The Way Inn [suggested by Wendy Gibson]
The Way Inn is a global chain of identikit mid-budget hotels, and Neil Double is a valued member of its loyalty scheme. Neil is a professional conference-goer, a man who will attend trade fairs, expos and conventions so you don’t have to. This life of anonymised, budget travel would be hell for most, but it’s a kind of paradise for Neil, who has turned his incognito professional life into a toxic personal philosophy.
But Neil is about to change. In a brand new Way Inn in an airport hinterland, he meets a woman — a woman he has seen before in bizarre and unsettling circumstances. She hints at being in possession of an astonishing truth about this mundane world. And then she disappears. Fascinated, and with his professional life unravelling, Neil tries to find the woman again. In doing so he is drawn into the appalling secret that lurks behind the fake smiles and muzak of the hotel… [Product description from Amazon]
About the Author
Shortlisted for this month
This month Wendy’s other two suggestions were:
The Humans
After an ‘incident’ one wet Friday night where Professor Andrew Martin is found walking naked through the streets of Cambridge, he is not feeling quite himself. Food sickens him. Clothes confound him. Even his loving wife and teenage son are repulsive to him. He feels lost amongst a crazy alien species and hates everyone on the planet. Everyone, that is, except Newton, and he’s a dog.
What could possibly make someone change their mind about the human race… ? [Product description from Amazon.com]
The book has a dedicated page on the author’s website.
About the Author
Wikipedia page.
Author’s website.
American Gods
This is the story of Shadow, who is released from prison following his wife’s death and finds himself in the employ of a man named Wednesday. As Shadow and Wednesday travel across America, another world is revealed. Scraping a living among the people of the modern world are old gods, brought to America in the beliefs of settlers and slaves. These ancient gods, their power waning as they are forgotten, find themselves threatened by the young gods of modern America, gods of TV and technology. This is a book which meanders, and Gaiman clearly feels that the journey is far more important than the destination. In this case I agree, but if you don’t, then don’t worry because despite its meandering, the book builds towards the battle between the old gods and the new. Of the new gods, my favourite element was the spooks, sinister Men-in-Black type characters who represent the height of modern mythology. However, it is Shadow’s encounters with the old gods that makes for the most compelling reading. They range from Odin to the spider-god Anansi to the Egyptian gods of death and the underworld. I was only sorry that my insufficent understanding of mythology meant that I didn’t understand some of Gaiman’s more subtle references. There are also some brilliantly written interludes which reveal how some of these older gods first arrived in America, telling stories of Viking explorers, stone age nomads, African slaves and Cornish thieves. In short, this book contains its own mythology, whilst being about the concept of that mythology itself. (synopsis from amazon.com)
About the Author
Bestselling author Neil Gaiman has long been one of the top writers in modern comics, as well as writing books for readers of all ages. He is listed in the Dictionary of Literary Biography as one of the top ten living post-modern writers, and is a prolific creator of works of prose, poetry, film, journalism, comics, song lyrics, and drama. His New York Times bestselling 2001 novel for adults, American Gods, was awarded the Hugo, Nebula, Bram Stoker, SFX, and Locus awards, was nominated for many other awards, including the World Fantasy Award and the Minnesota Book Award, and appeared on many best-of-year lists.
The above much-abridged version of his biography is taken from Neil Gaiman’s website.