For anyone who has reflexively dialed up a deceased loved one's number, only to suddenly remember that the person is no longer reachable via a phone line, Mitch Albom's new novel, The First Phone Call from Heaven, is certain to prove both haunting and comforting.

While snobby literary types might not approve of Albom's populist appeal, he has nevertheless established himself as a powerful storyteller, and this latest book surpasses even the wildly popular Tuesdays with Morrie in its page-turning power. If the plot seems dubious at first—eight residents of a small town in Michigan begin receiving phone calls from the departed—readers will soon be swept up in this plainspoken tale that asks, is there life after death? Or more precisely, is there life after life?

Determined to prove that the phone calls are nothing more than a mean-spirited hoax, Sully Harding, a disgraced Navy pilot and single father, is a lovable antihero whom readers will find themselves cheering on every step of his strife-ridden way. Intertwined with this rousing, cliffhanging plot is a parallel story featuring historic anecdotes from the life of the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell—who, Albom suggests, also wondered if technology might someday breach the abyss between the living and the dead.

Without spoiling the ending, readers should expect more than a few surprises. The First Phone Call from Heaven proves once again that Albom is adept at producing straightforward stories that are both heartwarming and compelling.

Phones are ringing off the hook in little Coldwater, MI, but the callers are all deceased, stirring emotions from joyous relief to uncertain fear as they report being happy in heaven. People worldwide are hailing a miracle, but Sully Harding is determined to show that it's a hoax. Sully's wife died while he was doing time for a crime he may not have committed, and he worries when his young son starts carrying around a cell phone, convinced that he will soon be hearing from his mom. With a 1.5 million-copy first printing.

A series of tragic circumstances land widower Sully Harding back in his hometown of Coldwater, MI, just months before the mysterious phone calls start occurring. The calls, from deceased family members or acquaintances, are made to a few select members of this small community. Some choose to keep the calls a secret while others decide to tell all. When a small news station picks up the story, it isn't long before it goes viral and the sleepy little town is overrun by extreme believers and vitriolic protesters, all demanding proof. Even Sully's young son, Jules, believes his mother will contact him from heaven. But Sully's skepticism prods him to investigate either to uncover a hoax or believe in a miracle. VERDICT Albom (The Five People You Meet in Heaven) artfully captures the emotional turbulence caused by the testing of faith. His story clips along at an increasingly frenetic pace, realistically displaying the ugliness wrought when combining the media circus, mass hysteria, and greed of commercialism. This moving tale of loss, recovery, and the power of love will be snatched up by Albom's many fans. [See Prepub Alert, 5/20/13.]—Joy Gunn, Paseo Verde Lib., Henderson, NV

Albom (The Five People You Meet in Heaven) has a nose for "thin places": places where the boundary between secular and sacred is porous, and ultimate meaning is easier to encounter. In his new novel, Coldwater, Mich., is this thin place, a town where people who have lost loved ones begin receiving phone calls from the dead in heaven. Sully Harding's wife died while he was in prison, and their young son, Jules, hopes his mom will call, even while Sully smells a hoax. Albom weaves a thread of satire into a narrative braided from the lives of smalltown residents; Coldwater becomes a media hotspot as well as battleground for religious and antireligious zealots, all awaiting the revelation they expect. A historical thread—popping into the narrative like a change-up in baseball—deals with Alexander Graham Bell's invention of the telephone and how the instrument came to be the premier human connector. This brisk, page-turner of a story climaxes at Christmas. Another winner from Albom; this book just about shouts "Give me for a holiday gift." Agent: David Black, David Black Agency. (Nov.)