Jack Perdu is a Classics geek, a ninth grader who spends his free time helping a Yale professor translate the Metamorphosis.  After he’s hit by a car, he begins to see ghosts.  When his worried Dad sends him to a doctor in New York, Jack gets led down into the New York underworld: the home of New York ghosts beneath the city.  Remembering the Greek myth of Orpheus, who attempted to travel to the underworld to return his dead wife Eurydice to life, Jack begins to search for his mother, who died when he was a child.  He is accompanied by Euri, a ghost who becomes his friend as the two work to find Jack’s mom and elude the Underworld guards.

There is a lot to The Night Tourist: Jack’s sadness over losing his mom and his hope that he may soon find her, his friendship with Euri, who has her own sadness, the mythology that colors the story, as Jack recalls the myths that have been his obsession.  It’s a really good adventure, and a fun read.  The audio version is also available, and is a really great listen!  You can check out the sequel, The Twilight Prisoner as well.