Thank you NetGalley and Dundurn Press for the opportunity to read this book early in exchange for my honest review. After Elias releases October 6th.

Both heartbreaking and beautiful, this story lets us into the life of Coen who travels to Mexico ahead of his partner Elias. They are to be married when tragedy occurs. The plane that Elias is piloting crashes killing everyone on board. He has one final message that leaves everyone, including Coen confused and looking for answers. Coen must confront his past, as well as Elias' to move forward.

For the most part I enjoyed this story. It took me longer to read it than normal but I did love all the characters and the detail of the Mexican landscape and buildings were vivid in my mind. I felt as if I was there within the story looking at the same trees and flowers. I felt so much heartache as Coen moved though his grief and leaned on his friends and family for support. I loved how the author took the time to develop each character and relationships between these characters as well. Lastly, I love how this author ended this story and I feel like this story touched on so many difficult topics that can be hard to write about. I look forward to more novels by this author.

http://ramblinhamlin.com/after-elias-review/

I really enjoyed this debut novel. It’s a story of flaws, secrets, mental health, heartache, loss and love.
“See, he says. Everyone is damaged in one way or another. We are all hopelessly and spectacularly flawed”
“Amen, brother”
The characters felt very real and the writing really descriptive so you could picture the scenes. Definitely worth the read!
Thanks to Netgalley for an honest review of this book

I really wanted to like this book, but I found myself just not connecting with any of the characters. I could not find it in me to relate to Coen. The writing was beautiful, it just fell short for me.

Coen is in Mexico preparing for his wedding to Elias. Elias' plane crashes before arriving. Coen copes with grief and guilt. A recording was made of Elias' voice just before the crash. What did Elias mean?
Lots of flashbacks in this book.

After Elias is fantastic. I know “I couldn’t put it down” is cliche, but I carried the book around with me instead of my cell phone and snuck in stray minutes of reading whenever I could.

Coen Caraway’s wedding to handsome and accomplished pilot Elias Santos was supposed to mark the beginning of the rest of their lives. Seven days before the wedding, the plane Elias is flying crashes into the sea, which is suspected to be an intentional act. Through the aftermath, as well as within narratives of Coen and Elias’ past, we learn about trials and traumas that shape each character and their search for answers amid the chaos.

One of my favorite aspects of this book was how much care Tan took in shaping each character. I found myself so frustrated, heartbroken, and joyful with his characters as if they were real people, and every time I felt like I had them figured out the author provided another unexpected piece of the puzzle. I am absolutely looking forward to his future work and would recommend After Elias widely.

Note: I received a free eBook copy of After Elias from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was heartbreaking.

I can't say much because I feel like anything I'd say would be a spoiler. Readers need to experience the story and be happy, angry, sad and heartbroken.

I loved every single feeling I had reading this, and I enjoyed the doubt I felt: did Elias crash the plane? Was it an accident? Were his last words a suicidal last message? And the note he left behind?

The characters' doubts were my own, and the writing regarding this was on point. I really enjoyed the author's debut and would definitely read his next book!

Well, I wasn't expecting that at the end. After Elias is the kind of book that gets you in the feelings right from the start. It's a fast paced book with things happening frequently and you never seem to get bored. The writing style is really good and I liked the plotlines going in opposite directions in the timeline. I loved the characters but I would've liked a bit more development of Elias. I didn't give it five stars because I think that the main character wasn't mourning as I've ever seen someone. But like, everyone mourns in their own ways. I'd have loved to see how Elias and Coen got to the point of getting married as well. The book's prime focus is not 'how'. It focuses on the question 'why' and I think it does the job quite well.

Thanks to NetGalley who provided this ARC in exchange for an honest review! Ugh. UGH. THIS BOOK. I have not been this wrecked by a novel, let alone a debut novel, in a very long time. This book is equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming...which doesn’t sound like it should make sense but it SO does. I laughed, I cried, I smiled, I cried some more, I smiled while I cried. After I finished this, I literally put my kindle down on my chest and then stared at the ceiling for a solid 20 minutes.

