Neverwhere

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman, 318 pages

Richard Mayhew is a regular bloke, just living his life in London when he quite literally stumbles across an injured girl on the sidewalk. Trying to be a good Samaritan, he takes her to his nearby apartment to try to patch her up, and this act causes his world to turn upside down. Suddenly, he is invisible to other Londoners, though the girl, Door, has a couple of unsavory followers that can unfortunately still see him. As he follows Door to a whole new subterranean world of London Below, he's fighting for his life, both physically and materialistically.

That's a horrible way of describing Gaiman's wonderful book, full of wonderful (if not altogether trustworthy) characters. I loved the Marquis de Carabas, a swashbuckling rake who trades on stolen goods and favors; and the unsavory assassins/torturers Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar, whose bad jokes and mannerisms add some moments of levity to a book that could be a bit bleak otherwise. Another fantastic, magical tale from Mr. Gaiman, which is exactly what I expected.