Book of Lost Souls, Volume 1: Introductions All Around »

The destinies of most people are defined early on. Then there are the others - the lost. Those whose numbers aren't in yet, who could go toward the light or toward the darkness - indeed, who could be tipped one direction or another. And everything starts with the book. That's what Jonathan is about to discover. When he took a suicide plunge off the London Bridge more than a century ago, the last place he expected to land was on his feet, in the present, standing at the entrance to a tunnel into a world of mysteries beyond his wildest imagination. A world of powers and principalities and, above all, rules that he'd best learn quickly. Or he'll have to deal with the Dark Man. And what the Dark Man can't turn, he devours.

Collects Book of Lost Souls #1-6.

Steve Raiteri - Library Journal

Just before 19th-century romantic Jonathan jumps to his death, an old man offers him a book a book that draws Jonathan to the present day and gives him a mission. Aided by the cat Mystery, he intercedes in the lives of Lost those people whose paths are not set and may turn to either good or evil judging them and tipping them toward one path or the other. In this guise, he encounters a battered wife and a homeless artist, but when faced with a serial killer, Jonathan (who it's implied is somehow different from his predecessors in this role) makes a choice that draws the ire of the Dark Man, one of the Two who were there at the beginning of all things. This dark fantasy in the vein of Sandmanfeatures an interesting take on the Garden of Eden story; appropriately portentous and intriguing dialog by Straczynski (Babylon 5; Spider-Man); and excellent artwork by Doran (A Distant Soil; Orbiter) contrasting gorgeous Art Nouveauesque fantasies and flashbacks with a grittier style for real-world and horror scenes. With sexual situations and a bit of gore, this is for older teens and adults; recommended for all collections.