On the surface, Coen Carroway has the perfect life. That is, until his life as he knew it comes completely apart. Just days before he is set to marry the love his life on an idyllic island in Mexico, Coen learns that his pilot fiancé Elias Santos is killed in an airplane crash. Instead of cancelling the wedding and returning home to Canada (much to his family/friends dismay), Coen chooses to remain on the island and hold a celebration of Elias’ life instead. As more details began to emerge surrounding the accident, Coen is left with more questions than answers. Transmitted just moments before the plane crashed, Coen hears Elias’ haunting last words - “Pronto dios”. What follows is a moving tale of love, grief, regret, mental illness, doubt, and self-discovery.

***

I absolutely adored this book. I normally don’t love shifting timelines/perspectives, but felt that it served a necessary purpose for the development of this story. Coen was so beautifully and tragically flawed, like so many of us are. While I’ve obviously had very different life experiences than him, I felt like I could completely relate to Coen at some many points throughout his journey.

Speaking of characters, I usually find myself glossing over side characters or just simply placing them in the back of my mind in a lot of books I read. Side characters are hard, to not only to make them feel whole but to make them feel just as worthy/important as the main characters. But this book blew me away. Every single character felt fully developed regardless of air time, and every one felt so important and needed. I think I pretty much highlighted every word that came out of Gabriel’s mouth. I felt like I was actually friends with Vivi and Dexter. I could feel the years of tension and hurt that developed between Coen and Clark. Every character was fully faceted and contributed something essential to the plot and Coen's growth.

I also felt that the topics of mental health and grief were handled in such a careful and honest way. Having worked in the mental health field for almost 5 years now, I’ve witnessed firsthand how people grieve so differently even when faced with the same trigger/loss. This book showcased that there isn’t a right or wrong way to cope with grief.

All in all, what an impressive debut from Eddy Boudel Tan. Can’t wait to read more in the future! .

Can I give this book ten stars? To say this story---inspired by the Germanwings flight 9525 plane crash in March 2015---was jam-packed with intensity and suspense is an understatement---but not the type of suspense you'd find in a thriller or action scene. Grief itself can be intense and suspenseful, and After Elias captures that raw human emotion effortlessly with the reminder that there is no right or wrong way to grieve those we love.

When I tried to describe the plot to a friend, their response was, "Well, that sounds depressing. Isn't it sad?" Incredibly, and there were scenes that were so gut-wrenching that, for the first time in my reading experience, I was brought to tears. Was it the fact that the writing was so fantastic (because it was); or because I've simply experienced the death of a loved one, tried to find answers to their passing, and struggled to find new ways to hold onto their memory? The fear of forgetting their voice, their scent; imagining what they would say in any given moment while watching you come to terms with your new normal without them; and then finally finding just enough peace to move on, maybe not all the way, but just enough. Coen's loss has been my loss and the next person's loss; and while few of us have and most of us will never have to grieve someone in a plane crash, readers will understand the cyclical motion of racing thoughts, numbness, isolation, denial, and eventual breakdown.

From a literary perspective, the shifting narration between the present (Coen's loss of Elias) and the past (where we get a glimpse at their relationship and their individual struggles) was captivating. Eddy Boudel Tan has a writing voice to be reckoned with and I can't wait to read more from him.

Also, A+ for stunning cover art.

After Elias is an impressive story with an important message. This Eddy Boudel Tan novel is an interesting one for sure.

It truly reminds you that we don't fully know anyone other than ourselves. We often forget this, think we know people, and when you really think about it, we don't.

This story starts with Elias' death. What follows is Coen's story, as he deals with, or doesn't deal with his fiancee's death. The mystery is well done, definitely keeping the reader intrigued throughout.

That said, I am sure some readers will struggle with Coen's reaction to everything. But it's a good read when you're looking for a mystery, that although heavy, is not very heavy in it's telling.

