big fan of Doug Clegg since he first published Goat Dance many years ago. Besides being a phenomenal writer, he's a helluva nice guy to fans and fellow authors alike. I'm only 15+ pages into this novel but it is very good so far with an intriguing premise.
August 12, 2010
This book was "just okay" in my mind. The writing was fine, and the story idea was intruiging, but it fell flat for me, dragging on at times without advancing the story. I'd like to read another of this authors books, just to compare.
April 9, 2011
I thought this would be drastically different. It was pretty much just weird. I love a good conspiracy but this wasn't all there for me. I did like Julie's character, and the twist was really surprising, but overall, Afterlife was just so-so for me.
February 11, 2011
The first Douglas Clegg I have read. Kept me interested right through but, like a number of other readers, I was left feeling flat at the ending. I enjoyed the writing, some of which definitely raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I will look out for more titles from DC.
April 12, 2012
This book had an interesting concept. In the 70's there was a 'special school for special children with special talents.' The school was closed and the story takes place when the children are grown. I just thought that it moved slowly but I did finish it so it wasn't that bad.
December 1, 2012
This book is major spooky, and it gradually builds to a horrific betrayal, but it ended too abruptly. Mr. Clegg does that from time to time, leaving the end of the end for you to worry about, but I really wanted to know for sure how it all came out, and I just don't know!
October 3, 2008
Story line was good but I felt as if the ending left me hanging somewhat... wondering what the outcome would be.
Read
December 3, 2008This book was good for most of it but the ending was terrible...it left you hanging and you were left with a :what the hell:
Displaying 1 - 30 of 46 reviews