Howe, Katherine. The Appearance of Annie Van Sinderen. 400p. ebook available. Putnam. Sept. 2015. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9780399167782. Gr 9 Up–Howe’s latest is a tautly paced page-turner that blends historical fiction, romance, and the supernatural. While spending the summer at New York University studying film, Wes becomes fascinated with an oddly dressed but hauntingly lovely girl. Annie, he eventually learns, is a ghost (though that word is never used), flickering between her time (1825) and his. The two attempt to figure out why Annie is here, as they begin to develop feelings for each other. Complicating matters is Maddie, a defiantly bohemian hipster whom Wes finds equally entrancing—and who’s also a part of the puzzle. Though Howe employs a well-worn trope—the concept of a spirit who can’t rest until a terrible wrong is rectified—she does so deftly, ratcheting up the tension as she switches between the protagonists’ first-person perspectives and weaving in themes of class and privilege. While Wes and Annie are separated by nearly two centuries, Howe nails their voices—that of an insecure film student yearning to make his mark and of the upper-class young woman attempting to break free from a gilded cage—imbuing them with relatable turmoil and angst. The language is immediate and gripping, with a hint of sensuality; the surreal, eerie chapters told from Annie’s understandably confused perspective contrast wonderfully with Wes’s more straightforward sections, and Howe’s exploration of New York City, both past and present, is spot on. VERDICT A thought-provoking, intelligent work of suspense that will resonate with fans of Adele Griffin’s Tighter (Knopf, 2011) and Nova Ren Suma’s The Walls Around Us (Algonquin, 2015).–Mahnaz Dar, School Library Journal This review was published in School Library Journal's September 2015 issue.