After Death

by Evan Bond

Jeffrey Raines is a hellhound. A ghostly bounty hunter for Death. He reaps the wandering spirits that harm the living, ensuring the balance between life and death are kept. When Dominic Stone discovers a way to live past his expiration date, he begins to grow unnaturally powerful. Death recognizes this imbalance as a threat to the natural world, both living and dead, and gives Jeffrey an impossible task. Reap one of the living. But Jeffrey soon finds a major roadblock. Dominic has partnered with a strange creature unlike anything Jeffrey has seen before and it's able to devour spirits. Jeffrey saves a young woman named Cara from becoming Dominic's next victim and the two become unlikely partners. With the two worlds hanging in the balance, Jeffrey Raines does what he does best. Hunt and reap.

Genres: Horror

210 pages, Hardcover

Published October 9, 2022

About the author

As an outdoor enthusiast and horror lover, Evan Bond enjoys writing stories where the two come together. Bond loves to write dark and fast paced thrillers. He lives in Florida with his wife and two sons.

Reviews

[Wofford Jones]

After Death is an action-packed afterlife adventure, a tale that is both awe-inspiring and scary. Go on a few hunting and reaping escapades with Jeffrey Raines, who is trusted with a knife that embodies the powers of Death herself to reap spirits that harm the living. And you don’t want to be on the sharp end of his blade because if you are, you cease to exist. This story takes place in the afterlife (Jeffrey’s realm) and the living world, where Cara Brown (another main character) lives. I loved everything about Bond’s vision of the afterlife. It is a wild, original, imaginative tale; a hell of a good ride. Jeffrey and Cara make a great team in the living and the undead worlds—two unlikely heroes to root for. Jeffrey Rains is the new—not so grim—reaper. After Death is a strong book by itself, so it is naturally a powerful beginning to what I feel will be a promising series.

[Andrew Dieppa]

Evan writes an engaging adventure in the setting of an urban supernatural Florida where death isn't the end for spirits and sometimes Death can't always get them all. So she has her hellhound, Jeffrey do the work she's unable to do.

I enjoyed the relationship between Jeffrey and Death and with Cara. It's a well-paced story and kept me engaged from beginning to end.

[Barbara Schmal]

enjoyable

I enjoyed this book, I liked the different characters in it and I look forward to reading more books in this series.

[Joshua Ginsberg]

A Fun, Fast Read and a Great First Entry in a Series

I’ll admit, ever since I was a kid reading Stephen King’s Dark Tower Series, I’ve been a little hesitant to commit to a series that's still being written. All that waiting between books… well, it’s something I've heard more than a few George R. R. Martin reader bemoan lately. That said, I’m glad I wandered outside my usual comfort zone and picked up Evan Bond’s After Death. It was a very fun read that found the perfect balance between being a complete story in itself while setting up a larger plot and world.

What worked for me? For one thing, strong writing and compelling characters. While the idea of a “hellhound” or a bounty hunter for death is not all together new, Bond took it in directions that surprised me, as did his vision of the afterlife. The antagonist/creature, the birdlike Sluagh from Celtic folklore, was new to me as well. I might have come across it before, but I don’t recall any specific stories about it, so I’m giving Bond a whole heap of points for originality.

Bond also gets high marks for pacing. I’ve seen plenty of great story ideas fall apart either because they feel too rushed or because they get bogged down and drag. Bond does a stellar job of avoiding that pitfall, keeping the story moving at the right speed with the right balance of action and exposition, which is not an easy trick to pull off.

There were plenty of other pieces - Jeffrey's missing history, the shards of death's scythe, the various types of harmful spirits, that all came together seamlessly. The result is storytelling so smooth that it feels like riding shotgun in a ghost corvette.

Final analysis: a great, fast read that has me looking forward to future installments.

[kat ✨]

This is not my typical read - that being said it was a cool concept and I enjoyed the adventure! There was action, humour and some really good creepy descriptions 😱 We were left on a cliffhanger, so I’ll be keeping my eyes out for part two! 👀

[Melissa Bond]

I read this back awhile ago and loved it so much! Jeffrey, the MMC, has a southern drawl for an accent and the author does a great job of portraying it in his conversations with other characters in the book. After Death was a quick and easy read for me and left me wanting more of the series. I truly enjoyed the world building that Evan Bond clearly depicted in this story!

And Death being personified as a woman was an interesting touch. I also liked the depiction of Jeffrey's knife that he uses to reap rouge spirits, that of being made from a piece of Death's broken scythe. Very cool concept!

Cara is the FMC and I enjoyed the human perspective of what living in a world that is haunted by terrifying spirits and otherworldly creatures would be like. From the 1st chapter, her encounter with ghosts is truly traumatizing for a young girl! She becomes a strong, female lead in After Death and her assistance in Jeffrey's hunt of the Sluagh and Dominic, the villain, is so well written.

Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of After Death. If you enjoy a good haunted story, with a great cast of characters, this book is for you!