Mam is determined to move her and her teenage daughter, Penny, from Scottsdale, Arizona, to Connecticut. As for Bunko, Mam's husband and Penny's stepdad? He can come along too, provided that he slow down on his drinking at least a little bit. Yep, it's time for a new beginning. 

Until Mam and Bunko, en route to Mam's second interview at a Connecticut private school, die in an explosive plane crash (don't worry, this isn't a spoiler; it is right on the dust jacket of CLOUD SIX and is kind of the premise of the whole thing). So much for that fresh start. They've actually reached the end.

"The main reason the book is funny is Amy Fusselman’s dry humor, which comes through as the narrative shifts gears rapidly between each short chapter... At times both bleak and delightful, it's safe to say that CLOUD SIX offers a singularly surprising vision of the afterlife."

Or have they? Mam and Bunko awake in kind of a cut-rate version of the afterlife, dubbed Cloud Six by its creator (a demon named Widdershins). They arrive in a generic reception room, staffed by yet another demon who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mam's frenemy, Brenda, from back in Scottsdale. They're each handed a “survival kit” (actually a fanny pack) that doesn't seem very helpful at all, though one comes equipped with a particularly knowledgeable talking baby rabbit named Leroy. 

Perplexed by their circumstances, Mam is certain of only one thing: she wants a chance to look back at Earth and ensure Penny is okay. Leroy has heard rumors of a bodega bar with a window back to Earth, but neither he nor anyone else the newly dead couple encounter know quite where it is. And then the shooting starts.

CLOUD SIX is a strange but undeniably funny novel. At first, with its clever take on the afterlife, it might seem to appeal to fans of “The Good Place.” Certainly, with its demon characters, there are some parallels to be drawn. However, unlike the TV show, the characters are not particularly invested in the ethical considerations of the afterlife, nor in contemplating life's biggest questions. Instead, they wander somewhat aimlessly, trying to avoid violent confrontations and gradually coming to terms (sort of) with the fact that this is the end of their road. 

The main reason the book is funny is Amy Fusselman’s dry humor, which comes through as the narrative shifts gears rapidly between each short chapter, focusing on Mam and Bunko, a small cast of demons, and --- back on Earth --- Penny and her uncle Bill trying to figure out how to move forward without Mam and Bunko. Fusselman herself pops up from time to time, as does her “intern” for reasons I won't get into here. That would be a spoiler, and her commentary adds a layer of both humor and weirdness to this already oddly disorienting tale.

Like Penny and Bill, Mam and Bunko are trying their best to figure out what's next. The answer, as they come to realize in particularly graphic ways, is not much. And there are no great takeaways from what they encounter in the afterlife --- just a gradual change in themselves that seems both jarring and entirely appropriate. 

This is not a novel with immense emotional depth, but that's okay. Its point largely seems to be about rendering a version of the afterlife divorced from questions of whether people deserve to be in one place or another after death. The choice, it appears to suggest, is meaningless. And so are the outcomes, when the end that comes for Mam and Bunko is coming for all of us. At times both bleak and delightful, it's safe to say that CLOUD SIX offers a singularly surprising vision of the afterlife.