The night tourist by Katherine Marsh one of my favorite books

Booklist Reviews 2007 November #1

Although only a freshman in high school, Jack Perdu is a classics whiz who is helping a Yale University scholar with her new translation of Ovid's Metamorphoses. Since the death of his mother, the boy has become increasingly withdrawn and friendless. When he's accidentally struck by a car, his life changes dramatically. Sent to New York for a medical consultation, Jack finds himself exploring an unknown underworld beneath the city alongside a fascinating girl who calls herself Euri. Is it coincidental that Jack's favorite Greek myth is the story of Orpheus and Eurydice? And are those dead people he's seeing? Some of the ensuing plot twists seem more manufactured than imagined, but this first children's book by the managing editor of The New Republic has an interesting premise, rooted in mythology, and a nicely realized underworld setting. And who can complain about encounters with the shades of Brooks Atkinson, Tennessee Williams, and Dylan Thomas? Copyright 2007 Booklist Reviews.