A review by czarina_misha
After She Wrote Him by Sulari Gentill

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

After She Wrote Him is mysterious but not a mystery. Not as we define the mystery genre. It’s a philosophical exercise. Which came first, the creator or the creation? Can one exist without the other? Because a creator isn’t a creator until they create something and obviously a creation doesn’t exist until it is created.

So Ned writes literary fiction, holding a funhouse mirror to reality all the better to see it. He creates Madeline to help him acknowledge and get past an unrequited love.

So Madeline, a cozy mystery writer, creates Ned. She has suffered multiple miscarriages. She needs to make something which will last, someone who will stay.

Madeline writes Ned writing Madeline writing Ned in a literary möbius strip. Sound confusing? 

It could be. It should be. It isn’t. Sulari Gentill doesn’t resort to formatting gimmicks or odd changes in voice to “clarify” whose story you’re in. She just gives us a beautifully written, clear, and heartbreaking story of loss and coping.