When Fat Charlie's dad named something, it stuck. Like calling Fat Charlie "Fat Charlie." Even now, twenty years later, Charlie Nancy can't shake that name, one of the many embarrassing "gifts" his father bestowed -- before he dropped dead on a karaoke stage and ruined Fat Charlie's life.

Mr. Nancy left Fat Charlie things. Things like the tall, good-looking stranger who appears on Charlie's doorstep, who appears to be the brother he never knew. A brother as different from Charlie as night is from day, a brother who's going to show Charlie how to lighten up and have a little fun ... just like Dear Old Dad. And all of a sudden, life starts getting very interesting for Fat Charlie.

Because, you see, Charlie's dad wasn't just any dad. He was Anansi, a trickster god, the spider-god. Anansi is the spirit of rebellion, able to overturn the social order, create wealth out of thin air, and baffle the devil. Some said he could cheat even Death himself.

Returning to the territory he so brilliantly explored in his masterful New York Times bestseller American Gods, the incomparable Neil Gaiman offers up a work of dazzling ingenuity, a kaleidoscopic journey deep into myth that is at once startling, terrifying, exhilarating, and fiercely funny -- a true wonder of a novel that confirms Stephen King's glowing assessment of the author as "a treasure house of story, and we are lucky to have him."

"The result, though less dazzling than American Gods, is even more moving. Intermittently lumpy and self-indulgent, but enormously entertaining throughout. And the Gaiman faithful...will devour it gratefully." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A fun book with a little of everything — horror, mystery, magic, comedy, song, romance, ghosts, scary birds, ancient grudges, and trademark British wit....Another lovely story as only Gaiman can tell it; necessary and recommended." -- Library Journal

Mizing farce and fantasy, epic mythology and domestic drama, [ANANSI BOYS] is a clever piece of storytelling and a celebration of the magic of make-believe." -— Independent

"Gaiman hardwires his comedy of misrule with a crackpot energy that, when successfully channelled, lights up the imagination." -— Sunday Times (London)

"A madcap, screwball world that is partly absurd, occassionally humane and always entertaining." -— Pittsburgh Tribune