Rosy's scrawled book recommendation: Greywalker by Kat Richardson

Greywalker
Kat Richardson

Blurb
Meet Harper Blaine. She also sees dead people... Harper Blaine is a small-time private investigator trying to earn a living when a low-life savagely assaults her, leaving her for dead. For two minutes, to be precise. When Harper comes to in the hospital, she begins to feel a bit ...strange. She sees things that can only be described as weird-shapes emerging from a foggy grey mist, snarling teeth, creatures roaring. But Harper's not crazy. Her "death" has made her a Greywalker - able to move between our world and the mysterious, cross-over zone where things that go bump in the night exist. And her new gift (or curse) is about to drag her into that world of vampires and ghosts, magic and witches, necromancers and sinister artifacts. Whether she likes it or not.

Publisher
Piatkus Books

ISBN
9780749938963

Rosy's scrawlings on Greywalker
From the blurb you're probably thinking this book addresses as many cliches in the ghost story department as The Sixth Sense, complete with a protagonist who spends her time going on about seeing dead people. And you'd be wrong. Harper Blaine, while thrown by obtaining such an ability has more things to deal with than being worried about every dead soul there is, let alone that she sees dead people at all. There's more out there than just dead humans and there are some who would like her to take their case. She can also see ghosts of the city, its various historical stages layered one upon the other. Harper can travel through the ghost cities, negotiating from one time to the next, almost as easily as she can travel through the present day city.
Harper has a few personal issues as she begins delving into the worlds of the dead and past. She is constantly searching for what happened to her father who is missing, possibly dead, and rather good at tripping over her own feet when it comes to relationships. She has so many secrets that most either think her insane or are themselves too weird and frightening to approach. Luckily for her, there is hope in the romance department but pursuing it does mean delving further and further into the world that's off the grid.
Greywalker is, aside from an exploration of Harper's various issues, a detective story. Harper is on the hunt for a missing person and a missing piece of furniture. Both seem rather mundane until they are linked to the paranormal world and Harper is attacked and her office broken into. While investigating she also runs into vampires, witches, necromancers and ghosts, as well as other supernatural beings. This adds further paranormal and supernatural elements to the world she traverses, all which she can see only as she herself is just human.
For this book, you really need to put a lot of effort into visualising the scenes in order to become engaged. The writing style and the subject both emphasise imagery and its impact, what with Harper traversing the grey mist of the past and seeing ghosts everywhere. The world isn't explained to you in a matter of fact way, rather you see it through Harper's eyes. To offset this you are treated to some knocking on doors and asking questions detective work.
Of particular note for those still recovering from sparkling vampires. The ones in this book aren't romantically interesting, are incredibly scary and ones you'd best avoid if you want to live, let alone be mentally stable and independent.

I'd recommend this book to: to anyone interested in history, who loves ghost and paranormal stories and likes new twists to old story lines.