56 pages 1 hour read

Mitch Albom

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Background

Series Context: Sequel to The Five People You Meet in Heaven

The Next Person You Meet in Heaven is the second book in a two-part series and follows The Five People You Meet in Heaven. The series’ first book focuses on Eddie, a maintenance worker at Ruby Pier amusement park, who dies saving a young girl from a falling ride. Eddie felt his life lacked purpose and meaning until he reached heaven and met five people whose lives were impacted by his own. These people included Eddie’s wife, a girl in the Philippines that Eddie unknowingly killed, his army captain, the woman named Ruby whom the pier was named after, and a man with blue skin. Like Annie, Eddie meets a mixture of people he expected (his wife, his army captain) and people he did not even know he affected, like the man with blue skin. Each was connected to Eddie either directly or indirectly, and by the time Eddie was done meeting them all, he possessed an entirely new outlook of his time on Earth.

When Eddie meets Annie, he tells her about both his life and his early experiences in the afterlife. He notes deep Interwoven Human Connections between all people, past and present: “You meet five people, then you’re one of five for someone else.