Richard is a bland, ordinary person. He works at a bland, ordinary job and lives in a bland, ordinary flat. Until the day that a woman falls completely out of nowhere at his feet, bleeding everywhere. Nevermind that Richard's fiance is furious that he would want to get involved, Richard wraps the mysterious girl up in his coat and takes her to his apartment to see how he can help her.
That's when everything starts getting weird.
Door isn't from London Above and people are out to kill her. She talks to rats who apparently bring her messages, two shady looking men come to Richard's apartment looking for her but when they barge in she is nowhere to be found while they are there but as soon as they leave she emerges as if she had been there all along, and the friend that Richard drops her off with doesn't seem quiet like any person Richard has ever seen before.
But now Richard is ready to get back on with his bland, ordinary life except that now no one can see him. Cabs don't stop, the subway train doors try to close on him, his apartment is rented out while he's standing in it, his office stuff is packed up while he is asking what is going on. Even his friends and fiance don't recognize him at all. Stunned, he goes back to where he left Door to see if she can help him regain his life.
And then things get really weird as he is lead to London Below. An entire city beneath the one he thought he knew with strange people and even stranger creatures and where nothing works the way he thinks it should. But Door is still in danger and Richard finds the strength and courage he never knew he had in London Below.
Apparently this is one of Mr. Gaiman's early works and there have been a few editions where things have actually been changed to create the one he really wanted to release. The version I read is from 2001 so I don't think it's that one. Still, it was a wonderfully fun read although I found the ending a bit too predictable and pat.
Page count: 370p/18,443p ytd/327,138p lifetime
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