What happens when teenagers keep dark secrets from their loved ones? Will this repression of the truth lead to a violent blow up? What Comes After, the debut novel by Joanne Tompkins, is a story that unfolds from these two questions. The story begins with a shocking murder suicide of two high school students in the quiet town of Port Furlong, WA, which sits on the Puget Sound. A week into his senior year of high school, gregarious and popular Daniel Balch disappears, leading to a panicked community-wide search, which concludes with Jonah Geiger, Daniel’s neighbor and childhood friend, confessing in his suicide note to Daniel’s murder. The community is left reeling after the deaths of these two boys, especially Daniel’s father Isaac, the quiet high school biology teacher and devoted Quaker who had divorced Daniel’s mother years earlier. All alone in a big Victorian house, Isaac tries to come to turns with his son’s mysterious murder, and struggles with his feelings toward his neighbors, Lorrie and Nell, Jonah’s mom and sister, respectively. Jonah’s family is no stranger to tragedy, as Jonah’s mentally ill father shot himself in front of the whole family just a year prior. It seems that both families are struggling to understand what dark secrets their sons were hiding from them, and how they can survive in the wake of their loss.
Enter Evangeline, a sixteen year old girl living alone in a trailer just outside of town. Evangeline’s whole life has been filled with tragedy, she never knew her father, her mother has struggled with addiction throughout her life, and finally abandoned her at the age of sixteen after years of abuse and neglect. Evangeline becomes a part of the mystery when it is revealed that she actually knew Daniel and Jonah, and had been hanging out with them the week before the murder in the park near her trailer. When we meet Evangeline, she has resolved to show up at the home of Isaac and seek shelter, relying on his kindness and loneliness, without revealing that she knew his son in any way. In the early pages of the novel, its still unclear what Evangeline’s relationship to the two boys is, and how involved she is in their murder, but one fact serves to complicate everything: Evangeline is pregnant.
The novel is narrated in alternating chapters by Isaac and Evangeline, with brief flashbacks of Jonah’s narration on the day of his suicide. This structure is fascinating in that it gives the reader insight into the two characters impressions of each other when Evangeline first shows up at Isaac’s doorstep, and their shifting relationship to each other once Isaac lets her into his home and decides to care for this lost soul. Isaac realizes fairly early on that this girl knows more about his son than she’s letting on, and even suspects that Daniel may be the father of her child, but he finds it challenging to break down Evangeline’s barriers and get her to share the truth with him. While both characters struggle mightily with communication, they gradually melt each other’s hard exteriors and begin to form a quite beautiful bond, which is remarkable especially on the part of Evangeline, who has never been able to trust the adults in her life.
The situation gets more complicated when Evangeline forms a relationship with Lorrie, Jonah’s mother. Lorrie has also been forced to harden herself, but treats Evangeline with such compassion and care, that Isaac is forced to warm himself to her as well. Lorrie is an absolutely fascinating character, who is struggling with the incredible burden of mourning her son while also confronting the violence he inflicted, and in her own way she teaches Isaac what it means to confront the darkness in your child and still choose to love. The two families are forced to shed their uncomfortability to rally around Evangeline and her unborn child, both becoming sort of surrogate parents. And eventually Evangeline shares that either of their sons could be the father of her child, or someone else, as she had a romantic relationship with Jonah and a more complicated one with Daniel.
While the mystery of the child’s parentage and the murder suicide is a great hook for the novel, what is more compelling is its handling of trauma, loss, and family. The novel has a fascinating spiritual element to it as well, as Issac leans on his faith as a Quaker while simultaneously struggling with his shortcomings as a man of faith. Tompkins manages to hit on such complex feelings of grief, blame, and loss, and her characters contain many of the contradictions that make humans such fascinating creatures. A stunning and moving debut that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Further Reading: If you were especially intrigued by Lorrie’s character and the things she’s grappling with, as I was, you might enjoy We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver (adapted into a wonderful film).