Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman

Richard Mayhew is a regular Londoner with an average job and a supremely annoying fiancee. Then, on his way to a very important dinner to discuss his future with a VIP, he is swept into the world of a strange girl, who seems to fall out of a wall and into the street, battered and bleeding.

It's not long before Richard, who (being the nice guy he is) takes Door home to care for her, is tangling with something even more ferocious than his bitchy girlfriend -- such as the dark forces of London Below, a parallel and perilous world lurking underneath, beside, and (at times) inside the city itself. Richard and Door team up with the flamboyantly sinister Marquis de Carabas to fight the evil villains who are hell bent on destroying them.

My husband had this book lying around and I picked it up. Brilliant stuff.

Bibliotherapeutic value: A story about self-realization and overcoming paralysis to do the right thing. Cathartic and deep.

Gaiman, Neil. Neverwhere. New York: Harper Perennial, 2003)

ISBN: 0060557818. $13.99.