Book excerpt: It is 2001 in Vancouver, Canada. Guy Myles is a literary editor at a boutique publishing house. Yearning to revamp his bland life, he lands a job interview at a rival firm in New York, buys a van, and schedules a road trip. Just before he leaves, a manuscript about the late Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s life is dropped on his desk with a tight timeline. He must review it while traveling. His road trip quickly spirals into an adventure reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz. Guy tangles with his neighbors - members of a wicked motorcycle gang, the Broomsticks. Their mysterious dog, Ruby, sneaks into Guy’s van during a storm, and she becomes his first companion. The Broomsticks demand Ruby’s return, and a cross-country chase ensues. While evading capture, Guy meets a spacey waitress well-versed in random facts, the cynical, sometimes cruel daughter of an aging Hollywood movie star, a former supermodel assistant with a troubled past, and an Australian animal communicator who reveals a surprise connection. A Creature Unlike Any Other pays homage to Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, her biography wrapped in a fictional road-trip story based on the Wizard of Oz.