I absolutely loved this collection of stories told under the umbrella of a mysterious person called “the Go-Between”. A person that is able to set up meetings with the living and the dead, preferable during the full moon. Each story follows four people who reach out to this person and then the last portion of this book has us finding out who the “Go-Between” is and how they came to be.
There are rules to this which are:
- The living person can never request to meet another dead person
- The dead person has to agree to the request and cannot ever meet another living person again
- The Go-Between brings the dead person to an agreed upon place and time and if you miss that, you will never see them again. There’s no do-overs
“The Rule of the Eldest Son” follows a man named Mr. Hatada (FYI it takes a bit to find out his first name). He doesn’t believe in the Go-Between but he promised his mother he would do this before she passed away. He is straight up hostile about this and many things in his life.
“The Rule of the Best Friend” oh man. This one was probably for me, one of the darker/saddest stories we are provided. The POV in this one is the best friend of a young girl named Misono. Misono dies during a tragic accident, but not all is what it seems with this one.
“The Rule of the Lost Love”. Another tear jerker. This follows a man whose fiancee disappeared 7 years ago. Many people think she ran off, but he wonders if perhaps she has died. Maybe the Go-Between can find out.
“The Rule of the Go-Between” as I said at the top, this tells us the rules of the Go-Between and getting to know them better. There’s also a tragic story here and also call backs to the earlier characters we meet. I thought this was artfully written and loved this from beginning to end. 5 stars.