Book Review: Hereafter by Kate Brian

Title: Hereafter

Author: Kate Brian

Publisher: Disney Book Group

Pages: 320

Source: Netgalley

Genre: Young Adult, Mystery

Rating: 3/5

This is the second book in the Shadowlands Trilogy. To see the review of the first book, ‘Shadowlands’ click here.

Ever since being attacked by infamous serial killer, Steven Nell, Rory Miller’s life has changed. But everything is about to be changed yet again, when she realizes that her new home, in Juniper Landing, is more than it appears. There’s a secret that everybody knows except for Rory and it’s related to the deaths of the civilians who live in Juniper Landing and the fog that covers the island. There can only be one explanation, an explanation that will change Rory’s life again. This heroine is in for an eerie mystery that has to do with the people of Juniper Landing, and she will stop at nothing to figure out the answer.

It was interesting reading about Rory. She’s confident and outgoing – an enormous change from how she acted in the previous book of this series. It was enthralling to read about her experiences and how she reacted to them because of the enormous difference in how she would  have dealt with them before.

Some things I didn’t like about this book would be that it wasn’t as adventurous or suspenseful as I would have liked it to be. Instead, this book is more methodical, or formulated. It can be good because it makes keeping track of all the events is a lot easier. But it can also be a bad thing because the book loses the real-life quality that I wanted it to have. In ‘Shadowlands’, Rory is scared out of her mind, which was represented in the way the book was written – it made the story seem real. I can’t say the same for ‘Hereafter’.

But there was another reason that this book let me down. ‘Hereafter’ just didn’t pack the same punch as ‘Shadowlands’. At times, I felt as if I could just skip the next few pages and not miss any information. Basically, this book dragged, and that significantly lowered it’s ranking in my eyes.

On the other hand, this book did have some nice parts where Rory was finally piecing together the truth of her new home. It’s at these parts where this book truly shines and is very captivating.

Overall, ‘Hereafter’ did have its ups and downs, and in then end, I feel that this book is a bit above average. It isn’t the best book I’ve read, but it is one that I did enjoy reading. I recommend this book to people ages 12+ and to those who like reading mystery or young adult novels. If you are interested in reading this book, it would be more enjoyable if you read the first book of the series beforehand.