Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, working on weirdly named Beautification research Project, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours following an event in which fifty four people perished – including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry.

Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he – or anyone else – has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired. Although what Michael does for Nina is life changing, his actions also evoke the wrath of John’s father, a member of one of the most violent street gangs in Los Angeles.

But an even greater threat is descending: the Internal Security Agency’s most vicious assassin, Durand Calaphas who will stop at nothing to get his man. If Michael dies twice, he will not live a third time.From the tarnished glamour of Beverly Hills to the streets of South Central to a walled estate in Rancho Santa Fe, only Michael can protect Nina and John – and ensure that light survives in a rapidly darkening world.

A modern-day Lazarus is humanity’s last hope in a breathtaking novel about the absolute powers of good and evil by Dean Koontz, the #1 New York Times bestselling master of suspense.

Slick style, quick pace. Very enjoyable and scary adventure into the world of political and social corruption, propelled by high octane writing. Gangster talk versus thoughtful musings about the state of the world. After Death is about technology and it’s impact on absolutely everything and the humanity; it’s full of complicated yet exciting terminology which made me stop and consider what might come next to us as the science constantly evolves.

The story is told mostly from four points of view, with each person using different language to emphasise their take on the situations they’re in. A couple of them are very uncomfortable to read which is not a surprise as both the ICA agent Durand ‘the manageable sociopath’ Calaphas and the bigtown gangster Aleem ‘life is war’ Sutter are as nasty as they come. ‘Cruelty, brutality, and murder are essential to these men’s business model,’ Aleem’s views are revolting, especially his hatred of women. Calaphas has no capacity for decent human emotions. Although both men are terrifying and frankly unpleasant to endgame with, I could appreciate how Koontz skilfully changed and adapted language and specific tone of conversations. He developed dialogues to suit these characters and to keep increasing tension when they were voicing their opinions, making plans and dealing with own overgrown egos. Except that they didn’t consider themselves self-centred. In stark contrast to the unsettling mood presented by these two, working separately, people on the good side of the spectrum were more reflective, reasonable and yes, good, kind, hopeful. It brought the real war between evil and good to the fore. Nina, shaped by her youthful experiences, and regretting ever getting involved with Sutter, is determined to protect teenager John and keep him on the right path. She succeeds at huge emotional cost, especially in the face of terror of his father wanting to snatch and turn him into one of his ‘homeys’. That would be the end of any goodness. Michael ‘Jean Valjean’ Mace, constantly surprised by coming from the dead, being alive again and his new abilities to find, evaluate, process and adapt huge amounts of data, fights to save mother and son, and focus on the right way to use his new extraordinary powers: ‘He insists he is no messiah, no anointed redeemer, nothing more than a guy who was in the wrong place at the wrong time when, in the midst of catastrophe, one thing went right. He recognizes the corrupting nature of power and the need for humility to avoid becoming one more monster aligned with those who would consign most of humanity to bondage.’ All in the memory of Shelby, expert immunologist and great human being, and ultimately in the name of love. ‘The long-anticipated Singularity’ in the form of Michael Mace is a complicated concept to understand but a fantastic hero nevertheless.

Intense events of one night ‘a journey from one darkness to another’ test everyone who is involved in the chase, everyone including the reader. But it’s so worth the mix of adrenaline and occasional moments quiet reflection.

Thank you to FMcM for the invitation to join the blog tour for Dean Koontz’s After Death which is out now, published by Thomas and Mercer.