The Night Tourist

Jack Perdu, a 13 year old Classics prodigy, nearly dies after being hit by a car, but is strangely unhurt. His father, a professor, wonders if Jack was deliberately trying to kill himself, as both of them are still depressed at the death of Jack's mother, Anastasia, eight years ago. Jack fervently denies trying to kill himself, but his father sends him to New York City to see a doctor Jack has never heard of. Jack thinks he is probably a psychologist, but the visit is very short.

The doctor's office is filled with old artifacts, and Jack cannot resist handling an old golden subway token from the 1930's. When the doctor comes in and surprises him, Jack slips it into his pocket, and after the visit, he doesn't give it back. He goes to Grand Central Station, where he listens in to the tour given by a tour guide about how the accoustics of the pillared chamber mean you can hear anything said by one of the pillars at another pillar, even if it is across the room. When the tour guide moves on, he quotes John Donne, and is surprised to hear a female voice complete the poem.

This turns out to be Euri, who offers to give Jack her own guided tour of the station. Nine levels later, they come across a bum who threatens to throw Jack out unless Jack gives him something. Jack, with nothing else to offer, gives the man the old subway token, which he accepts. Jack and Euri enter, only for Jack to find that this is the true underworld of New York, where ghosts live. Or at least, new ghosts and those unable to move on live there, and now Jack is there, too. Euri is already a ghost. She was surprised he was able to see her, and doesn't know how that happened.

Humans are not allowed in the underworld, so Euri has to help Jack hide from the forces that want to kick him out. But more importantly, since New York City is the city in which his mother died eight years ago, Jack wants to find her. Euri promises to help him, and tells him he has three nights in the Underworld before he *must* return or die. The first night, they take a class explaining the Underworld at the Museum, Euri shows him how Ghosts haunt people (which is extremely ineffective as most people can't see ghosts), and they take in a play, at which they meet the ghost who has the records of the people who died eight years ago.

The next night, they set out in earnest to find Jack's mother, only to find that there are no records of her dying eight years ago. This is because, they discover, that she was a ghost long before that point, a ghost who somehow discovered with Jack's father the secret of returning to life. They also discover that the living need a "golden bough", an object that grants them the chance to enter the underworld and appears literally golden to that person alone. Some people may find more than one "golden bough" in their lifetime, others never find one.

Euri eventually reveals to Jack how she became a ghost, and that she, too, wishes to return to life, if she and Jack can find out the secret. But the forces of the ghost law are after them, and don't want anyone to learn the secret of returning. Can Jack and Euri find his mother, the secret, and return to life?

This book is a modern fairy tale, with a melancholy, almost elegiac ending. There is no sign that the author, Katherine Marsh, intends to write a sequel to the book, or that one is even possible for the characters. The living go on, the dead persist, and while Jack achieves a degree of closure over his mother's death, as does his father, not that much has really changed.

An excellent stand-alone novel that charms you as it draws you into the characters and the adventure. As well, Marsh weaves the buildings, statues and parks of New York city into the book, making the city almost a character of its own. This is a book I will be thinking about for a long time, even if it was classed as a "Children's book". Highly, highly recommended.