by Sunyi Dean
First published 2026
Mercy Chan wakes up on Hong Kong's shores with nothing. No family, no money, no past she can recall. She finds shelter in Kowloon Walled City, the notorious slum where ghosts crowd the narrow streets. Now she works for the local triad as a ghost talker, managing the angry spirits that plague the district's residents. A powerful ghost begins drowning people in Kowloon's waterways. This spirit knows Mercy's name and claims to hold secrets from the life she cannot remember. As bodies pile up in the canals, Mercy must confront this deadly enemy while her forgotten past threatens to surface. The ghost draws her into a dangerous game where the stakes climb higher with each move. Fighting this malevolent force, Mercy discovers the monster terrorizing Kowloon may be connected to her own lost history. In the cramped alleyways she now calls home, she faces a truth that could destroy everything she has built since washing ashore.
Genres: mystery, fantasy, horror, asian-american
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, emotional, suspenseful
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, forgotten-past, supernatural-mystery
Setting: Hong Kong, Kowloon Walled City
336 pages · Paperback · Tor Books
Content warnings: death, violence