Like many readers of The In-Between, I first encountered Hadley Vlahos on social media (Instagram, since I don't use TikTok). Her compassion and insight about end-of-life care really endeared her to me and made me want to read her book. And it is such a book worth reading! Vlahos does a fantastic job at stringing together narratives within and between the essays in this collection. I appreciate that she starts from the beginning and introduces the readers to some of the more surprising aspects of death and dying with the same lack of knowledge she had at first. Also, I respect her willingness to go against official rules for the sake of humanity. 

An unfortunate side-effect of Vlahos' abilities as a pretty good writer, though, is that certain things that were undoubtedly shocking to her at the time are well-foreshadowed in her hindsighted recollections. In particular, there is one point in the book where I was like "Oh man... that's going to happen..." and then it did, and then I kind of struggled through everyone's shock and guilt because I was anticipating it. She knows how to structure a narrative... perhaps she is even too good at it.