I haven't read a lot of Matheson's writings, but I've seen several films based on his work. Still, I can't say how this compares to his other books. I will say, though, that I took issue with several of the judgements he made in his version of the Afterlife, and how we as beings are both judged and improved. His concession at the end of the book, that his experiences weren't reflective of anyone else's perceptions of the Afterlife, seems small and belated; he's presented as the hero of this story, yet his experiences are both limiting and conservative, suggesting that in the mythos he's created, even the Afterlife can be as close-minded as the people who inhabit it.