I appreciate the input, but Julie doesn't normally start out as an out and out atheist except when her story is set in a dystopian future. She usually starts out as a Christian, or at least someone who wants to believe, or believes she believes, but then she has a crisis of faith along the way and by the time she dies she's basically an atheist. I've thought of a more extreme version of that crisis of faith scenario, which might be similar to what you're suggesting, but in the end she still dies an atheist.

I like to explore her faith, or lack thereof, because it's important to me that the victim doesn't believe in an afterlife. If death isn't final, it sucks all the drama out of it and ruins the fantasy, and to be honest I'm not entirely sure how to write someone that really, truly believes in God, but then blames God for her own death and doesn't believe she's going to heaven. I am an atheist and I try to be respectful to those who are religious, but it seems to me that if someone truly believes Heaven is the ultimate paradise, death is the best thing that could happen to them.

That said, it might be possible to work that angle into the story I'm writing now, but we'll see how it goes.