Is that a massive, dog-shaped shadow looming over the career of novelist Garth Stein?

After all, his 2009 book, "The Art of Racing in the Rain," a gloriously touching story of family, love, passion and transcendence is told from the point of view of Enzo, a remarkably astute and empathetic dog. As everyone in this solar system knows, "The Art of Racing in the Rain" became a steamrolling bestseller of not only books but also of Kleenex - which readers required to daub their tears as they read the heartmelting but triumphant finale.

So yes, Enzo probably will be a constant and metaphorical presence in Stein's life -even when he has a new book out. "Enzo has been very good to me," Stein says fondly.

But Stein is also eager to talk about his new and completely different novel, a family saga/ghost story called "A Sudden Light." Set in a haunted mansion called Riddell House outside Seattle, the novel takes place in 1990 and tells the story, through the eyes of 14-year-old Trevor Riddell, of a once-powerful timber family fallen on hard times.

Having grown up in Connecticut virtually unaware of Riddell House or his family history, Trevor visits the estate for the first time with his father, Jones Riddell. Trevor's parents, newly separated, are bankrupt and Jones is on a mission. The last surviving family members in Riddell House are Jones' sister, Serena, and Grandpa Samuel - and the siblings hope to persuade the stubborn and ill patriarch to move to a nursing home so they can sell the property. But it's nowhere near that simple.

Trevor becomes fascinated by his relatives, who seem almost prisoners in the old house which, he discovers, has secret rooms and tunnels - not to mention a resident spectre who is decidedly at odds with those who would sell off the land and mansion. "A Sudden Light" is a powerfully written story that skillfully blends supernatural elements with coming-of-age wonder and a beautifully complex generational saga.

At the heart of the novel is the reader's sense that, for Stein, the spectral construct isn't strictly a metaphorical device. Does he in fact have a heightened sense about the spiritual realm?

"I definitely believe there are many things we don't understand," Stein says in a phone call last month from his home in the Pacific Northwest. He's speaking in support of a signing tour that brings him to the Madison Senior Center on Sunday. "We try to explain these things away with science, but we can't explain everything. For example, in the book, there's a spiritual aspect where Trevor gets information from his (deceased) great uncle through dreams."

While that's a deliciously chilling concept, it's not just something Stein plucked out of a "Tales From the Crypt" comic.

"When I first started to write this, I had an idea where the story was going," he says. "Then my father died unexpectedly and it greatly influenced the novel. Though he was sick, he wasn't expected to up and die. And I started having this series of dreams in which I had conversations with my father. None of them were similar - and then they stopped. Now, I don't know everything about the science of dreams, and maybe those were caused by pepperoni pizza or whatever. But maybe there IS a connection. Maybe my dad left prematurely and he had to make those last few connections and, when he'd done that, he was free to go on with his journey. I was literally haunted with that idea and it found its way into the book in a big way."

Another critical aspect of the plot is that Trevor, at 14, is at the perfect age to experience all sorts of emotional, familial and spiritual events.

"I have three boys - 18, 16 and 7 - and I've seen the process," Stein says. "Trevor's age still has a childish inquisitiveness not yet quashed by social conventions. He knows nothing about the family history and isn't poisoned by what's gone on in the past whereas Jones and Serena were immersed in it growing up. Trevor is perfectly positioned, emotionally and intellectually, to look beyond the veil."

Serena, who is not remotely the spinster aunt Trevor anticipated when he arrived at Riddell House, also was a fun character for Stein to write. She's sexy and kind in a way that intoxicates and absolutely confuses Trevor - particularly when he starts to note manipulative qualities and what might be a different agenda.

"It's great because different readers react differently to a book," Stein says, "and Serena definitely caused a lot of response. Some say she's conniving and that they saw through her right away. To me, though, she's very damaged and was ruined at an early age. Some suggest there's a bit of Blanche DuBois and Tennessee Williams to her but I don't see it that way. If anything, I'm a huge fan of Eugene O'Neill and a lot of the tension between Serena and Grandpa Samuel reminds me of 'Moon for the Misbegotten' - not that I'm Eugene O'Neill."

It's been six years between the appearance of "The Art of Racing in the Rain" and the just-out "A Sudden Light." A cynic might suggest that the publishing business delayed the latter so as not to derail the whitewater momentum of the former.

Stein laughs. "It's quite the opposite, actually. The publishers would have loved to get it out sooner. But I was working very hard on 'A Sudden Light.' Readers and writers have a special trust. You give me your time and attention and I'm going to try to give you a story that provokes and maybe entertains and makes you think in a new way. I feel my responsibility is to say, 'If this isn't the best book I've ever written, why am I asking you to pay $26.95 and waste your time on it?' And I don't want to do that."

THE END OF 'RACING'

While Garth Stein is on tour behind and very proud of his new novel, “A Sudden Light,” he says he's always delighted to talk about “The Art of Racing in the Rain” and its wonderful canine protagonist, Enzo. He's asked, then, about the incredibly poignant final chapter with Enzo and whether it was difficult to get on paper. (Okay, what we actually asked was whether he cried when he wrote it.)

Stein takes a deep breath and laughs.

“We have two older kids and I used to write in the empty, smaller bedroom. Then my wife got pregnant and announced, 'The crib's going there' — so I had to go and find a new place to work. I ended up renting a desk above a pizza restaurant. There were several desks up there. The owner liked being around people and so there were freelancers typing around me. And the pizza guy would also have business

meetings up there.

“Anyway, one day I got to the end of 'Racing' and there were just tears pouring down my cheeks and I couldn't stop sobbing. And the restaurant manager happened to be meeting with a vendor and I noticed they'd gone silent and were looking at me. And the vendor just casually said, 'What's the deal with THAT guy?'”