What would happen if the afterlife consisted of an in-between world where the deceased went to a nine-to-five job to help the living? And what if one of these jobs assisted people in finding their perfect match? This is the premise of Eros, Inc., a short novel / novella by Matt Medlock.
The story centers around Charlie, an employee of Eros, Inc., who must make two unlikely people, Beckett Howe and Moira O’Hara, fall in love. The dilemma he faces is Moira is working two jobs and has a young daughter, Cassady. When will she have time to date Beckett let alone meet him? But Charlie is nothing but persistent and he uses all of his experience, including a frowned-upon practice of appearing in the flesh, to create dates for Beckett and Moira.
The first two acts of Eros, Inc. play out as expected with many hilarious twists and turns. The writing is first-rate which wasn’t surprising after I read the author’s stellar short story Scare Me. He is superb at turning a metaphor into a laugh-out-loud moment. One joke where the main character has to replace a word with “fruit basket” had me in stitches (clearly my type of humor). The characters who you want to root for are likeable and the plot progresses logically from scene to scene. I really enjoyed these acts. Humorous writing is difficult to achieve but the author pulled it off.
The third act takes a sharp turn by asking some significant questions about life. The novel could’ve kept the tone the same as the first two acts, but chose instead to explore a more meaningful theme. I, for one, appreciated this change of tone, but others may not be so amenable. Charlie poses questions that shall remain unanswered this side of life.
While I thoroughly enjoyed the novel, I had a minor quibble with Moira. Throughout the book, I found Moira making decisions that I thought served the story’s purpose rather than a two-job, single mother’s, but other than that the characters (including Moira) were realistic.
If you’re looking for something humorous but with a deep, thought-provoking third act, then Eros, Inc. is a great read.