In this alternative England, people can jump into literature and characters can leave the story and enter real life. As the author puts it - a cross-fertilization between works of fiction and reality. Some of the character names are hilarious - Jack Schitt, Paige Turner and Mr. Stoker (who works in the vampire division). Very creative and funny.Thursday Next, SO-27 agent is asked to help SO-5 on a highly confidential case because she's the only one who can identify the suspect, Acheron Hades. Thursday is chasing Acheron - a guy who has strange and unusual paranormal abilities - he can change into any person, become invisible, weapons cannot harm him, etc. Acheron has stolen Dickens' Martin Chuzzlewit manuscript and now he is drawing characters into real life and killing them which removes them from every copy of Chuzzlewit in creation. When her inventor Uncle is kidnapped by Acheron, Thursday and her co-workers hatch a plan to rescue him and catch Acheron.
It's a great concept and I guess I would have enjoyed it more had I read Chuzzlewit or remember anything from Jane Eyre which I read 25-30 years ago. This was a little too literary for my tastes. The narrative just dies when Thursday actually enters Jane Eyre. I found this portion of the book incredibly boring. I liked Thursday and her co-workers, so I will give [b:Lost in a Good Book|27000|Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next, #2)|Jasper Fforde|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348095035s/27000.jpg|1918119] a try before deciding whether to continue the series or not.
