They found the town silent, apparently abandoned. Then they found the first body strangely swollen and still warm. One hundred and fifty were dead, 350 missing. But the terror had only begun in the tiny mountain town of Snowfield, California. At first they thought it was the work of a maniac. Or terrorists. Or toxic contamination. Or a bizarre new disease. But then they found the truth. And they saw it in the flesh. And it was worse than anything...

This collection of short works is comprised of pieces that previously appeared in such publications as The New Yorker, Playboy, and McSweeney's, in a volume that includes such tales as ""The Gingerbread Girl"" and "N."

A childhood friend of Odd Thomas has disappeared andt he worst is feared. But as Odd applies his unique talents, to communicate with the dead, to the task of finding the missing person, he discovers something worse than a dead body: he encounters an enemy of exceptional cunning and spirals into a vortex of terror.

He was clinically dead after the accident--but was miraculously revived. Now Hatch Harrison and his wife approach each day with a new appreciation for life. But something has come back with Hatch from the other side. A terrible presence that links his mind to a psychotic's, so that a force of murderous rage courses through him.

Delia and Karina have always been rivals for the best grades, the most friends, and the hottest guys, but this year Karina decides she wants Vincent and if she can't have him then no one can.

Left in the cold care of a loveless foster family and alienated at school, Sarah Crane finds a kindred spirit in classmate Nick Dunnigan, a former mental patient still plagued by voices and visions. And in eccentric art instructor Bettina Phillips who is eager to mentor Sarah's artistic talent. But within the walls of Bettina's ancestral home, Sarah finds something altogether different and disturbing--a gateway from the grave into the world of the...

"An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation...An eleven-year-old boy's violated corpse is found in a town park. Eyewitnesses and fingerprints point unmistakably to one of Flint City's most popular citizens. He is Terry Maitland, Little League coach, English teacher, husband, and father of two girls. Detective Ralph Anderson, whose son Maitland once coached, orders a quick and very public arrest. The case seems ironclad, especially when Anderson...