It’s a chance encounter with Wallace that turns the book on its head. Having rejected the Whispering Door, Cameron wanders the exterior, slowly turning into a mindless spiritual zombie-a lost soul-a warning of what will happen to Wallace if he tries to run away. However it is a side character that packs the most unexpected punch, the “husk” Cameron. The affection between Wallace and Hugo is touching and well presented, even if seemingly doomed from the start (that tends to happen when one of you is dead), and the found family in the tea house form a compassionate and feisty unit. Klune’s world is often filled with over-the-top characters (like the wannabe medium Desdemona), but each has a strong emotional core. Wallace’s journey is an internal one and those around him (including a fellow specter, Nelson, and Hugo’s deceased dog, Apollo) manage to push him in new directions. But the setting never feels claustrophobic. Will Wallace come to terms with his sudden death and choose to step through the titular doorway with Hugo’s help? Or will this stubborn, self-important man make life hell for those around him?Ĭoming to the book now, the specter of Covid-19 hangs over Under the Whispering Door, set almost entirely within a single house, where danger lurks outside its boundaries. When Wallace attends his own sparsely attended funeral, he meets Mei-a reaper tasked with helping him take the next steps in his afterlife-who brings him to Charon’s Crossing Tea House to meet its young Ferryman, Hugo. TJ Klune’s new novel, Under the Whispering Door, takes his breezy fantasy stylings and tackles a love story beyond the grave. For miserable, corporate manager Wallace Price, life started when he died.
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