Mingle a devil doll, an unexplainable creature, a mad headlong dash to escape its deadly intent, a woman who seems more capable than any secret agent, and a dog with more abilities than your most intelligent canine and to some this book may seem ridiculous. The author explains his reason for writing this, but on this re-read, all I can say is it’s a lot of fun. Suspend belief and go along for the ride and the book reaches a satisfying if extraordinary conclusion. Some books are purely there to entertain. ( )

Tommy Phan es un joven norteamericano de origen vietnamita que se dedica a escribir novelas de detectives. Un día, al regresar a casa, se encuentra junto a la puerta algo parecido a una muñeca de trapo. Pero se trata de una muñeca muy extraña.

USA, 1995
Tommy Phan skriver krimier. Han er.fra en vietnamesisk familie og bliver drillet med at have skiftet navn fra Phan Tran Tuong. Men bøgerne sælger godt og han har lige købt en drømmebil, en Corvette. Han har dog fået en grim forudanelse, mærkelige lyde i bilradioen og på hans fortrappe ligger en grim kludedukke, som han tager med indenfor.
Han ringer til sin ven Sal Delario for at høre om dukken kan være en advarsel fra en gadebande, men de plejer bare at skyde uden at advare først. Tommy forsøger at sende en kryptisk seddel på dukken til Sal pr fax, men den vises som en blank side ved modtageren. Tommy skriver på en ny bog om detektiven Chip Nguyen, men stikker sig på en nål fra dukken, som begynder at gå fra hinanden. Han går i panik og finder sin revolver frem. Imens har dukken smidt kludene og hopper rundt med en stålfjeder, som den bruger til at kortslutte en stikkontakt med.
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Forfatter skriver om forfatter. ( )

This book was a crazy ride inside Dean Koontz's wild imagination. When Tommy Phan buys his dream car—an aqua Corvette—he's convinced it's the best day of his life. Nothing could have prepared him for what was coming…like a demonic rag doll and a night of pure terror. Throw in a beautiful, magical girl with a dog who's the most intelligent person in the room, and you have one heck of a wild tale. ( )

This was a funny book, mainly due to the weirdness of some of the characters and not at all what you'd normally expect from Dean Koontz. It's about a man that receives a little cloth doll, it's left on his doorstep and he takes it into his house, which turns out to be the both the biggest mistake of his life, and also a terrific blessing due to the fact that it leads him to find a wonderfully eccentric young lady called Deliverance Payne.

The story is fast moving and the characters are truly memorable. Deliverance was a little too good to be true at times what with her being an heiress and having amazing magical/psychic type powers and all, but was otherwise a favourite.

Tommy's mother was very well done I thought, as was her friend the sorceress from the old country. One of the reviews I read of this book said that it had changed her life. It didn't change mine so much as simply reinforce views and beliefs I've held for a very long time, so for that also I'm also grateful.

A very enjoyable little tale set in a wonderfully weird and yet perfectly normal world. I can recommend it as a rollicking, light-hearted and at times thought-provoking read.

oh, and I almost forgot, there's a little twist near the end that was quite well done I thought. ( )