The Ghost in Love

Just after a man falls in the snow and hits his head on a stone curb, a ghost arrives to take his soul to the afterlife. But something strange occurs: the man doesn't die. Flabbergasted, the ghost appeals to his boss for further direction and is instructed to stay with the man until the strange "problem" is worked out. But things get complicated when the ghost falls madly, deeply in love with the man's girlfriend. Soon afterward, the man discovers he did not die when he was supposed to because, for the first time, human beings have decided to take back their fates from the gods. This truly magical book is about love, talking dogs, ghosts who happen to be gourmet cooks, picnicking in the rain with yourself at twenty different ages, and what happens to us when we become the masters of our own fate.

From Publishers Weekly

Bearing a striking resemblance to David Koepp's 2008 Ricky Gervais screen comedy Ghost Town, Carroll's novel features a man who finds himself with an otherworldly companion when he fails to die after hitting his head on a curb. The ghost falls in love with the man's wife, but not before the man realizes that he's only alive because he has stolen powers from the gods of the world. Ray Porter's awkward reading makes this unusual story even stranger. Porter's characters-be they dogs, humans or ghosts-have bizarre voices that sound like transvestite showgirls backstage before the big show. The result is laughable as well as uncomfortable. A Farrar, Straus & Giroux hardcover (Reviews, Aug. 4). Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Jonathan Caroll's novel The Wooden Sea was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2001. He is the author of such acclaimed novels as White Apples, The Land of Laughs, The Marriage of Sticks, and Bones of the Moon. Ray Porter is an AudioFile Earphones Award-winning narrator and fifteen-year veteran of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows, including Almost Famous, ER, and Frasier.

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