The Beautiful Dead End

Gregory Pike is a sessional English instructor at the Memorial
University of Newfoundland.

The Beautiful Dead End takes the reader on gritty ride through one
man’s death and initial encounter with the afterlife. We follow the
hard-edged Stace through his last night, the convoluted disposal of his
body, and his spirit’s journey from the place of death to a limbo-like
processing office. Our dead protagonist communicates with the living,
and the closure Stace brings to his troubled relationship with his
wife—a fascinating character who comes and goes too quickly—is
beautifully handled. Less successful is the considerable time Hutzulak
takes persuading the reader to invest in the narrative. That said, the
investment certainly pays off.