Intended AudienceTrade
Reviews"[A] funny, chilling, supernatural suspense novel."-- Providence Journal-Bulletin "Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler."-- The Times (London) "[Koontz is] a master storyteller. Sometimes humorous, sometimes shocking, but always riveting. His characters sparkle with life."-- The San Diego Union-Tribune "Koontz writes first-rate suspense, scary and stylish." --Los Angeles Times, "Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler." The Times (London), "[A] funny, chilling, supernatural suspense novel."- Providence Journal-Bulletin "Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler."- The Times (London) "[Koontz is] a master storyteller. Sometimes humorous, sometimes shocking, but always riveting. His characters sparkle with life."- The San Diego Union-Tribune "Koontz writes first-rate suspense, scary and stylish." -Los Angeles Times, "[A] funny, chilling, supernatural suspense novel."-- Providence Journal-Bulletin "Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler."-- The Times (London) "[Koontz is] a master storyteller. Sometimes humorous, sometimes shocking, but always riveting. His characters sparkle with life."-- The San Diego Union-Tribune "Koontz writes first-rate suspense, scary and stylish." --Los Angeles Times, "[A] funny, chilling, supernatural suspense novel."- Providence Journal-Bulletin "Dean Koontz is not just a master of our darkest dreams, but also a literary juggler."- The Times (London) "[Koontz is] a master storyteller. Sometimes humorous, sometimes shocking, but always riveting. His characters sparkle with life."- The San Diego Union-Tribune "Koontz writes first-rate suspense, scary and stylish." -Los Angeles Times
SynopsisTommy Phan is a 30-year-old Vietnamese-American detective and novelist living in Southern California, and a chaser of the American Dream. He drives home his brand-new Corvette one day to discover a strange doll on his doorstep. It's a rag doll made entirely of white cloth, with no face or hair or clothes. Where the eyes should be, there are two crossed stitches of black thread. Five sets of crossed black stitches mark the mouth, and another pair form an X over the heart. He brings it into the house. That night, he hears an odd little popping sound and looks up to see the crossed stitches over the doll's heart breaking apart. When he picks up the doll, he feels something pulsing in its chest. Another thread unravels to reveal a reptilian green eye --and not a doll's eye, because it blinks. Tommy Phan pursues the thing as it scrambles away into his house -- and then is pursued by it as it evolves from a terrifying and vicious minikin into a hulking and formidable opponent bent on killing him. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Dean Koontz's The City ., 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.