Ghostlove

In Mahoney’s playful ghost story (after Bell Weather), a man meets a dead woman who haunts his upstate New York house. William Rook, 25, has a keen interest in the occult, having grown up haunted by his dead mother (“Years of study and experience had taught me there was more than one kind of ghost”). After William’s father dies in a car accident, William buys and moves into a house with a friendly ghost named June. In order to help release June from limbo, William must use an array of spells and rituals to summon The Book of Elements, a rare text that allows its readers to pick their afterlife. A three-winged pigeon and a man named Mr. Gormly, who lives in the basement and prefers to remain unseen, provide occasional assistance in the quest. Mahoney adheres sharply to the rule of Chekhov’s gun; every situation is critical, and each detail required, down to the shape of a bloodstain. The result is a grave yet hilarious meditation on insanity, depression, companionship, and leaving everything behind. (May)