Jorge A. Hernando and Paul Danner pen a captivating tale in Who Will I Be With in Heaven. The Judge sits in his heavenly realm, enveloped in glistening light and enrapturing music as Fate ushers in another person. One after the other, the Judge listens to the stories of their lives, instructing each person to share seven defining moments. When they are finished, he determines their eternal destination. For James, better known as Jimbo, life is a mess. When a car accident suddenly takes his life, James is transported into the afterlife. Confused, uncertain of what just happened, James cautiously waits. He hears the voice of the Judge in the background and then notices a woman with two very large men behind her. Nothing on earth had prepared James for what happens next.

The writing team of Jorge A. Hernando and Paul Danner turned their screenplay, Who Will I Be With in Heaven, into a novel. I found this intriguing, as most books are adapted into screenplays, not the other way around. Who will I be with in Heaven? Good question! Instead of taking you down the rabbit hole of fantastical adventure, Hernando and Danner turn your eyes upward into the great beyond of eternity. As human beings, we can’t help but speculate about life after death. Sure, many may scoff and quickly discard the notion, while others choose to live their lives with eternity in mind. This book reveals the diversity of human intentions and how our choices define us.

The plot action is at the helm of the narrative as the reader is transported through time and place quickly. The main character takes center stage and dynamically changes due to his storytelling encounter with the Judge. The narrative is creatively insightful; eye-opening elements of truth and poignant questions are woven into the dialogue. I found many of the heavenly descriptions revelatory, as well as comical. I enjoyed this contrast; I believe God has a great sense of humor. We live our lives as an unfolding story; we all have defining moments. May these epiphanies reflect the glory to God and become music to his ears. In the end: “The decisions we make speak for themselves” – the Judge.

Who Will I Be With in Heaven: A Graphic Tale of Life and Afterlife by Jorge A. Hernando with Paul Danner is just what the title says: graphic, no holds barred! The music-loving judge, aka God, is not a forgiving god, I mean judge. He sits in his studio, a more comfortable place than St Peter’s place at the Pearly Gates, considers the applicant – the dead person – delivers his decision and sends the lift up or down. Heaven or hell. James is a movie director who finds himself in the Afterlife. His relationships are a mess, and producing explosive movies a constant battle, so perhaps it’s for the best, or it would be if he escaped them: people and problems never cease to haunt him, cleverly intermingled with those of new arrivals.

James, a movie director killed in a car crash, carries into the Afterlife the imagination that drove his creativity, and it leads him to provoke the judge and picture the lives of the dead who arrive. A United States Air Force Colonel, the Frenchman who causes chaos with his sexuality, a child molester, the man who kills indiscriminately, and the church minister who thinks he has an automatic reservation in heaven. Hasn’t he spent his life preaching “the word”? Well, yes, the trouble is what he did during the rest of his life. Jorge A Hernando, with Paul Danner, has written a story that is both amusing and thought-provoking in Who Will I Be With in Heaven, and it is illustrated throughout.

Who Will I Be With in Heaven: A Graphic Tale of Life and Afterlife by Jorge A. Hernando, with Paul Danner, is a thought-provoking look at the world and an exploration of the afterlife through one man’s journey into his past. What would you do if you found yourself in heaven before a judge and could decide who you’d spend the afterlife with? James finds the answer to this question when a car accident takes his life and he finds himself standing before a heavenly judge. James goes on a journey through his life that will set into motion his eternal afterlife and will determine in which direction he will go.

Jorge A. Hernando ponders one of life’s biggest questions. This story delves deeper than where you’ll go when you die with an exploration into not only who will be with you when you get there but if you get to make that decision. James has great success in his life as a film director when suddenly a car accident spirals him into a journey to take an honest look at the highs and lows that occurred throughout his life. The arrangement of the story frames the journey in a profound way as James literally sees the best moments in his life as well as the worst. This outside perspective permits him to see what happened in a new way and to gain a new understanding of his various decisions. The tone is reflective and observant as he shifts through his own memories which travel back to his failing marriage and through his career as a director. The various memories include when he cheated on his wife, his wife’s drinking, his strained relationship with his daughter, and his last relationship.

As he looks at his lowest points, he explores the kind of person that he was, and this reflects on his greater spiritual journey. While the story focuses on James’s life, it also looks at the world around him through a subtle eye-opening commentary about serious concepts that include pollution, war, and drugs. Hernando delivers an honest voice that makes it easy to take in every moment of the story and to spark discussion about your own life. This story has you thinking about greater concepts about the world around you. Who Will I Be With in Heaven: A Graphic Tale of Life and Afterlife is a poignant journey of self-discovery that blends commentary on the world with a spiritual exploration about the afterlife.