There was genuine suspense and terror throughout this story, which made me really enjoy it. I can best describe those wonderful moments of terror as "gripping." I mean I "literally" experienced moments of gripping terror when I would be reading in bed and gripping the blanket in moments of delightful fright! And that's what made this story so fun, even though the subject matter itself is not a joking matter involving kidnapped kids. I liked describing this book as having a "Christmas theme but not a happy holiday story." The heroine, the Brat Victoria, is such a strong woman. Strong in that she survived so much physical and emotional strain throughout the book. She had to endure struggles with coming to grips with her sanity and her hold on reality, always coming in to question due to her amazing gift involving a special kind of travel. Having read Doctor Sleep just recently, the two books go well together if you read them back to back because there are sweet little nods/references back and forth between the two. Just as his dad liked to end stories with explosive ferociousness, so too does Joe Hill bring this story to an epic grand finale. With his descriptions of "Christmasland" at the end, while the picture he painted was fantastic and colorful, I have to admit that the ending could have tightened up just a tad more, in this reader's opinion. I felt it got a little too long towards the end which would have persuaded me to give this only 4.5 stars if I could rate with a half star. The reason I am giving it the full 5 stars is due to the AMAZING narration of Kate Mulgrew. Her narration giving life to the old man voice of Charlie Manx and the st-st-stutters of dear Maggie were extraordinary!