Crud. I felt like the first book was mediocre but the backstory/lore kept my interest. Reading this book, I was reminded of the drudgery and how stale the characters felt. Charlie is just a one-dimensional worry-wort - brooding would be a great word to describe her. Clay, the cop, is out of his mind to let Charlie be so involved in the investigation, wtf!? Actually there is no official investigation since it's led by Charlie!

Pay phones and creepy mini-mart clerks, lame. What decade is this supposed to be again? Isn't it modern day? Why no cell phones, snapchat, instagram, fb? This story could've been that much more exciting! The tone hardly changed either - it was like hearing a couple notes of a horror movie OST over and over and over again.

I began wondering how Stephen King would've told this story - now that would be twisted!