After a bad fall on some ice, Ben's life has been turned upside-down: he's seeing flashes of someone else's life, nothing makes any sense, and his dog is talking to him. He fears he's going crazy. 
 Imagine his surprise when he finds out it's all because he was supposed to have died when his head hit the sidewalk. But instead of being dead, he's walking around with one foot in each world. 
 It's a fascinating combination of circumstances, but unfortunately, they don't come together into one of Carroll's better books. He has an interesting idea, exploring the ways we come to grips with our pasts and reconcile who we were with who we are, but the interpersonal relationships--usually the backbone of everything he writes --lack his usual sincerity. Dialogue tends toward expository chunks rather than honest conversation or discussion; the ending is a long, philosophical diatribe on the meaning and nature of being alive. Some of Carroll's lines are brilliant, shining gems of poetry that lilt across the page, but these occasional lines feel out of place with the rest of the narrative. One gets the impression that Carroll wrote this book to exorcise his own demons about getting older, rather than to tell a particular story. Carroll's existing fans will find this one, but he's unlikely to hook new readers with this effort. 
 This makes a couple of disappointments in a row from Jonathan Carroll. I'm hoping he's just in a slump, and hasn't lost his touch all together. I'm waffling between 3 and 4 stars, but I'm erring on the side of four. I want to believe.