Review of "Above the Universe Below" by Elias Barton

Synopsis (from the author):
   Being the grim reaper of another world is only part of Carder’s life.  In our world he’s a shut-in, leaving home only to dash to his hospital job removing the corneas of deceased donors.  Still, Carder has long ushered weird creatures to the afterlife and honored them in bleak, individual paintings.  That’s Carder’s existence – and he’s content. 
Haika changes that.  A bored, beautiful art gallery-owner, she stumbles into Carder by chance and quickly becomes obsessed with his art.  As they forge a quirky-but-electric relationship, Carder is reluctantly pulled into Haika’s social world of wealth and status. Carder is tested further when his teenage niece visits, rebelling against her ultra-conservative upbringing.  Just when Carder’s prospects for a more normal life are about to become real, his hidden past catches up to the present.
Above the Universe Below examines methods of self-preservation, the multifaceted meaning of family, squandered potential and whether an outsider can open up while maintaining a sense of self.  It also shows young people that no matter how much they feel their life has fallen to pieces, they can build something from it worth living for.
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   Above the world below is remote, but not alien. Deliberate, but not dreamlike: more like watching a movie version of a dream at three o'clock in the morning because there is nothing else on except infomercials.
   It's written without an active voice, instead in present passive voice that speaks not like a story dropping from living lips, but more like a recording from  a drive-through mascot.
   The remoteness may be intentional, given the title and that the the character performs alien duties in a non-realm. Artists or morticians may feel an affinity to the books strange similes "...his expressions vacillate between brooding contemplation and a serial killer grin..."
   The difficulty I've often seen in describing the alien is that it often lacks emotional immediacy to those without the exact vision. One cannot feel what one does not know.
   The plot itself, while not confusingly convoluted, does offer slow, eventual intrigues. It's an art exhibition behind glass, or perhaps a grouping of detailed dissection illustrations in a biology textbook.