INK AND BONE
by Lisa Unger
A girl with the gift of seeing the spirit world tries to harness her ability while working with a private detective who isn’t a believer.
The Hollows is a world unto itself, as different from the rest of New York as the name implies. Everyone in The Hollows appears to be there for a definite reason. For Finley Montgomery, that reason is her grandmother Eloise. Finley relies on Eloise to help her cope with the world around her—more specifically, the spirits each of them sees. Eloise has taught Finley how to stay in the present and cope with her double-edged gift. Manhattanite mother Merri Gleason drives to The Hollows wishing she had some kind of connection to the spirit world. Ever since her young daughter was kidnapped on a family vacation to The Hollows, Merri’s been obsessed with figuring out whether she’s still alive. Merri’s made an appointment with private detective Jones Cooper, but he’s not optimistic. His only hope is that Eloise, his sometime collaborator, will have some inkling about what’s going on. But it turns out that Finley’s the one tuned in to the case. The story of the haphazard collaboration is interspersed with chapters of a young girl’s struggle with people who seem like kidnappers. Is this the child everyone’s looking for?
Unger’s beloved characters (Crazy Love You, 2015, etc.) continue a deftly balanced story that’s supernatural without a creepy aftertaste.