** spoiler alert ** 
 I'd heard many bad things about this book, so I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did. I think this is the best book Stephen King has written in the last seven-ten years or so, not counting his novella collections, which are always solid. Perhaps a lot of people didn't like it because it is crime fiction, not horror, but I found it difficult to put down, and for the last 100 pages or so? Forgettaboutit. 
 Spoilers: Yes, having an ice-cream man killer is a cliche. I also don't like how Stephen King's middle-aged or older male protagonists somehow end up with beautiful women many years younger, who are basically just there to help the protagonist get his rocks off before they die horrible, tragic deaths. I'm starting to think a bit more about how women are portrayed in fiction, and this theme that keeps popping up in King's work really bothers me. I think he can do better. And of course the killer's mother isn't the most honourable character either. It would be nice to see a strong woman who doesn't just boff the hero and then die. 
 If you can get past that stuff, and how obnoxious and long-winded the killer is in the beginning, you have a very satisfying cat-and-mouse chase that keeps you riveted until the last page. I could have done without the trite epilogue, but some people may want that information. I liked it without.