When he is not writing fiction, Steven Amsterdam is a palliative care nurse in Melbourne. The Easy Way Out, set in the very near future, outlines how assisted suicide might work in a clinical setting, with all the palaver of hierarchies, line managers and rules. What effect could such a procedure have on those left behind – not least on the healthcare professionals? Evan counts the “I love you”s, assessing their quality, while wondering how his own death scene will eventually play out. The practical details of death are movingly rendered and blackly funny (post-mortem flatulence seems to be the norm).

Source: The Guardian November 12, 2016 08:29 UTC