American Gods

I've never read any Neil Gaiman. I've even failed to crack the spine on a single Sandman. How dare I call myself a comic reader - my secret shame. Long past due to fix this oversight, I started in with American Gods. (10th Anniversary edition)

It's oblique in it's writing. It doesn't draw too much attention to itself and so it seems that the narrative happens in the periphery. Misdirection. I know already that I will be reading this again. If it wasn't for the fact it would ruin it for first time readers I could almost wish for an annotated, and illustrated version ala The Da Vinci Code. The etymology of Wednesday and the histories of the Egyptian gods rendered on the page.

Our protagonist Shadow has just been released after serving 3 years for aggravated assault, only to mourn the death of his wife. A car crash that killed her and her secret lover - Shadow's best friend. There's no reason for him to say no to the strange old man that fortuitously offers him a job. It's a vague sort of employment that eventually finds him in the company of gods old and new, a shadowy Agency and the spectre of his dead wife.

The old gods, immigrated from countries overseas, find America less than hospitable. They are tired and scrapping by in taxis, working in funeral homes, running cons and slowly going crazy. Supplanted by the shiny new gods of credit cards, internet and cable TV there seems to be an impending clash on the horizon.

The novel defies easy categorization, winning awards for science fiction, fantasy and horror. An American road trip, written by a Brit. An incredible novel from a comic book writer.