What Comes After

The brutal, beautiful 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 is not so much earth-shattering as worldview-altering. It will make you stop and think next time you read a headline about a shocking crime and realize how quickly we rush to judgment, how neatly we categorize, how smugly we demonize (𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘭, 𝘱𝘴𝘺𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩, 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳, 𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘳), how rapturously we idealize (𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦, 𝘱𝘰𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳, 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦 𝘢𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘪𝘮). 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 dismantles all that: we see the darkness in the beauty and the light in the monster.

As the title states, the book deals with what comes after the deaths of two boys, one of whom killed the other and confessed to it before killing himself, leaving the small community reeling, grieving, and whispering. Both families are bereft, but all grief—and sympathy—is not created equal.

Isaac, the father of the murdered boy, is a devout Quaker who both relies on his faith and hides behind it. (The descriptions of the process of discernment and other Quaker practices are both enlightening and inspiring.) When Evangeline, a homeless, pregnant teenager with a mysterious connection to the two boys, shows up at his house, Isaac takes her in, and is forced to confront his own motives and denial. His crisis of faith is especially moving as he seeks proof of the Divine, the “parlor trick” that will bestow the grace that eludes him.

As the story unspools, we see the events leading up to the terrible end and a miraculous beginning. It will break your heart wide open, but it is in the breaking that the light shines through. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘈𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 is a mystery, a wonder, a revelation, and a gift.