Tommy Phan is a 30yearold VietnameseAmerican detective and novelist living in Southern California and a chaser of the American Dream. He drives home his brandnew Corvette one day to discover a strange doll on his doorstep. Its 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 dolls 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 dolls 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 Koontzs The City. show more