Publication date:Jul 1996
Pages#311
Tommy Phan is a successful detective novelist, living the American Dream in southern California. One evening he comes home to find a small rag doll on his doorstep. It’s a simple doll, covered entirely in white cloth, with crossed black stitches for the eyes and mouth, and another pair forming an X over the heart. Curious, he brings it inside. That night, Tommy hears an odd popping sound and looks up to see the stitches breaking over the doll’s heart. And in minutes the fabric of Tommy Phan’s reality will be torn apart. Something terrifying emerges from the pristine white cloth, something that will follow Tommy wherever he goes. Something that he can’t destroy. It wants Tommy’s life and he doesn’t know why. He has only one ally, a beautiful, strangely intuitive waitress he meets by chance—or by a design far beyond his comprehension. He has too many questions, no answers, and very little time. Because the vicious and demonically clever doll has left this warning on Tommy’s computer screen: The deadline is dawn.
TICK TOCK
Time is running out.
My first Dean Koontz book, and what an introduction! This book defines what Dean Koontz is all about. He'll reel you in from the first page to the very end, transport you into a world that you're so sure is this but turns out to be that. In this book you actually begin to fear a stupid little rag doll that is more terrifying than Penny Wise (from Stephen King's It) and terribly persistent, and when you find out who's controlling it... Honestly? This book will slap you over and over and over, and you'll like it. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars...
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Whenever you read a good book, somewhere in the world a door opens to allow in more light.
–Vera Nazarian