The After

By: David Hernandez

Narrated by: Rick Gregory

Length: 1 hr and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Peter, a brilliant software engineer, is obsessed with finding the answer to an age old question: Is there something after when we die? He builds a machine that can possibly give him the answer, but soon realizes some things are better left unknown.

©2017 David Hernandez (P)2017 David Hernandez

Suspenseful Horror Story

When a man dies, his relatives are told that he's in a better place. But what if the afterlife isn't so great? Peter has been obsessed with the afterlife after his dog and his father die when Peter was just a boy. He builds a machine that might let him track a person's soul after it leaves the body. He just needs to find someone to test it on.

The novella was suspenseful, and the premise was interesting. The story was told in short flashes, sometimes only a few paragraphs long, that really helped the suspense factor. There were some writing quirks that I noticed. Peter's eyes frequently "lit up", and then he'd see something bad or something horrible would happen. It's not the way that expression is usually used, and there were a few other grammar issues.

The narration was well done, it was a good performance and Rick Gregory portrayed the speaking voices well. I'd definitely listen to the narrator again. I was provided a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Part Sci-Fi, Part Horror

The premise of the story really intrigued me but despite that, there was something about it that felt unfinished. I realize now that that something is the fact that 'The After' is a screenplay! As a film maker, I can say with some authority that this is not how screenplays are supposed to be consumed - they are designed to be consumed in a visual medium. This may have made of a great film, but as an audio book I felt it was lacking.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

The After

Usually this type of story is my bread and butter but I just had a hard time with the dialogue. I got really tired of Baby this and Babe that. I wasn't super excited about how the time line played out and the short back and forth chapters. The plot was fun even though it was quite predictable. The narrator did a great job.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Boom.

Weird immature dialogues

What was most disappointing about David Hernandez’s story?

The story's premise itself was good but the execution was pretty bad. The dialogues are very weird and "irritating". There's only so many times that you can tolerate "Dude" and "Babe". Plus, the story turned psychological instead of what was expected from the description. Even 90 minutes runtime was too much to get through.

What three words best describe Rick Gregory’s voice?

Immature, Unpolished, Campy.

Any additional comments?

I was voluntarily provided a free copy of this book by the author / narrator / publisher and I'm leaving an unbiased review.

The screenplay....

**I was given this audio book for free from Audiobook Boom and the narrator for a honest review.**

Peter, a brilliant software engineer, is obsessed with finding the answer to what happens to us after we die. After several years of losing those around him and not getting a real answer of what happens next, Peter decides to experiment with his knowledge of software and tries to capture the last moments before and after death by some extreme measures. The After is written in the style of a screenplay and should also be taken into consideration when choosing this title.

I don't know if it's the factor it is written in the format of a screenplay or if the story just fell short. The After would be a great short horror movie, but it feels like this has already been done before with so many more twists and turns. Peter turns from a child to a teen to an adult over a short period of time. As a child, he is naive to death and doesn't really understand what is happening to his beloved pet. As a teen, he meets his life long friend, Bryan, who both use bro and dude WAY to much. As an adult, Bryan and Peter still use bro and dude way to much, but seem to be functioning adults. Peter is with a woman named Vanessa who seems clingy and suspious of Peter's activities and with good reason.

Over all I didn't HATE The After, but I didn't love it either. Like I said before, the story had promise, but seems to fall flat of what has already been done before. I don't think it's all to blame on the author, David Hernandez. Rick Gregory has a very clear and pleasant voice to listen too, but his attempt to voice Vanessa came across as a petty and whining child, instead of an adult. I know a large problem for me was the factor that it was written in the screenplay style. The introductions of scene breaks didn't make the story flow very well for me and made me want to stop the audio book to see how much longer I had left.

If you enjoy screenplays and a story very similiar to a cross between Flatliners and The Ghost in the Machine, then this very short audio book would be for you.

A great short horror novella

Where does The After rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I enjoyed it. Sometimes these shorter books just don't cut it, but this one was fun. I wouldn't spend a credit on it (I would never spend a credit on a short novella, but that's just me), but I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

What other book might you compare The After to and why?

I don't know what book I would compare it to, but I would definitely compare it to a Tales From the Darkside episode. Just a fun, quick "episode."

Which scene was your favorite?

I didn't have a favorite scene per se, but I suppose if I had to pick, it would be the last scene with the man in the nursing home. I don't want to spoil anything!

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yeah, it was. It was short enough and I was driving around that day, so I made sure to finish listening to it while I was cooking dinner once I got home. It was fast paced, and I just wanted to see how it ended.

Any additional comments?

It's important to remember that this is written as a screenplay. Some of the narration bugged me, but this likely is how the screenplay was written. Don't expect don't we'll, wouldn't, etc., but more like do not, we will, would not...throughout the entire thing. Not how we typically would speak. So that threw me a little, but it was easy enough to ignore.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

The After

Any additional comments?

Nothing good can come from Peter's obsession, but I was looking forward to seeing some advancements in his experiment. Then the story turns to psychological horror when Peter gets some unexpected results from his experiment.

Not my cup of tea

Realize, off the bat, that this is a screenplay, not a novella or short story. That definitely makes it a more awkward read for the narrator, that I didn't particularly enjoy. The dialogue was hard to get through, and the whole thing felt unpolished, immature and unpolished. Definitely a shame, because I think there's a good idea here, it just hasn't been fleshed out properly.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher. I received this title for free in exchange for an unbiased review.

Odd composition, but interesting premise

I found the premise of the story interesting, and felt the author did a good job setting up the backstory and motivations of our protagonist. The story basically jumps right in and begins flowing foward. Always a plus for me.

As the cover artwork notes, this is basically a screenplay. What this means for the listener is that very often you're getting repetitive bland descriptions of environments vs good narrative. "Night. Peter's Car". "Night. Kitchen". These things suck you from the narrative and get quite ridiculous when there are events happening in 2 places at once and we ping pong back and forth with more location description than actual narrative.

Aside from the above, the writing was decent, if not a bit saccharin -- especially in conversation. Lots of "baby I love you!" and such. The characters are fairly flat and aside from the protagonist we get zero real backstory or development.

Speaking of conversation, I have to admit that I found the narration lacking here. The dialogue was already fairly 1-dimensional, but the narrator (whom I thought fit well with the tone of a previous book I listened to) only served to amplify its shortcomings. Dialogue was read with very little intonation leaving it sounding more like 3rd graders reciting lines in a school play than actual conversation.

Though the story delivers on the premise, I was still left with the feeling that this story, in more capable hands, could have been so much more. Instead it felt like something between "The Twilight Zone" and "Are You Afraid of the Dark?".

Though I can't say I recommend this listen, I did give it an extra star because I thought the premise was solid and interesting -- even if the execution fell flat.

I was provided this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review.

This was SO not meant for an audio book...

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

The narrator sounded bored most of the time and there were so many odd pauses in the narration that it was completely awkward. Each pause was followed by some short description of the setting, like, "living room". This makes me think it was a screen play, not an actual short story. It has an interesting premise, and I was intrigued by the psychological aspect of the story, but the only reason I made it through this one was because it was only 96 minutes long.