WINNER OF THE KIRKUS STAR "A page-turner that both frightens and dazzles with its portrayal of cross-species encounters...An entertaining SF thriller, elegantly written and imaginatively conceived." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review) In 1928, a lonely professor searching for a missing student stumbles onto a conspiracy that may put an end to humanity, while a scientist from a subterranean race discovers that humans are not at all what she expected. Science fiction, cosmic horror, and human frailty. Ordinary people in extraordinary situations. Historically accurate settings and events. Compassionate, deeply drawn characters. A noir mystery that defies explanation. A touch of romance. It all adds up to one thing: an Electric Torch investigation. It is 1928, and the future is unwritten. When widowed Professor Horace Jennings reluctantly volunteers to search for a missing student, he trades Rhode Island for the West Coast. This isn't Providence; this is Los Angeles. And as his hired detective warns him, bootleggers, museum thieves, and crooked cops are no company for a sherry-sipping professor and his precocious protégé, Helen Parker. But the truly dangerous characters aren't criminals. In fact, they aren't even human. Shila Ghiss, a scientist from a subterranean race, desires only to experience daylight. One day, she gets her chance-if she is willing to help reclaim the surface from humanity. She'll need to become human, to learn about powerplants, facial expressions, and hair care. She'll need to do something awful. But her mentor and his followers are planning to do something far worse-something apocalyptic. To save both species, she'll have to work closely with these bizarre, unpredictable humans and become both traitor and savior. She'll have to decide who she is, and which native species will write the future.