The Golem and the Jinni (The Golem and the Jinni, #1)

by Helene Wecker

You must learn how to act according to what people say and do, not what they wish or fear.

The more he rode the trolleys and trains of New York, the more they seemed to form a giant, malevolent bellows, inhaling defenseless passengers from platforms and street corners and blowing them out again elsewhere.

This was where Matthew lived. It wasn’t what the Jinni had pictured. He’d pictured—what? Nothing. He’d never thought to picture anything at all.