The Returned .5, .6. and .7 by Jason Mott

I began reading The Returned and I was immediately intrigued. 10% into the story, I logged online to see what else this guy had penned. I found these--all free, all prequels promoting the big book. 


Imagine...the dead come back. They look the same as they did before they died. They haven't aged, time hasn't passed for them as it has for the living...they are just suddenly there again, years later. They show up at work and give people hear attacks...like Edmund Blithe in The First.

This story was just...a basic setting up of what's to come. We see how the Returned are misunderstood, interrogated, treated, labeled. A special bureau is created to deal with the returning dead. People are shocked. Answers cannot be found. This short story is just what the blurb promises: a man dead a year reunited with his grieving fiancee one year later. It's very simple, not much to it, but as I said, does what it should and that is lays the groundwork.

In The Sparrow, book 0.6, there's a lot more going on. I liked this one very much. A girl returns from the dead and a couple finds her. What do they do? What do they believe? This story was about how faith or lack of it can cause a rift between people, how if you have never experienced loss, you may not understand what you've gained. Even the stories the little returned girl tells made me stop and nod my head thoughtfully. "If we have not been sad, then we cannot be happy."


This short had deep meanings within its sentences and I was all set to give it a five but the way it ended was odd. Heather had a question, but never asked it. I feel like I missed something, but maybe I was supposed to feel that way...

In The Choice, an issue that came to the forefront of my mind as soon as I read the premise of these tales finally comes up. The first thing I wondered when I learned of this dead returning thing was "Well, hell, this will make a problem for anyone who's been widowed and remarried..." What are you going to do when a former loved one comes back and you're married to someone else? Be a polygamist? 

 Though this man wasn't married to the returned woman, he did love her... I liked the premise and I like how it ended. A father's love for his daughter is strong. I thought this was a sweet one and it made it clear that the dead need to stay...well, dead. But I didn't find it too suspenseful as the Returned is 17 years old and the married, living man is like, 35. No big suspense there. You know that's not going to work out. And just like with the novel...why the heck doesn't anyone ask the girl what the heck happened to her? I mean, she disappeared. Also a tad befuddled that she just jumps in his arms after almost twenty years. He's aged. You'd think she'd notice that. Hum.