Rosamund Lupton (Sister) offers up an intricately plotted combination of thriller, speculative fiction and mother-daughter celebration in Afterwards. One afternoon, Grace Covey waits to collect her eight-year-old son, Adam, and 17-year-old daughter, Jenny, from their exclusive school. When the building bursts into flames and Grace runs inside to save Jenny, the family's calm suburban life devolves into a nightmare.
Grace and Jenny wake up in the hospital--outside their badly burned, comatose bodies. They can hear and see everything, but can be seen and heard only by each other. Grace watches as doctors tell her distraught husband that she and Jenny may never wake up, and tries to provide emotional support to her daughter even though she has no idea how to explain their ghostly state. Meanwhile, the police receive evidence that Adam started the fire. Grace believes her son has been framed; so does her sister-in-law Sarah, a police investigator. Grace shadows Sarah's investigation, learning disturbing information about the school, as well as tragic secrets behind her best friend's carefree exterior. The key to the mystery may lie with Jenny, however, and Grace must help her daughter find the strength to remember the events surrounding the fire.
Lupton delivers a top-notch mystery with red herrings galore. At its heart, it deals with parents and children, the shared joy and pain. Grace also sees the strength and intensity of her husband's love for her, a force that sustains their lives and yet is sometimes forgotten in the minutiae.
Readers are encouraged to grab a box of Kleenex, put Mom on speed dial and discover what comes afterwards. --Jaclyn Fulwood