Dead Set: A Novel [9780062339287]

Overview

The New York Times bestselling author of the Sandman Slim series delivers a wonderful stand-alone dark fantasy in which a young girl is caught between the worlds of the living and the dead.

After her father's funeral, Zoe moved to the big city with her mother to start over. But change always brings trials, and life in the city is not so easy. Money is tight, and Zoe's only escape, as has always been the case, is in her dreams—a world apart from her troubled real life where she can spend time with her closest companion: her lost brother, Valentine.

But something or someone has entered their dreamworld uninvited. And a chance encounter at a used record store, where the vinyl holds not music but lost souls, has opened up a portal to the world of the restless dead. It's here that the shop's strange proprietor offers Zoe the chance to commune with her dead father. The price? A lock of hair. Then a tooth. Then . . .

• A Supernatural Coming of Age: For Zoe, reeling from the loss of her father, navigating grief is as treacherous as navigating the world of the restless dead.
• Urban Fantasy Setting: Explore San Francisco’s gritty supernatural underground, from a record shop where vinyl holds lost souls to a mysterious portal to the afterlife.
• Dangerous Magic: A deal to speak with her dead father seems like a dream come true, but the price starts with a lock of hair and only gets more sinister from there.
• A World of Dreams and Ghosts: Zoe’s only refuge is a secret dreamworld she shares with her lost brother, Valentine—but an unwelcome visitor threatens her last safe space.