Afterlight by Rebecca Lim

Text, 2015. ISBN: 9781925240498
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. This book grips the reader and doesn't let go until after it has been read. Rebecca writes so well and the reader is drawn in to such an extent that the characters (from bikies to drag queens) are so real you can almost touch them.
We meet Sophie as her life has been shattered by the death of her parents in an accident. Bullied at her last school, Sophie begins a new chapter of her life in a new school after moving in with her Gran (who owns a pub).
Almost immediately Sophie is visited by Eve. Eve is a persistent ghost who has Sophie tying up the loose ends of Eve's life. The missions become more dangerous and soon involve another student at the school - Jordan Haig. His special abilities and care for Sophie are integral to the fast paced and dramatic ending to this great book.
The actions of Eve have Sophie excluded from school and sent on a journey that is life threatening and life changing.
Rebecca Lim's writing of Afterlight sprang from a shooting that occurred in the Melbourne CBD. A bikie and a tabletop dancer were involved and innocent people on their way to work were critically injured or killed. Those who know Melbourne well will find themselves inside the environments Lim creates so evocatively.
Linda Guthrie