The author does a wonderful job exploring the power one's past has over someone; how easily one remains burdened by their pain and guilt. This is a story that includes mental health issues, family issues, and guilt. It is a story with doubts and struggles with the unknown.

This multi-layered read is full of twists and turns throughout. Overall, it's a memorable tale of learning about the past and learning to put one's past behind them.

After Elias is an accomplished tale. This Eddy Boudel Tan book is amazing for a debut novel. The author will take you along on a remarkable journey that tests the main character's resolves throughout. Be sure to check it out when you're looking for a serious and thought-provoking novel.

I will add my blog link when it's released.

This book was heavy but so emotionally powerful. It's a tough read, especially with all the craziness going on in the world, but well worth the read.

First off, a special thanks to Stephanie Ellis and Dundurn Press for an advanced reader copy on NetGalley!

“After Elias” is the story of Coen Caraway as he deals with the loss of his fiance who he was set to marry in just a couple of days in Mexico. Instead of canceling the destination wedding he and his fiance had planned, Coen decides to turn the event into a celebration of life for Elias, but while he’s working through the shock and grief of Elias’s death, news stations start speculating that the flight Elias was on crashed because of him.

Although this is author Eddy Boudel Tan’s debut novel, you wouldn’t be able to tell as “After Elias” is not just the story of a confused and grieving fiance, it’s a story about death, family love and learning how to move on with your life after somebody you love has been taken.

Coen is a beautifully written character that captures and shows how mental illness and your past have major effects on how you handle certain topics. His shock and response to both Elias’s death, as well as the news stories that speculate about his role in the plane crash, feel real and genuine which make the book that much more encompassing.

Whatsmore, this book explores the further effects of Elias’s death in Coen’s life including what I found to be one of the best parts of the book, Coen’s relationship with his brother.

In the end, Elias ends up playing an even bigger role than I anticipated, but it makes sense and is done perfectly. I found myself going through this book fairly quickly and I loved every minute of it. I teared up at spots and found myself shocked at others.

This could end up being one of my favorite books of 2020 and I highly recommend this book if you’re looking for a well written and emotional story.

I received a copy of “After Elias” by debut author Eddy Bouldel Tan. I had some issues with the plot and the structure of the book, but I enjoyed the read.

Seven days before his wedding, Coen’s fiancé, Elian, crashes a commercial jet into the Arctic Ocean. Coen is stuck at the resort in Mexico and decides to proceed with the wedding as a celebration of life. Rumors emerge that the crash may not have been accidental. Coen’s life starts to unravel as his parents, brother, and best friend travel to the island.

The book is divided in three sections. In the first section, we jump back and forth in time from the resort and Coen’s point of view, to scenes from the past in Coen and Elian’s relationship in reverse chronological order. The second and third parts are chronological and more straightforward. I had a hard time defining this book. It feels like a mystery, but I don’t think it works as a mystery. The book is not a romance either. At times I thought this might be a psychological thriller, but it never reached that level. The last quarter of the book was my favorite and it kept me hooked. I liked where the novel eventually ended up, a story about brothers and family, but it took a very circuitous route to get there. Some threads we left unresolved or unsatisfied for me. The tone was uneven and I was never really sure where it was going. The ending had some of the best scenes, but it was a little too tidy, yet unresolved. I dare not say more. I feel like the book had a great premise and a great ending, but the path between the two was rocky.

