I See You So Close

January 20, 2020
The secrets of a secluded mountain town are revealed in this tense, lyrical sequel to The Last to See Me. Ghost Emma Rose Finnis finds a body to occupy, freeing her to depart the mansion she has haunted for more than 100 years. She ends up in White Bar, a mining town in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. While the welcome she receives from the living townspeople is generally warm, the town’s ghostly inhabitants whisper to Emma Rose of something dark hidden in the town’s past. The living townspeople call in ghost hunter Philip Pratt, the villain from book one, to exterminate the other ghosts trapped in White Bar, leading to a race against time as Emma Rose seeks to uncover the truth of how the town’s ghosts came to be and save them from Pratt. Though Dressler’s lyricism becomes stilted at times, she masterfully creates a sense of claustrophobia. Emma Rose’s self-assurance, fury, and mounting suspicion make her a fierce protagonist. Series fans will savor this taut, lushly told tale of secrets and revenge.

February 15, 2020
In the second novel of Dressler's The Last Ghost series, readers are reacquainted with Emma Rose Finnis, an Irish American ghost who never made peace with her death. After escaping ruthless ghost hunter Phillip Pratt in The Last to See Me (2017), Emma Rose arrives aimlessly in White Bar, a former Gold Rush town in the Sierra Nevadas. White Bar is now home to very few and is being tormented by its brutal past. In the 1850s, a schoolhouse of children suspiciously burned; the ghosts of the pupils and their schoolmaster remain. Emma Rose is initially put off by the tension between the town's living and deceased, but she isn't forced to confront the friction until an outsider tips off Phillip Pratt. Again, Emma Rose comes face to face with the notorious cleaner of spirits, but this time the fates of a dozen other souls are at stake. Much like its predecessor, Dressler's latest is a captivating page-turner about what defines and divides a community, both in life and in death.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)