Like Shadow of the Winds, this book combines the elements of mystery, romance, and adventure. It provides an eerie return to the Cemetery of Forgotten Books and other haunted Barcelona habitats. I was especially intrigued by the author's exploration of the idea that every book has a soul capable of interrelating the souls of the author who wrote it and the reader who reads it.

When David Martin accepts a large commission to write a book with a theme chosen by Andreas Corelli, he has struck a Faustian bargain with a host of unsettling consequences. The supernatural ending is quite unexpected, but I can foresee it as the starting point for characters who will be brought forward into Zafon's next eagerly anticipated novel.