Neverwhere

I searched for “Neil Gaiman’s longest book” to find this.

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It’s the novel he felt compelled to write because the 90s TV adaptation that was created for the original story didn’t get across the story that Mr. Gaiman wanted to tell.

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It took me a a minute to get in to this book because I was turned off by the set-up: Young man is pressured by super ambitious, beautiful partner to set up dinner for them and her high-powered boss. Young man messes up the reservations, gets dumped, and his adventure begins. For some reason, I really disliked that part.

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Thankfully, it got better.

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He knew what he had to do, and he took a certain pleasure in making a bit of a performance of it, ostentatiously examining the dead cocker spaniel, the artificial leg, and the damp and moldering portable telephone, and shaking his head dolorously at each of them. Then he made a point of noticing the Marquis’ body. He scratched his nose. He put on his spectacles and peered at it. He nodded to himself, glumly, hoping to give the vague impression of being a man in need of a corse who was disappointed by the selection but was going to have to make do with what they had. Then he beckoned to Dunnikin, and pointed to the corpse.

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The characters are phenomenally crafted, I absolutely love the language many of the characters used. It's a fun read that gives the reader a glimpse of the underside of London.

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The plot has plenty of tosses and turns, and the mental imagery that the writing creates gives strong impressions.

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This is expertly-crafted storytelling.

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