Even After Always

Book excerpt: Can we ever rediscover the lost pieces of ourselves that time and tragedy have stolen? Midcoast Maine, 1992. A fragile veil separates a seemingly idyllic small town from dark secrets lying just beneath. After his sister’s untimely death, life holds little meaning for teenaged CJ Slater. Numb, withdrawn, and plagued with self-doubt, CJ finds himself drawn into a dangerous mystery when he meets the enigmatic Izzy. Izzy believes the birthmark over her heart is a scar from when she was killed in a previous life. After a cataclysmically traumatic childhood, she ran away from home and dedicated herself to finding the person she believes to have brutally murdered her previous incarnation. While CJ does not believe in reincarnation, he believes in Izzy. Convinced she has tracked the killer to CJ’s town, the two slowly start to unravel the mystery and unwittingly unearth insidious and perilous secrets. At once a gripping mystery, a moving coming-of-age tale, and a philosophical examination of the human condition, Even After Always explores how we can recover what time takes away. It is an affirmation of the redemptive power of love and the belief in ourselves and each other.