Mitsukazu Mihara's dramatically chilling look at the meaning of life, death, and the other side continues...For Shinjyurou Mamiya--an embalmer in a nation where men of his profession are viewed as outcasts--memory has always been like a prison. He reminisces about his first love and how that experience has locked him into a holding pattern in his current place in life. He encounters the lonely, the forgotten, and those who desperately hold onto their last of shred humanity. But his dealing with death will ultimately lead him to the true freedom that life offers..."The Embalmer is a great starting point if you like reading books about the great beyond, because it stays firmly grounded in the land of the living. If you've ever lost someone close to you, this book will really tug at your heartstrings, but it also might become a treasured part of your bookshelf." ign.com