Welcome to the luminous and marvelously inventive world of The Ghost in Love. A man falls in the snow, hits his head on a curb, and dies. But something strange occurs: the man doesn’t die, and the ghost that’s been sent to take his soul to the afterlife is flabbergasted. Going immediately to its boss, the ghost asks, what should I do now? The boss says, we don’t know how this happened but we’re working on it. We want you to stay with this man to help us figure out what’s going on.

The ghost agrees unhappily; it is a ghost, not a nursemaid. But a funny thing happens—the ghost falls madly in love with the man’s girlfriend, and things naturally get complicated. Soon afterward, the man discovers he did not die when he was “supposed” to because for the first time in their history, human beings have decided to take their fates back from the gods. It’s a wonderful change, but one that comes at a price.

The Ghost in Love is about what happens to us when we discover that we have become the masters of our own fate. No excuses, no outside forces or gods to blame—the responsibility is all our own. It’s also about love, ghosts that happen to be gourmet cooks, talking dogs, and picnicking in the rain with yourself at twenty different ages.

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• Reviews •

"In his thirteenth novel, the whimsical Carroll continues to spin an alternate universe, one populated by ghosts, talking dogs, and the Angel of Death. Here Benjamin Gould has miraculously escaped certain death after hitting his head on the sidewalk. This unlikely event has upset the natural order, and his ghost, Ling, sent to tie up loose ends and usher Ben into the afterlife, is instead left to hang around in aimless fashion, cooking elaborate meals that humans can’t see and watching Ben mess up his once idyllic relationship with his girlfriend, German. So delightful a person is German, moving into every phase of her life at “full speed ahead, hopes ahoy, heart filled like a sail with reasonable optimism,” that Ling herself has fallen madly in love with her. In addition, Ben has discovered that he can read the thoughts and experience the emotions of Danielle Voyles, who has also survived a serious accident. Enlisting the help of Ling, German, and their faithful dog, Pilot, with whom he can now communicate, Ben decides to confront Danielle and figure out exactly what is happening to them. Although Carroll makes the architecture of his alternate universe unduly complicated, he also brings to it a highly appealing cast of characters and an enchanting sense of humor. Ben’s epic battle with his own self-destructive tendencies is made literal, comical, and metaphysical all at once. Delightful reading." BOOKLIST Magazine

“I envy anyone who has yet to enjoy the sexy, eerie, and addictive novels of Jonathan Carroll. They are delicious treats—with devilish tricks inside them.”—Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

"In The Ghost In Love Jonathan Carroll deepens his art, diving into his own obsessions with love and fate, without letting go of an ounce of the uncanny effervescent quality that has always caused readers to crave his narratives like an illegal substance. He's created a version of the world that shines like a beacon into our own." —Jonathan Lethem, author of The Fortress of Solitude and Motherless Brooklyn

"With The Ghost In Love, Jonathan Carroll is at the peak of his powers. An acknowledged master." —Bruce Wagner, author of Memorial