Twelve Nights by Andrew Zurcher (review)

Zurcher, Andrew Twelve Nights. Philomel, 2021 [320p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781524741617 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781524741624 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys Ad Gr. 4-6

When Kay's family goes to meet Kay's father at his university office one night, they're told that he has never worked there, and they come home to find his things gone. Then Kay, who can see and hear wraiths, overhears Will O. de Wisp and Philip R. T. Gibbet arguing over her father's wisdom tooth, which they left behind when they came to "remove" him. Kay and her eight-year-old little sister, Eloise, join the wraiths on a hot air balloon into the mountains, where the wraith community deals in Removals for their power-hungry leader, Sergeant Ghast. There Eloise is taken away from Kay, and Kay only has twelve nights in which to save her before Ghast's dispersion ritual is complete. Originally published in the UK, this title offers some enjoyable ghostly elements. However, Kay is passed agentless from wraith to wraith and she's subject to words of wisdom that often fall flat, and other characters spend long paragraphs explaining the goings-on of the wraith community to Kay, leaving readers with little time to enjoy the actual world building. Still, mythology fanatics may enjoy references to Orpheus and Tantalus, among other mythological figures, and the perennial story of an older sib trying to save their family.