I believe a lot of people will really enjoy this. The writing is good, and the setting is marvelous. The author does a really nice job discussing some difficult topics. A warning that this might not be appropriate if you’re sensitive to suicide, abuse, or sexual assault. If you like thrillers and mysteries, I think you should give it a shot.
◊ ebook ◊ Fiction ◊ provided by @NetGalley ◊ forthcoming from Dundurn in September 2020.◾︎

Though I can't think of many times the words tender and thriller would go together, a tender thriller is the first thing that comes to mind when I think of how to describe AFTER ELIAS. Through learning of the tragedy that ruins Coen's perfect wedding day, we fall in love with some characters, fall out of love, then fall back into a more complicated sort of love with them. AFTER ELIAS is ultimately a story of healing and realizing that all our loved ones are far more complicated than we would like to think. The narration shifts between past and present, letting us see all the reasons Coen fell in love with Elias in the first place, even as his reputation falls apart in the present and doubt creeps into even Coen's steadfast hope.

I didn't know what to think for most of this. I knew that I was loving the novel and I knew that I adored Coen as a protagonist and just wanted the best for him, but I had no idea what to think about whether Elias was guilty or about the people who surround Coen. I started to question whether Elias was ever even a good person to begin with. But as the novel continued, I saw that was the point. It's hard to ever know anyone fully and when we take off our love tinted lenses, everyone has flaws. Coen's lesson, and one we could all do with, is that healing requires us to confront our pain.

Tan's writing does a wonderful job of transporting us to Mexico and Vancouver and providing a window into Coen's pain, so we all join him on his downwards spiral. The whole cast of characters serves a purpose, whether to steer Coen to the road of recovery or to show us who Coen and Elias really are without Coen's clouded judgement. My absolute favorite part of Tan's writing, and what I think helps create such a riveting plot and setting, was his characterization and how he sets all these characters in motion with each other. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more from Tan after such a stellar debut!

Some content warnings for future readers: there is a brief, fade to black rape scene and a similar suicide attempt, as well as a pretty explicit conversation where the victim is blamed for his actions. These are there to bring the plot along and explain some of the character's actions, not for senseless shock value, but please take care of yourselves while reading this, as I know it can be difficult to come across such scenes.

Overall, I would give AFTER ELIAS four and a half stars. I'm rounding up to five, because the lost half a star is due to my personal preference that scenes like the ones mentioned above be warned about whether proceeding the book or, to give an option to those who would like to avoid spoilers, in a section at the end. However, I know that's a practice that's not entirely widespread right now and often falls on publishers, so I don't fault the novel or the author for it.

I would definitely recommend this to any reader looking for a novel featuring queer characters, that doesn't revolve around their identity.

Okay. First of all stop what you’re doing and read this book. Wow. I honestly only chose to read this because of the cover (I love planes) but what a surprise. I read the whole thing in 2 days. After Elias tells the story of Coen who is Elias’s fiancé dealing with the aftermath of Elias’s sudden death in a plane crash. The scenes in Vancouver gave me nostalgia for the time I spent living there a few years ago. It was really interesting to delve into the complexities of Elias and Coens relationship due to their individual tragic pasts and how it affected them and their relationships with others. This story isn’t a happy one but it is beautiful and heartbreaking and really you should stop reading this and read After Elias.

I enjoy reading ARCs and I enjoy even more reading a debut novel. I usually read romance and I didn't really know what to expect from this book, even if I didn't find the cover alluring, I was intrigued by the blurb. The writing is very good, I liked the setting and idea behind the book. The story is heartbreaking and touched me deeply, maybe it is because of my own demons but I didn't cry so much reading a book in a long time.

★★★★✰ 4.5 stars (rounded up to 5)

From its heartbreaking first pages, to its lump-in-your-throat epilogue, After Elias is an emotionally charged novel.

“People can bring you pain, but nothing will hurt more than the pain you inflict on yourself.”


Grief, guilt, regret, and fear dominate Tan’s narrative. Coen Caraway and Elias Santos are meant to have a fairy-tale wedding and live happily ever after. One week before their big day, the airplane piloted by Elias crashes into the Arctic Ocean, leaving Coen, who had just arrived on the idyllic Mexican island that was meant to host their wedding, bereft.
When the authorities begin speculating whether the crash wasn’t accidental, Elias becomes a prime suspect. His cryptic final words, “Pronto dios” (“soon god”) disconcert an already grieving Coen.
While his family and friends plead for him to return home, to Vancouver, Coen refuses. His stay on the island however does not keep his doubts at bay. In spite of his insisting that “he is fine”, Coen finds himself spiralling. In the passing days he tries to make sense of this unimaginable tragedy and of his own relationship with Elias.
As the narrative moves from past to present, readers begin to gain a picture of both Coen and Elias.

