Some sinister looking vehicles turn up on the street and start machine-gunning the houses.

This is the partner book to Desperation, which I read a few weeks ago. The story isn't set in the same world as that book, although many of the characters and events are the same, which I think is a nice way of doing things: starting with the same basic ingredients, two books are written.

Taken on its own, this is nowhere near as good as Desperation, but it is worth reading. Worth reading to find out what happens - it's quite a page-turner as per usual, although it's not nearly as atmospheric or creepy as the other book. Probably I read them in the wrong order - it would have been better to save the other book until last. Although this is a "Bachman" book, it feels very Stephen King-y; maybe by this stage he wasn't working so hard to make the Bachman voice sound distinct.

In this book, Audrey manages to "escape" to an imaginary world where she can get away from Tak's influences. When this first happened, I thought we were in for a re-run (or pre-run) of Lisey's Story, and Rose Madder which I think have similar ideas. But he didn't overdo it in this book.

I did like the way that both books ended with the characters, having "beaten" Tak, see a menacing cloud shape in the sky which slowly dissolves in the sunset.

Completed : 24-May-2010