Afterlife

By Douglas Clegg

      Life was good for Julie Hutchinson. She had enjoyed her day looking for fossils with her young daughter, Livy. However, when her husband, Jeffrey "Hut" Hutchinson, was late getting home, she began to worry. Hut was a doctor and often stayed overnight at the hospital. Still, there was that feeling that there was something wrong. Was there another woman involved?

When Hut failed to come home at all, her sense of unease deepened. However, she left Matt and Livy with the babysitter and went to work at the emergency room as usual. A little way into her shift, she was called into the office and told that Hut had been found dead, murdered. His body had been found in the woods not far from their home. The police had no idea who the killer was, but there were other bodies that had been found with the same symbols carved into their skin. There was a mass murderer on the loose and the police had no idea where to begin looking for him - or her.

Then, the nightmares started. Livy said Hut was talking to her on her "brain radio." Then he visited Julie in some very erotic nightmares. She felt as though the man she had identified in the morgue was a stranger. Her counselor assured her this was normal, but somehow Julie had a feeling it was not. Would she ever be normal again?

Afterlife is one of the most horrifying stories I have ever read, mostly because it is so possible. The characters are quite ordinary people thrust into extraordinary circumstances. If you have a night you can't sleep, Afterlife is a great story to stay awake with. Pick up a copy and enjoy the chills. You'll have plenty of them running down your spine.