Goodlow's Ghosts

Short on plot but unusual in substance, this horror tale teams a psychic and the ghost of a murdered PI. Boston detective Sam Goodlow has met his demise at the hand of a hit-and-run driver, but refuses to believe he's really dead; his confused spirit wafts to the home of psychic Ryerson Biergarten. Although taken aback by Goodlow's spooky, transparent appearance, Biergarten feels sympathetic toward the oafish yet affable PI and decides to investigate. He finds ``gateways'' into another dimension through which physical bodies can pass, apparently accounting for at least a few of the faces pictured on milk cartons. Wright ( Little Boy Lost ) theorizes at length about what it's like to see, or be, a ghost, but there's not much return on reader investment here. Extraneous vignettes about men seduced by not-of-this-world women only string the audience along, and appearances by near-human apparitions, some of whom identify themselves as Goodlow, are simply never explained. Wright's provocative ideas, which could serve as raw material for several books, are never brought to fruition. (Jan.)