Seattle Ghost Story, by Nick DiMartino
Seattle Ghost Story, by Nick DiMartino
Ever since a mysterious, fatal accident in the ravine, Pepper Merlino’s world has become a place of fear. Her neighbor, Joe Strozza, a Chicago artist with AIDS who’s come to Seattle to die, is being tormented by unrelenting nightmares.
Eleven-year-old Billy Beck, who witnessed the fatal accident, has been forced out of a world of fantasy games, now living in dread of an unknown stalker. His single-parent father is tightening the reins on his son, fearing his new friendships, determined to protect him at all costs.
All of them are being watched by John Rain, a homeless man in Ravenna Park who writes poems to them all of the fates coming toward them. Something evil is festering there, underneath the old wooden bridge over the ravine, a crime tied up with a shameful moment in Seattle history.
Pepper Merlino is trying to concentrate on her graduate studies at the University of Washington, but her mother’s grief is slowly tearing their lives apart. Her entire Ravenna neighborhood is tense with suspicion and dread.
Secrets out of the past are coming back unsatisfied. They’re about to sweep Pepper, Joe, and Billy to the very boundary between life and death. Their lives will be forever changed by Christmas morning.