Review of “Interview with Death” by V.K. Pasanen (Paperback & Audiobook)

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

Interview with Death is a thought-provoking, entertaining, and—at times—emotional supernatural novel by V.K. Pasanen! The audiobook is brilliantly narrated by Jimmy Moreland.

The book follows Nathan Miller, a journalist (war correspondent) and best-selling author who is famous for his controversial documentary series (“Barrets”) and his books about his experiences in war-torn nations. After surviving numerous near-death experiences including an ambush by Middle East insurgents that kills multiple U.S. soldiers, Nathan is given the nickname, “Indestructible Nathan Miller.”

This ironic and somewhat erroneous nickname haunts him, especially since he knows that a lot of the drama and violence he documents is actually manufactured and partially-controlled by his unscrupulous employer, General Cornelius Adamson, who uses it for propaganda purposes and to get him promotions. Adamson is described as being like a “slow acting cobra” who gradually gains Nathan's trust only to betray him, which actually foreshadows and sets a precedence for another major relationship in Nathan's life.

Indeed, Adamson, one of the main villains of book (at least in the mortal plane), eventually uses the violence and supposed heroism of war to get his choice candidate, Ethan Cranston, elected president in a landslide. He then gets President Cranston to promote him the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Caught in the middle of all of this is Nathan, who loses several friends and witnesses profound suffering among those he documents.

However, suffering, sorrow, and guilt aren't the only things to follow Nathan. And General Adamson isn't the only one menacing Nathan.

Nathan frequently encounters (or briefly glimpses) two enigmatic figures: a man in black who looks like Johnny Cash and a man in white. Nathan assumes that the man in black may be the Grim Reaper or Death based on his appearance before bloodshed, but who is the man in white? And what does he want?

One of the most incredible things about this book is how it slowly builds the mystery behind the supernatural aspects of this book. It also uses misdirection and a few red-herrings to make us believe that this book will be about one thing (like a military, journalism, or even romance novel/drama), then becomes something completely different.

With that said, the tension slowly builds along with the mystery. What's more? This book isn't afraid to take its time and tantalize you with possible answers. It's some of the best lore and mythos of the contest alongside books like Code Sohrakia by KM Taylor (these two books may be neck-and-neck for “Best Lore”).

WARNING: The following may contain spoilers that are necessary for a thorough, in-depth review

Anyway, this book has multiple inciting incidents that almost act like the gears of a vehicle shifting, throttling this book into overdrive. The first inciting incident is the aforementioned ambush, which results in the death of a friend. The second incident is the revelation that the military under General Adamson has opted to use a nuke to swiftly end the conflicts in the Middle East, making Adamson a faux hero. The third incident, which is probably the biggest spoiler (SO BE WARNED) is the tragic death of Nathan's wife, Vanessa (a nominee for “Hottest Character” and “Best Supporting Character”), after Nathan allows their relationship to deteriorate with his constant cheating, lying, and drug use.

Now let's rewind a little bit. There's a character we meet early on in the book named Gavin, a survivor of genocide in war-torn Yugoslavia. While his introduction is one of the most tragic, compelling, and emotional scenes in the whole book, it progressively becomes clear that Gavin is more than what he initially seems. Gavin befriends and starts working with Nathan in the United States. He introduces Nathan to a drug-like substance (“Dead Blow”) that helps him to take the edge off after experiencing so much trauma and guilt. There are actually two kinds of Dead Blow, blue Light Ethereal (which kinda reminded us of Walter White's meth from “Breaking Bad”) and Dark Ethereal, a stronger version which Gavin calls, “the substance of dreams and imagination.”

Gavin clarifies and distinguishes Dead Blow as being different from recreational drugs. It is stronger and out of this world, literally.

Gavin also encourages Nathan to live a little, supposedly to destress. This includes drinking alcohol, consuming the addictive Dead Blow substance, partying and eventually sleeping with women out of wedlock. In effect, this leads to Nathan cheating on Vanessa, the wife he once cherished and treasured “like a goddess,” multiple times.

