The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde

This diverting and thought-provoking book is the third installment in the Thursday Next series.  

We pick up from where we left off in the last novel, Lost in a Good Book.  Thursday has gone into hiding inside an awful romance novel, and she finds she is having some serious difficulties with her memory.  To add to her troubles, Thursday's closest colleagues are dying horrible deaths one by one, and it seems that someone is after her too.  And there appears to be a problem with the latest book operating system.

The Well of Lost Plots is a better book than its predecessor.  Although it suffers from the same slow start, its satirical edge is sharper and more clearly defined.  It is also a funnier book with many laugh aloud moments; and once the plot really gets going, it is a real page turner.

Like the previous books, The Well of Lost Plots is set in 1985 in an parallel world that is much like our own; however, there are supernatural beings, and beings with supernatural powers, and it is possible for people to enter into works of fiction and for fictional characters to enter into the real world.  

In this novel, Fforde expands and embellishes his conception of the reality operating inside the totality of the written word.  There is government, politics, espionage and dirty dealings; and there is love, heartbreak, loyalty and friendship.  It is a world that Thursday must adapt to - and quickly - if she is to survive.

If you read the first two books in the series with pleasure, this installment will not disappoint.