As usual, no other author can quite match the outlandish and insane story plots that Powers can imagine.  I've read this book and I'm not sure I can summarize it well…

In this reality, there's a sort of magical current that runs in tandem with the traffic flow on Californian freeways.  This magical current allows ghosts to manifest.  It is possible to contact these ghosts and a particular covert government agency uses practitioners to elicit information they need from people who died related to a crime.  But only people who die in proximity to the freeway are somehow trapped in the current.  And only a handful of people actually know about this; most people go about their business and curse the traffic, not knowing that backups and frequent accidents are actually due to ghostly interference.  But there are those who do know; and they know one other thing:  under certain circumstances it is possible for a traveler to take an exit off the freeway and end up…elsewhere.  And if the traveler returns, it's considered a miracle and they become legendary.

Sebastian Vickery is one who knows and he works for a special transportation company that transports people on the freeway with special safeguards in place to keep the ghosts at bay.  It's dangerous work but Vickery pretty much takes it all in-stride; and it's hard to find better work when you're a disgraced Secret Service agent with a particular skill set and a kill order against you.  He lost that job when he accidently heard something over the radio during a halted Presidential motorcade some years earlier.  What he heard wasn't understandable but that didn't stop certain people from attempting to kill him before he did understand.

Ingrid Castine works for the covert agency that's been trying to find and kill Vickery for years.  The Agency has recently made contact with Vickery's dead wife, Amanda, and she's been providing information on how to find where he's hiding.  And, yes, it is possible to coerce a ghost and it isn't pleasant for them.  But when Castine and her fellow agents finally find Vickery, Castine makes an uncomfortable choice when it becomes apparent that her fellow agents fully intend to murder Vickery and no one explained that to her.  Now, having killed one of her coworkers, and right next to a freeway, Castine is on the run with Vickery.  It's only a matter of time before the Agency figures out who she killed and they make contact with the dead agent.  Vickery takes them to an old associate, Hipple, who is intimately familiar with dealing with ghosts.  They hope he can help them disguise themselves so the Agency can't find them through ghosts.  He's also quite familiar with the Agency's attempts to both contact and control ghosts…and their attempts to control exits and entrances off the freeway into the other reality.  An insanity that only a government agency would think was a good idea.  And Hipple is of the opinion that their efforts are only going to make things much worse than they are.  Even the mundane news is noticing how many more people are dying on the freeways lately.  But both Vickery and Castine are only interested in escaping the Agency's notice.  It isn't until Castine reportedly drove off an exit and disappeared that Vickery feels impelled to get involved.  He owes her and he is the only person interested in finding and saving her.  But even with Hipple's guidance and gadgets, navigating that other reality will threaten both his and Castine's very sanity.  And neither of them were remotely prepared for what they discovered on that other side.

There is so much more that I wish I could write of but too many spoilers lay that way.  Suffice to say that only Powers can imagine this level of weirdness.  The plot is convoluted and I would advise readers to take it slow.  Give yourself some time to absorb the story as you go along.  It's well-worth the ride if you appreciate uber-weirdness in your story.  Powers does rely pretty heavily on plot so the characters are not as fleshed-out as you would typically find in fantasies.  But they are sufficient to provide motivation if not empathy from the reader.  Power's characters have a tendency to 'step up to the plate' when the greater good is threatened even while they balk at self-sacrifice.  The action is non-stop and Powers throws out wild ideas so fast, the reader will be challenged to incorporate everything into the story.

There are two sequels to this book so stay tuned for future reviews.  ~~  Catherine Book

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