Ted Hall is a San Francisco blogger suddenly hit by strange events. After a fortune cookie explodes in his face in a Chinatown restaurant, he starts having restless sleep, apparently sleepwalking. Even worse, his sleepwalking seems to coincide with the actions of the Hang Wire Killer, a serial killer that's been hitting the city, murdering people and stringing them up with wires like puppets. Meanwhile, a circus has come to Golden Gate Park, and the Celtic dance troupe is practicing eerie rituals in the off hours. A masked acrobat with no name has joined the circus. A beach bum who gives ballroom dancing lessons has started showing amazing, supernatural powers. And arcane, immortal forces are gathering above and beneath the city.
Author Adam Christopher has taken the kind of urban fantasy Tim Powers perfected and he has added layer upon layer of epic weirdness, creepy mystery and dark humor, jumping back and forth between contemporary San Francisco and throughout the history and geography of America. Hang Wire is a taut, macabre, wild ride, a Lovecraftian action movie of a novel. If you're a fan of hardboiled mysteries and supernatural adventure, you'll groove on Hang Wire.
(Bonus game: how many references to songs by the band the Pixies can you find in Hang Wire?)