The broken ones

Three years ago, on what's become known as Grey Wednesday, the world became haunted. Everyone suddenly acquired a personal ghost - a friend, a lost sibling, an ex-spouse, an enemy - which is unshakable as a shadow. These peering, silent phantoms have driven millions to despair, and the global economy is in freefall. Detective Oscar Mariani's ghost is a boy he doesn't recognise. When the boy appeared on Grey Wednesday in front of Oscar's car, the detective swerved, striking a young girl who now lies broken in a decrepit nursing home. Now, Oscar heads a failing unit that investigates ghost murders - killings that perpetrators claim their ghosts drove them to commit. But the discovery of murdered teenage girls, mutilated with arcane and disturbing symbols, shakes Oscar into new action. As he uncovers clues, he loses old friends and makes new enemies. As Oscar closes in on the killer the trail leads into the highest levels of society, and his own life falls into peril. Oscar's only chance to survive rests with the dead boy that haunts him and who seems to have a deadly secret of his own to impart.