The Wooden Sea

World Fantasy Award nominee 2002.

Set in the fictional town of Crane's View, New York, the familiar setting of earlier Carroll novels, The Wooden Sea also brings back the character of Police Chief Frannie McCabe. Crane's View is a small, comfortable town nestled along the river, a place where nothing out of the ordinary would happen – and doesn't, to the casual observer. From the moment a three-legged dog limps into the comfortable life of Police Chief Frannie McCabe and drops dead at his feet, McCabe finds himself thrust into a new world of unaccountable miracles and disturbing wonders.

The small town of Crane's View, New York, has long been a reassuringly familiar place for Frannie, a haven full of small comforts and domestic harmony, but now he finds himself afflicted by strange and inexplicable omens, such as a mysterious, multicolored feather that keeps insinuating itself into his past, present, and future, all of which now converge to throw Frannie's once ordinary life into doubt. Like it or not, Frannie has come face-to-face with the uncanny, and what he does over the next few days may have uncanny, and what he does over the next few days may have unforseen consequences for the entire world.

A rich stew of intrigue, wonder, and redemption, The Wooden Sea is Jonathan Carroll's most ambitious and visionary work to date.