Mysterion, March 2024

“The Patron Saint of Flatliners” by K.A. Wiggins

Reviewed by David Wesley Hill

Most people think you learn the truth about the universe after you die, but the ghostly narrator of “The Patron Saint of Flatliners” by K.A. Wiggins, the March offering of Mysterion, is as confused as any living mortal, unsure if she’s in Purgatory, and clueless as to where souls go when they’re taken by the light. She does have a job, though—several times a day, there’s a “tug in my chest” and she’s “called to the next victim”—to the side of someone dying, same as she did, of a drug overdose. Although ghosts, apparently, have a limited connection to the physical world, sometimes, with great effort, she can help a dying junkie and return them to life, which is why she’s been nicknamed “Sancta Faustina, the patron saint of flatliners” by those she’s rescued. The catch is she needs the help of the living to resuscitate the moribund, and so things don’t look good for Jim, who is spiraling in his locked apartment with only his collie, Sammy, for company… A surprisingly moving tale, and … recommended.