A very well constructed novel basically within the genre of the macabre via the telling of a ghost story. Peter Russell was at one point a successful director of adult films until one of his two daughters was kidnapped and murdered. That crime turned Peter into a person just able to eke out a small living by running errands for a California millionaire and having little interest in working for a better life. A fortunate contact while waiting to talk to his employer one day introduces him to what the manufacturer describes as a device that will revolutionize the communications industry. It is called "Trans" and is an exceptionally clear mobile device that can operate anywhere with an incredible low cost of operation. Peter agrees to start promoting "Trans" and he begins using it for his own personal needs. Suddenly he begins to see his murdered daughter and hearing other disembodied voices. The best part of Mr Bear's book is that given the fact of a new communication device somehow reaching out into other dimensions lends logic to the consequences of such an occurrence. The pace of the book quickens as more and more events occur based on the technology of the "Trans" and make the book more science fiction than a tale of the supernatural designed with fright sequences included to tantalize the reader. But of course, Greg Bear's forte is within the world of science fiction and we have a good novel in that genre rather than one more ghost story.