It’s built on grief, and it runs like an undercurrent through every page.

When faced with the consequences of his actions in life, he endeavors to be kinder in death, without an underlying motive for praise or forgiveness.Īs heartwarming as it is to watch Wallace grow to see these acquaintances as friends (and, in Hugo’s case, something more), Under the Whispering Door is still a story about death. Readers will grow to like Wallace not only because he develops a genuine desire to better himself, but also because he acts on that desire. As Wallace begins to befriend the residents of Charon’s Crossing and reflects on a life not-so-well lived, his attitude and values change.

After the first chapter alone, I thoroughly believed there was no way for me to ever like Wallace Price. While his inhospitality masks a deep loneliness, that solitude is completely his fault, having spent his entire adult life absorbed with little more than money and his own success. It’s almost impossible to sympathize with Wallace in the early stages of the story. As a ferryman, Hugo helps the deceased come to terms with death before leading them beyond the door on the fourth floor, onto whatever comes next. Although Hugo and Mei are the only living residents of the space, the shop is also occupied by Nelson and Apollo, the ghosts of Hugo’s grandfather and dog respectively. Mei brings Wallace to Charon’s Crossing, a cozy little tea shop in the countryside run by Hugo, a kind-hearted man who ferries ghosts from this life to the next. After Mei, a young woman who claims to be a reaper, shows up at the funeral to take Wallace to the afterlife, he is forced to confront his death – and life – in ways he never imagined. Having alienated his ex-wife and coworkers with his greed and general unkindness, the funeral is hardly the touching memorial Wallace feels it should be. When Wallace Price, an uptight and callous lawyer, dies suddenly of a heart attack on his office floor, no one is all too upset (except Wallace, of course). Under the Whispering Door delivered on all four – so much so, that I almost forgot that I was reading a story about death. I start each TJ Klune book with a few expectations in mind: queer characters, Klune’s trademark sense of humor, the found family trope, and a warm, fuzzy feeling inside by the time I’ve turned the last page.

Wallace price under the whispering door