What Comes After is a debut novel by JoAnne Tompkins. A seemingly smaller town in Washington state is shocked and suffering after the death of two teenage boys, which comes to light as being a murder-suicide. Shortly after, a pregnant teen girl is found by Isaac, one of the boys’ father. The girl, Evangeline, is homeless, alone, and secretive. Evangeline comes to live with Isaac, and we follow this strange duo as they unravel secrets and begin the hard work of facing the reality and complications of being real people with real histories.
It is amazing this is a debut novel. The character development is fascinating. The full picture of who these people are is not shocking, but it is slowly revealed like layers of an onion. The flashbacks to Jonah’s sad inner struggles are poignant and mirror his thoughts on the meaning of evil.
The parallel journey of Isaac’s deeper self-discovery in his Quaker faith, and Evangeline’s discovery of the truth about love and family, is an interesting pairing.
By the end, I was asking what about Daniel? We don’t hear from him. His character is what brought these people together. The point is people are complicated and nuanced and we never really know everything about someone. Daniel’s character story is really told through Peter’s. Peter’s struggle of doing bad things while still being a caring person and good friend is Daniel’s representation. Isaac’s enduring friendship with Peter, despite Peter’s actions, is like having a piece of Daniel back.
The ending left so many questions. And also so much hope.
I really enjoyed this one and look forward to seeing what this author does next.