There is a place between life and death known as Twilight. It's there that the Shadowman waits and when a human life flickers out, it is the Shadowman who ferries us from one world to the next. Forbidden entrance to our world and the other, all he can do is watch and wait. Until the night love beckons him and recklessly, unlawfully, he crosses over and claims his love. The result of his forbidden act is a girl child, but there is a price to pay for the Shadowman's momentary weakness. A terrible price and one that all humanity will suffer.

Orphaned at an early age, Talia O'Brien never knew her mother. She knew nothing of her father until a near-death experience where she met him face-to-face. Talia is Death's daughter.

Adam Thorne founded the Segue Institute in the hope he could find a way to kill his brother, Jacob, after Jacob's transformation into a wraith. He learns of Talia after reading a paper she has published, one that mentions the Shadowman. Adam sets out to find Talia, who is being hunted by wraiths and is currently in hiding. Adam rescues her and brings her to Segue; he doesn't know who exactly she is, but he knows there is something different about her. It's not long before he realizes that it's no random thing the wraiths are after Talia; she may well hold the fate of the human world in her hands.

An interesting debut novel with a lot of the feel of a fairy tale. I enjoyed this twist on death with its tortured Shadowman and the soul sucking wraiths preying on unsuspecting humanity.