It should also be noted that Gavin also introduces Nathan to gambling, which Gavin proves to be very adept at. Gavin is such a lucky gambler that some casinos even ban him. He is known as “He Who Always Wins”

As the mystery of Gavin grows and grows to a fever pitch, so does the mystery behind the man in black, the other entity who seems to be stalking Nathan, presumably for his own purposes.

Gavin puts himself across as a friendly and inviting figure to Nathan, but the audience progressively realizes that he's actually a terrible, unlikable, and toxic person.

WARNING: MORE HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD! ARE YOU STILL HERE?

Nathan's once-beautiful and vibrant relationship with Vanessa disintegrates as his infidelity is revealed. Vanessa is said to adopt his “liquid diet” (alcoholism) and occasionally becomes drunk just to cope with the hurt and heartbreak that Nathan has caused her.

It can't be emphasized enough how sad and frustrating this is.

Nathan adorably fell in love with Vanessa while she was dressed as an escaped prisoner during a costume party. He called her his “goddess” and absolutely adored her. She loved him the whole time he was away for his journalism. She bore and raised his children. She was always faithful to him. Yet, Nathan betrayed her trust and stabbed her in the back with his infidelity.

Absolutely inexcusable!

We found ourselves disliking and even hating Nathan for the rest of the book.

To make matters worse, Nathan's guilt and regret isn't enough to stop him from sleeping with one of his supposed “fans” at a book signing event, a gorgeous she-devil who calls herself Delores Destiny. All of a sudden, Nathan says that Deloris is “the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life” (something he had once said of Vanessa). What a joke of a human being! We wanted to strangle him ourselves!

It becomes pretty obvious that Delores Destiny was no mere mortal, and likely a supernatural being like Gavin and the man in black probably are.

During their sexual encounter, Vanessa desperately tries to call Nathan before failing to then choosing to take her own life. Her death is the most tragic and devastating event in the entire book. It really hits hard.

It makes Nathan seem like even more of an irredeemable piece of trash than he already was, and we're not even done trashing on the main character yet. He makes it worse (believe it or not).

If you're still here, you must be okay with even bigger spoilers. You've been warned multiple times.

Anyway, it turns out that the real Gavin died many years ago and that a supernatural being took up his form. This new Gavin is actually Frederick Chance, the angel or god of chance (luck), which explains why he's so good at gambling. He is compared to Loki from Norse mythology, and that's pretty much who he is.

Frederick Chance is a troublemaker and a meddler. Now, with that said, it is kinda sad and tragic to think that Frederick Chance largely did a lot of his evil deeds because he wanted Nathan's friendship, love, and admiration to himself. Frederick Chance, despite his successes in games, is actually a bit of a loner and an outcast. The other supernatural beings, with the exception of maybe Morduk, the devil, don't seem to associate with him much, probably because he constantly betrayed their trust and made poor choices (to say the least).

Frederick Chance, the man in white, is effectively the main villain and antagonist of this particular book (which is part of a series, apparently). His actions directly or indirectly lead to many of the bad things that happen to Nathan, his friends, and his family.

But what about the man in black? What about Death? Well, he's arguably the best character in the entire book! Death's proper name is “Morton Death.” He's surprisingly kind, courteous, and polite, far from the cold, heartless skeletal monster that one would think. An argument can be made that he's actually the most benevolent character in this entire book. Morton Death understands that his job of reaping souls is grim, but that it's a job that needs to be done for the greater good. However, thousands of years of reaping souls has left him tired and jaded. He treats it almost like a 9 to 5 job, often being hassled and strongarmed by his bossy sister, Gladys Fate, who acts as both his business partner and supervisor. Humorously, the only real enjoyment he seems to have in his life is watching the Dallas Cowboys lose. He religiously watches Cowboys games whenever he can in the hope that they will lose.

Because of this, he wants a bit of a vacation and views Nathan Miller as the perfect person to take up the mantle in his absence—becoming Nathan Reaper.

Oh, and by the way, Nathan also sees his mother, father, uncle, his friend who died during the ambush, and even Vanessa in the afterlife. It's actually kinda anticlimactic, albeit upsetting. And this creates A LOT of issues for us with both Nathan (as the main character) and the book as a whole.

