by Tim Powers
First published 2007
A young boy accidentally breathes in the final exhalation of Thomas Edison and suddenly finds himself the target of a citywide manhunt. Los Angeles swarms with ghosts, half-ghosts, ghost hunters, and addicts who feed on spectral energy. All of them want what the boy now carries inside him. The vital spark of Edison's genius has made him a living treasure in a supernatural economy built on death and borrowed time. As disasters ravage the city, the boy must navigate a world where the living and the dead collide in their desperate scramble for immortality. Every breath he takes puts him in greater danger. The ghost junkies will stop at nothing to claim Edison's essence, and the boy realizes he holds something that could change the nature of life and death itself.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, fantasy, action, ghost-stories, 21st-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: chosen-one, supernatural-abilities
Setting: Los Angeles
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
384 pages · Paperback · Orb Books