Peter and Maria Hoey are a brother and sister creative team with a striking design ethos. Their latest book, In Perpetuity is beautifully laid out. For example, the book takes place in two different dimensions – the world of the living and the afterlife, and the pages that take place in the afterlife, where the story begins, are grey, lending a certain bleakness. The pages in the world of the living, however, are bright yellow and the general palette is more cheerful.
In Perpetuity tells the story of Jim, a shade “living out” his afterlife in the stark underworld that is apparently Los Angeles. The ocean is a rank oil slick, the skies are smoggy and grey, and the sun is black orb that traverses the sky. Everyone smokes, but any alcoholic drink that is ordered is merely an empty glass. There is incessant traffic but no honking. Too much time is spent in cars, but radio reception is dicey at best. Everyone works. Usually at jobs that had little to do with their lives before they died. The prices, the technology and the air quality seem to be frozen in the early 1970s.
In life, Jim was a musician who ran afoul of mobsters when he fell for the wrong girl. Now he pumps gas at a full-service station, where every seven-dollar full tank comes with cleaned windows and a check of the engine fluids. He does newspaper crossword puzzles, doesn’t sleep well and occasionally hooks up with a singer at a local bar. He seems to have adjusted to his dull existence, filled with monotony and monthly check-ins with a mysterious parole officer.
It is hard to know how long he has been settled into this imperfect “life,” but one day the mobsters who killed him show up at the gas station where he works. Death has not changed them. They have demands. Since there is nowhere to run to in the afterlife he acquiesces and finds himself at a séance. There, he is charged with getting money and a message to someone having a near death experience so they can make a delivery the mobster’s “life-side” girlfriend.
For Jim the return to life “above ground” is a literal breath of fresh air. The sky is blue, there are birds and flowers and cell phones, and catalytic converters keep the air clear. He meets Olivia, the disembodied spirit of a grad student who is in anaphylactic shock due to a bee sting. Jim reminds her that she’ll need to get back into her body if she wants to survive. She comments, “I know I won’t remember this when I wake up.” He replies. “But you will remember me.” He slips the envelope with money and instructions into her pocket.
The mobsters are concerned that Olivia will simply keep the money – after all it is what they would do under the circumstance. But Olivia is curious and generally honest. As instructed, she keeps one of the mysterious $500 bills and seeks out Iris in her Beverly Hills bungalow. Sadly, for Olivia, the plan is to keep using her as a go- between in the liminal space between life and death, to get money and communications between Eddie the mobster and Iris. Inflicting bee stings to force her into anaphylactic shock again. Iris and her henchman/butler, Bryan, will not administer the EpiPen to her body unless her spirit returns with the next installment of cash.
On the “life side” of the veil a séance is a diversion, a parlor trick, often viewed as harmless fun. On the “other side” any contact with the living is strictly forbidden because it upsets the illusion that shades cannot return. If discovered, any connection to a séance will bring severe consequences. For reasons that are not immediately clear Jim is one of those with great facility to move between the worlds, known as a “connector.” In a classic noir double bind Jim is recruited to help the authorities investigate a bit of cross world trafficking that is much larger and more complicated that merely supplying a former lover with money from the underworld.
Thus begins Jim’s adventures with Community Health And Resources Opportunity Network (C.H.A.R.O.N.), a charitable front that helps the down and out but is actually used to bring shades back from the dead. Duplicity and a double cross ultimately bring him under the scrutiny of Hades – the king of the underworld. And it is never good to be in the crosshairs of Hades. In this version of the Greek myths, the Gods are as petty and complicated as in the original tales.
The bounces between sunshine-backed pages and the grey ambiance of the underworld come faster, but the artwork maintains a certain calm. You know that you are in the hands of master storytellers and artists that possess a steady hand. The increase in action only accelerates the small and interesting details.
Another wonderful element of the book is the Hoeys' inclusion of art as plot element and musical trivia as banter. In both cases they know their stuff. The touchstones between the creative output of the living world and the remaining creative potential of those who have passed is an interesting subtext.
As a long time Angeleno I find In Perpetuity’s two Los Angeles locations to be interesting. In some way, the underworld’s perpetual traffic, well-rendered landmarks, and cute little apartments tucked neatly into side streets feels like the real deal. On the other hand, the mostly sunny skies, lovely parks, and infinite sprinkling of palm trees looks like home. Each embody elements of life in this megalopolis.
The thing that is the least like Los Angles is how much the characters rely on buses and walking. The reality is that Los Angeles is a huge, malignant amalgam of lots of small cities that have grown into each other over the course of the previous century. Many of those incorporated cities operate their own bus systems. The county and actual city of Los Angeles have their own systems as well. But getting across town can take multiple transfers and more than one system. My own five-mile trek from work to home a few years ago required two buses from two different systems. And usually, a 20-to-30-minute wait between buses, making it a longer commute than the 45 minutes by car.
The use of buses in In Perpetuity gives the characters an old school, East coast or Bay Area vibe. It also creates a greater sense of agency than actually taking the bus here generates. As a local I find it adds to the feeling of otherworldliness, mystery, and the idea that mercurial gods control more than we would like to admit.
In Perpetuity is published Top Shelf. Its presentation and quality certainly live up to that name. This is a book that is worth having on the coffee table or shelf, and not just downloading.
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