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Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They're even about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie's doing okayâ??until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Charlie Asher, it seems, has been recruited for a new position: as Death.
It's a dirty job. But, hey! Somebody's gotta do it.… (more)
This book was gifted to me by a friend who truly loves it and knows I enjoy paranormal so I gave it a shot. I gave it 4 stars because there is absolutely nothing wrong with the book. I have no issues with the editing or the plot. That said, I truly did not like this book. I liked a couple of secondary characters, but not the main character. Most of the time I just wondered why he couldn't figure things out. There is a sequel, but I honestly don't care what happens to these characters so I won't be reading it. ( )
I have had this book in my kindle forever and something about the cover just grabbed me this week. At first, I loved it. The premise of nerdy beta male Asher becoming an agent of death as he's grieving over his wife and raising a daughter with interesting capabilities was interesting to me. I liked watching as he slowly learned the ropes of his new assignment. Unfortunately, it went off the rails as the forces of darkness starting trying to take over San Francisco as well as a woman who was cobbling together animal parts in funny costumers and putting souls into them. Just weird and not my cup of tea.
There's another book in this series and if the library has it I'll probably grab it and skim through to see what happens but I'm pretty checked out and might not even bother.
What you seek, you shall never find. For when the Gods made man, They kept immortality for themselves. Fill your belly. Day and night make merry, Let Days be full of joy, Love the child that holds your hand. Let your wife delight in your embrace, For these alone are the concerns of man. —The Epic of Gilgamesh
Dedication
This book is dedicated to Patricia Moss, who was as generous in sharing her death as she was in sharing her life.
and
To hospice workers and volunteers all over the world.
First words
Charlie Asher walked the earth like an ant walks on the surface of water, as if the slightest misstep might send him plummeting through the surface to be sucked to the depths below.
Thing settled in the City of Two Bridges, and all the dark gods that had been rising to erupt out over the world remembered their place and returned to their domains deep in the Underworld. (Epilogue)
Quotations
'I don't even want to make her eat her green beans for fear she'll KITTY me.' 'I'm sure you have some kind of immunity.' 'The Great Big Book says that we're not immune to death ourselves. I'd say the next time a kitten comes on the Discovery Channel my sister could be picking out caskets.'
Charlie Asher is a pretty normal guy with a normal life, married to a bright and pretty woman who actually loves him for his normalcy. They're even about to have their first child. Yes, Charlie's doing okayâ??until people start dropping dead around him, and everywhere he goes a dark presence whispers to him from under the streets. Charlie Asher, it seems, has been recruited for a new position: as Death.
It's a dirty job. But, hey! Somebody's gotta do it.
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Book description
The story centers on Charlie Asher, a "beta-male" (as opposed to "alpha-male") who leads a satisfying life as the owner and proprietor of a second-hand store in San Francisco. At the moment when his wife Rachel unexpectedly dies in the hospital shortly after the birth of their first child (Sophie), Charlie becomes involved in a new sideline of retrieving the souls of the dying, so as to protect them from the forces of the underworld. He only gradually realizes the ramifications of this business as various clues and complications unfold. Ultimately Charlie resolves to confront directly the forces of darkness.
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