Another chapter is hurtling toward what its author hopes will be a breathtaking close. Storm clouds are gathering, foreshadows lengthening. You are firmly in the grip of what the book jacket avers is "Stephen King's boldest exercise in terror." Your eye skips to the bottom of the page, and this is what you read:
"Thunder rumbled somewhere far off, and unfocused heat lightning flashed in the darkening sky overhead. Bill looked up uneasily, his laughter dying.
"'I'll tell you what, though,' he said. 'I don't like this weather much. Feels like something's gonna happen. Something bad.'
"About that he was right....