At first, I wasn't sure what to make of this book. I was intrigued by the introduction to Elias Hatch, the groundskeeper of Old Willow Cemetery, who seemed to be able to see ghosts. Then my heart broke for the Brooke family, whose son went missing.

Then I was a little peeved by the characterizations. For example, Detective Balducci longs for his dead wife, but has an unexplained superficial attraction to almost every female character (including to Antonia Brooke, while taking her statement about her missing son). He even compares another female character to a Vogue model (A detective familiar with Vogue? Huh? That one really stopped me). Adam Brooke had the classic wealthy, aloof parents who appeared to give Adam reward money, and then disappeared completely from the story. Antonia's roots to Umbria, Italy were mentioned enough times that I thought they might be important, but they weren't. There were also other POV scenes juxtaposed against the main story line that were interesting but confusing (i.e., what was the purpose?) until the very, very end.

About halfway through the novel, the plot twisted and slowly turned into beautiful, gothic, supernatural mystery centered on the question of how and when (and if?) we let go of the people we love. Despite my impatience with the pacing and some of the characters at the beginning of the novel, I became riveted at the halfway point and HAD to finish it. And the unique ending really made up for a few irritations with the beginning. I'd recommend reading it. ( )