‘Neverwhere’ book review: An enthralling world

2024 is a year of rereads. Four months into the year and I’ve reread more books than I have read new releases. There’s something comforting about escaping into a familiar world, one which you know will not disappoint you. ‘Neverwhere’ by Neil Gaiman is a book that never lets you down. There are various versions of the book and the one I picked up this time is a recently published edition that has an extra short story on one of the characters in the book. I just love it when an author decides to give you more background on a story you love.

Neverwhere tells the story of Richard Mayhew who lives in London. He doesn’t have the most fascinating life but he’s doing okay. Then, one day, on his way to meet his high-flying, overly ambitious girlfriend’s boss, he stops to help a girl he finds bleeding on the street. This act of kindness turns his world upside down—and quite literally so.

He lands up in London Below where there are angels and murderers. It looks and seems like London but there’s something dark and sinister about it. There are beasts and Earls who hold court in a tube train. And Richard finds himself thrust in the heart of danger. There are two thugs who want to kill him. He must find a way to escape this place and make it back home before it’s too late. But how does he do that when he doesn’t have anyone to help him? And the only girl who might be able to fix his life seems to be on a mission to avenge her family’s murder, that too without a clue about who murdered her family in the first place.

The setup is flawless. The execution is great. You will not be bored for a second. The world of London Below that Gaiman creates in Neverwhere is magical. It transforms a real city into an entirely new world. You meet rats that can talk, and people-lookalike who eat frogs and bite off human heads. It’s a dangerous world but one that is full of possibilities. Anything can happen in London Below and your life would forever be altered in London Above. Reading Neverwhere feels a little like sitting on a rollercoaster without any safety guard.

Neverwhere was actually written for television but the book is much better. In the introduction to the text, Gaiman says the Neverwhere on screen wasn’t the one he had in his head. Every scene or line that was cut eventually found its way into the book so there’s a lot more here than on the tv adaptation. It’s the full experience. And trust me on this one, the book gets better with each reread as there’s just so much to unpack in the story.