Here's why: Vanessa is kinda in “hell.” See, in the “Afterworld,” as this book calls it, the souls of the dead are guided to special rooms. Vanessa is held in a white room in which she is essentially punished by Karma, a fearsome “bitch” of a spirit (even Death fears her) due to an agreement by the spirits that Karma would be allowed to punish those who broke the Gray Rule: don't kill or end a life before the planned time.

As a victim of suicide, Vanessa is punished as someone who took a life (her own), forced to view all the multiple possibilities of if she'd still been alive. It's merciless, endless psychological torture! And fatherly Morton Death, motherly Deloris Fate (who bakes cookies for everyone), and Nathan basically allow it to happen through 60%+ of this book.

Nathan doesn't even try to stop it or intervene. This is even more painful and upsetting considering that Vanessa's last words/request was the Nathan would visit her in the afterlife. So, when given that opportunity, does he do that? No. He observes.

What's extra upsetting is that Nathan is given great power and authority as Nathan Reaper and has DIRECT FRICKIN' ACESS TO THE GODS yet still doesn't advocate for Vanessa's release or the release of his Uncle Frank from a similar fate.

No, Nathan is more concerned with his own dumb@#$ and about the supernatural mysteries of it all.

That would be like being the ambassador of a country that is suffering from drought, famine, and genocide, yet—when given the audience of the United Nations—instead of advocating for your people and asking for food, water, and intervention, you ask the UN to talk to you about their history and what's next for you.

What an #%$hole!

Then he goes off and starts dating, having sex with, and wanting to marry the Finnish author of his childrens' favorite book (Kaisa Jannok)?! SCREW THAT!

What an $^#hole!

This guy literally knows that his wife—who died BECAUSE OF HIM—is suffering eternal emotional and psychological torment BECAUSE OF HIM! This guy literally has access to the gods. He can just squeeze his hand and think a thought, then Fate or Death will show up, yet he doesn't so much as put in a good word for Vanessa and Frank.

What an *&^hole!

Yes, you could reference the scene in which he fantasizes about breaking them free, but he doesn't come anywhere close to attempting to act on that fantasy.

Hey, you know what? Let's go back to way before all this big supernatural stuff happened. What about how he totally helped General Adamson conceal war crimes all because of an NDA he signed? Remember that? He did that KNOWING FULL WELL THAT ADAMSON PLANNED TO USE A FRIGGIN' NUKE ON A POPULATED AREA FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE! Nathan sacrificed thousands of innocent lives just to preserve his career and stay out of jail.

What a friggin' #$*hole!

So, yes, our opinion of this book really dropped because of how much we hated Nathan Miller. Rather than experiencing a change or becoming a better person, you could almost make the argument that he becomes a worse person, just with more powers and knowledge.

What makes him a worse person than before? Well, it's the fact that he has absolutely no plausible deniability anymore. He knows everything. He knows the secrets of the universe. He has met the gods. He is best friends with Death. Fate is like his aunty now. He has no excuses anymore.

This is the difference between a child who plays with an outlet and accidentally sets the house on fire and a grown man who does it knowing that his actions will trigger a fire. That's what makes Nathan despicable in our eyes.

Thankfully, Death is there to be a likable character, something this book sorely needed after the halfway point. Morton Death actually allows the audiobook narrator, Jimmy Moreland, to do his best Johnny Cash impression. He sounds so cool, calm, and collected!

Moreland also does a good job at voicing Frederick Chance when he's in disguise as Gavin, using a thick Baltic accent.

Something else we appreciated about the narration of the audiobook was that Moreland didnt go over-the-top with the female voices like Fred Berman did in the Academy Bound audiobook.

Anyway, one of our favorite moments in the book was the brawl between Frederick Chance and Morton Death through the Las Vegas Strip (especially Caesar's Palace). That was awesome and hilarious. What made it even more humorous is that the news described and presented it like some cartoon rather than a serious, real-life event.

So, maybe if you don't take this book too seriously and just treat it as entertainment, you can look past its flaws and enjoy it. Check it out on Amazon!