Under The Whispering Door by TJ Klune

 

Wallace is a lawyer and embodies all the things people dislike about them.  He is structured, demanding and cold and always places tasks and rules above people.  When he awakes and finds himself with a reaper at his own funeral, he has to take into consideration the fact that he might be dead.

When he gets to Charon Crossing, the teahouse where the final door resides and meets Hugo who is the ferryman who helps the dead make the final crossing he starts to believe.  But he isn't ready to accept.  He was in good health!  He wasn't ready to go!  Wallace tries to change the situation by negotiating, running away and demanding to see someone higher up.  But slowly he accepts that he is dead.

But Wallace realizes he hasn't ever lived.  There are other people at the teashop.  Hugo's grandfather and his dog are there.  Mia, his reaper and Hugo are there along with an assortment of those who have died and are waiting to be taken to the door.  Slowly, over the days Wallace remains he starts to love these people and adopt them as his family and as he changes and becomes more open and loving, they accept him as family also.  Is he finally ready to go through the door?

This is a lovely book with characters that the reader will remember long after the book is over.  It was a Locus Top Ten Finalist For Fantasy Novels and one of Buzzfeed's Best Books of 2022.  Hugo is a loving character from the start and Wallace's change from a self-centered man who wanted only empty accomplishments to a man who discovers love is life affirming.  Wallace and Hugo's love affair makes the reader hope for a happy ending although it is hard to imagine what that will be when one of them is dead.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.