David Carraway is an ordinary boy - except that everywhere he goes he is accompanied by the walking, talking ghost of his dead brother, Nathan. Only David can see Nathan, who lives in the Shadowland, the space between life and death, where the dead walk and nightmares make their homes. But Nathan is not the only ghost in town: there are others, including some that exist as parasites on their human victims. With Nathan as his eyes and ears in the Shadowland, David sets about freeing innocent people of the ghosts who terrorize them. With a ghost on your side, some exorcisms are easy. But one ghost - the malevolent spirit in the abandoned Tipler Factory - is more than a match for the Carraway brothers. The mumbled words of exorcism do not bother it; it catches and eats ghosts as a spider catches flies, feeding on them, growing in strength and fury. David has already lost his brother once, when he was abducted and murdered. Now he loses Nathan again - but this time, he will stop at nothing to get him back, even if he must dare the dread paths of the Shadowland himself...