Outside the Dog Museum by Jonathan Carroll is one of the best books to introduce people to Jonathan Carroll. Carroll is a master of urban fantasy stories. His books are full of interesting people in great locations who happen to be involved with ghosts or reincarnated people or supernatural events. The books start off with normal people in real situations and the supernatural events slowly bring themselves into the book.  Outside the Dog Museum is a wonderful example of this genre and will be enjoyed by fans of Neil Gaiman.

Harry Radcliffe is a superstar young architect who has just won the Pritzker Prize (top prize for architecture) and has just gone crazy. Harry is torn between multiple women in his life and is a workaholic in his craft. After winning his prize and being well regarded and getting more commisions than he can possibly handle, he simply loses his mind. It’s a gentle slip. He sees some shaped erasers he likes in a store and ends up buying hundreds of them and using them to build a city in his house. At that point his life is a mess. But then he meets Venasque, a pseudo mystic who moves in and helps Harry cure himself before dying and leaving Harry with his rather large dog.

After recovery, Harry has a new commission waiting. The Sultan of Saru, possibly a fictional version of Dubai, wants Harry to build a Dog Museum. Even though Dogs are considered filthy in his religion, the Sultan’s life was shaped by a dog, so he feels obligated to build the museum. While considering it, Harry meets a young boy who appears to be Venasque reincarnated. The story goes on from there and starts slowly moving into a more supernatural direction.

Jonathan Carroll is an underrated author whose books are wonderfully written with amazing characters and settings. He is an obvious influence on Neil Gaiman (his Sandman story A Game of You almost ended up being a little to close to Carroll’s Bones of the Moon) among others. If you like Neil Gaiman’s magical fantasy books, then you’ll enjoy Jonathan Carroll. Highly Recommended