Soon after the death of his wife, Paul Brickner and his 12-year-old daughter, Spring escape their small town of Phoenicia for a New York City sublet. Paul and Spring embrace the change and need to be around more people. Paul soon finds a connection with Blues singer, Tara and Spring finds a friend in Tara's daughter, Irina. However, Paul seems to be seeing his wife Nadia's ghost everywhere while Tara is haunted by the very real members of a cult that she escaped and the ancient Tibetan vessel that she took with her when she left. Paul keeps seeing Nadia and soon Spring does too. Paul's family has varying opinions on what he should do about his grief and Nadia's ghost but Paul may have bigger issues to deal with.
Dangerous Blues is a creative mix of contemporary fiction, ghost story, cult antics and cursed relics with an undercurrent of mysterious blues music. Told through Paul's point of view, I could feel his deep sense of grief, his confusion and loss. The appearance of Nadia's ghost throughout the story served as almost a guidepost, a reminder or warning for Paul. I did love both of Paul's wacky in-laws, Pearl and Dr. Maire who both had very different ideas of why Paul was seeing Nadia's ghost. Spring was amazing. She was able to deal with her grief as a pre-teen while also dealing with immense changes in her life in a graceful manner. The suspenseful part of the story surrounded the odd relic that Tara has and the danger created from the cult that still chases her. I was super interested in the cult, how it functions and how the vessel works. The mood of the story is set with the many blues lyrics throughout, haunting, suspenseful and dangerous.
This book was received for free in return for an honest review.