“Life is nothing more than an elaborate house. It starts out small, a simple shelter. Then we build upon it, room by room, believing in the necessity of every expansion, every renovation. By the time we realize it is no longer a shelter but a tomb, it’s too late.”


Coen's grief, confusion, and uncertainties feel strikingly authentic.Tan allows his readers to witness and understand the depth and magnitude of Coen's discordant feelings. Coen’s thoughts, emotions, and impressions are articulated in a subtle yet lyrical language.
I was often surprised, and spellbound, by Tan’s arresting imagery.

“The only sounds in the room are my pounding heart and fitful breathing. I am Lazarus returning from the land of the dead, a corpse trapped by life.”


Tan renders Coen's pain with exceptional compassion, without sensationalising Coen's—and other characters’—grief and desperation. What particularly struck me was how ‘real’ Coen felt. His fears and anxieties are depicted with incredible authenticity. The way he simultaneously wants and doesn’t want to confront the darkest aspects of his relationship with Elias, his dormant yet inherent conviction that he will never be happy, his inability to express how he feels...everything about him felt real.
Other characters, such as his two best friends, Vivi and Decker, his brother, Clark, the hotel’s bartender, Gabriel, are just as believable. Decker in particular has a complex relationship with Coen, one that will undoubtedly make some readers tear up (I certainly did). These characters are flawed yet capable of change. While readers may not come to know them as well as they do Coen, they will get an impression of what kind of person they are (or want to be).

Although Tan doesn't provide lots of descriptions when it comes to the appearance of his characters or the island itself, his narrative is remarkably atmospheric. Tan's discerning prose relays the mood or quality of a certain conversation or moment.
The distinctive and deceptively dream-like setting of the island, as well as Coen's own dreams, reminded me of certain novels by Ann Patchett, in particular State of Wonder and The Magician's Assistant. The way in which Tan approaches painful themes bear resemblance to Benjamin Alire Sáenz's own approach in his more adult novels, such Last Night I Sang to the Monster and In Perfect Light.

Through his prose, which is in turns lucid and opaque, Tan showcases his capacity for empathy and compassion. He offers insights into grief, loneliness, abuse, mental illness, and trauma.
After Elias is an artful and heart-wrenching novel. Although it doesn’t make for ‘easy’ reading material, its cathartic narrative and underlying message of hope are guaranteed to leave a lasting impression.

PS: I'm so grateful to NetGalley for having accepted my request to read After Elias. I'm not sure I would have ever read this novel if I hadn’t spotted on NetGalley’s ‘recently added’ page.

Coen is a wealthy young Canadian with a severe depressive disorder who has traveled to the Mexican resort island where his luxurious wedding will be held when he learns that his fiance, a gruff, mysterious pilot, has died in an airplane crash that kills 317 other people, and which he might have planned. It's a set-up absolutely dripping with potential. "After Elias" could be a book about mourning, which would make it a literary novel. "After Elias" could be a book about the man who was supposed to marry a potential mass murderer, which would make it a crime novel. "After Elias" could be a book about mental illness, about class, about imperialism, about . . . well, a score of topics that would be more interesting (to me, at least) than its real theme: healing. My disappointment is magnified by the fact that the Mr. Boudel Tan's writing is competent enough, and his plot a canny enough combination of the familiar and the exotic, to have kept me intrigued until everyone starts baring their souls. I should have known as soon as the author introduced the narrator's supernaturally attractive and supportive best friends that the climax would be annoyingly cathartic, but . . . I'm hopelessly optimistic about doom.