Fallen Spirits

Once you've fallen, the only way back is up. At forty-five, Alex Scott has lost everything: her fiancé, her job, her dog, and what's left of her dignity, all in the same week. She's unemployed, heartbroken, and drowning in vodka in a Jersey City apartment. Then a mysterious stranger with no name and no memory appears on her street corner. What starts as a grudging act of charity becomes a cross-country chase, an underground network of spirit guides, and a reckoning with the darkest parts of herself. Because Crystal isn't human. She's a fallen spirit. And she was Alex's guide before a power-hungry billionaire began severing the connection between humans and their guides. Now JT Wilson, tech titan, assault enthusiast, and chronic farter, will stop at nothing to exploit that link for profit and control. Alex has a choice: chase the glittering lie of success she's been running toward her whole life, or finally face the monster that lives inside her head. Which would you choose? Visionary fiction at its darkest and funniest — Fallen Spirits blends spiritual awakening, dark comedy, and paranormal adventure into a genre-bending story about addiction, trauma recovery, and what it really means to find yourself.  Fallen Spirits is Book 2 in The Mind Monsters series. Book 1, Rock Gods & Messy Monsters, Hatz's award-winning debut, introduces Alex twenty years earlier as she navigates a surreal, alien-owned record company in 1990s New York City. Select Reviews"e;You'll get no other book like this one. Imagination knows no bounds — or bowels — in this inventive, high-stakes thriller."e; — Independent Book Review"e;The author's intended message is clearly one of female empowerment, solidarity, healing, and redemption."e; — US Review of Books"e;A truly memorable read... its blend of humor, imaginative world-building, and profound social commentary makes it stand apart."e; — International Review of Books Continue the Adventure with The Mind Monsters SeriesFollow Alex's path from disconnection to remembrance across all four books.Book 1: Rock Gods & Messy MonstersBook 3: The Light of WoundsBook 4: The Journey Home Join the Journey — The Mind Monsters SeriesNew to Alex's world? Start with a free short story prequel at dianehatz.com, then follow her path across all four books.