Abbott starts his new series, The Haunting of Derek Stone, with a joltingly violent train wreck. The disaster occurs on the same bridge that 70 years ago featured a similar wreck. In the present-day version, Derek's father and older brother fall, presumably to their deaths, along with most of the other passengers into a deep ravine; while in the 1938 version, the victims were a carful of muderers and thieves. After a bit of sleuthing, prompted by the reappearance and bizarre behavior of his brother, Derek comes to realize that the dead souls from the first accident are possessing the corpses from the second. This opening volume is mostly action-heavy exposition, introducing the major players and laying the groundwork for some serious suspension of disbelief, while leaving a quite a few questions about the nature of the dead and their motivations unanswered. The next book is due out in March, a good thing since this isn't quite meaty enough to survive a lengthy furlough. An unusual twist on the zombie thriller.