Ticktock: A Novel

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.