Ghosts Know

A straight-shooting radio talk-show host and a glib fake psychic make intriguing sparring partners in this suspenseful thriller from British veteran Campbell (Seven Days of Cain). Graham Wilde thinks he's doing his listeners a service when he shows up stage psychic Frank Jasper as a possible trickster. What he doesn't expect is that the majority want to believe Jasper can (as he claims) see the ghosts of their dearly departed%E2%80%94or that Jasper will manipulate their gullibility to implicate Wilde as a potential suspect in the disappearance of a young girl that he has been called in to help the Manchester police with. Campbell develops his tale's wrong-man theme as masterfully in print as Alfred Hitchcock would in film, even throwing in a few plot curves to make the reader, whom Wilde takes into his confidence, occasionally doubt him. An undercurrent of black comedy, witty repartee between characters, a magnificent surprise ending, and Campbell's trademark verbal dexterity all contribute to this novel's abundant entertainments. (Nov.)