One of the many things that make this book special is the unexpected way Stephen King can come across in a story. His books live within the horror genre but he transcends it with each story he writes. The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon is many things in one small book. It is at the same time a coming-of-age story; homage to baseball; an adventure and the battle with fear. 
 When 9-year old Trisha makes the mistake of stepping off the Appalachian Trail and away from her mom and brother for a pee break, she gets lost in a big way. As she follows voices towards what she believes is the correct way back to safety, she heads deeper into the woods. Are the voices she hears the first of her encounters with the "special thing", a presence in those woods? This is only my conjecture because we only know that she heads in the wrong direction. Besides a small lunch and a soda, she has practically nothing. To keep her company in the dark she has only her walkman, the love of the Red Sox, and their closing pitcher Tom Gordon. 
 What I like about this little book is the feeling of being there with Trisha, that fear of being lost as a child in a big and sometimes scary place. Some of the directional decisions she takes are exasperating, and I never really feared the "other thing" in the woods, but I can get past those minor details. This is my second time reading this one. All in all, I liked it as I did the first time, especially Trisha's wit, and her courage in the bottom of the ninth inning.