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.