Title: The Night Tourist
Author: Katherine Marsh
Summary:Jack Perdu is a smart, lonely teenager with a penchant for translating Latin classics. After his mom was killed by falling scaffolding in New York when he was little, he and his professor dad moved to New Haven. When Jack is hurt in a near-fatal car accident, his dad sends him to the city to see a specialist, and as he waits for his return train, he meets Euri, who offers to show him another side of the city. But Euri is no ordinary schoolgirl – she is a ghost, one of thousands who roam Manhattan at night, to haunt their still-living families and friends, recreate the circumstances of their death, or just have fun in the city. As long as he holds Euri’s hand, Jack can move like the ghosts – so he and his new friend begin their search for Jack’s mom, evading ghostly ‘guards’ hunting for living persons hiding in the spirit world, and meeting famous New Yorkers of the past.
In this imaginative retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, Jack must decide what is most important to him: His new friend Euri, determined to find a way back to the living, or solving the mystery of his mother’s sudden death.
Who will like this book?: Anyone who likes a good adventure story. Fans of the Percy Jackson series and mythology.
If you like this, try this: For another retelling of Orpheus and Eurydice, read Nightsong by Michael Cadnum. A fun book about the ‘other side’ of New York City is Gods of Manhattanby Scott Mebus.
Recommended by: Nicole, Teen Librarian