Just before she and her parents move back to Malaysia after 20 years in the U.S., Jess begins hearing a voice inside her head, speaking to her in Hokkien. Once they make the journey, the voice only gets more insistent and nosy, which makes sense when Jess figures out that it's her late grandmother's spirit using her as an unwitting medium. Ah Ma's spirit is restless because a new condominium development is threatening a temple that is home to a vengeful goddess for which Ah Ma was a medium herself, and now it's Jess's turn to take up the fight, whether she wants to or not.
Full of Malaysian culture, religion, and food, this modern fantasy novel weaves together ancestral pain, the Malaysian mafia, and the awkwardness of being an unemployed college graduate still living with your parents. And it does it with plenty of humor and compassion. This is a fantastic book, and I look forward to reading more Zen Cho books in the future.
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