There are some reviews that are comparing this guy to Stephen King. I don't think that's entirely a correct comparison. There are some similarities between this book & Stephen King's IT, but by large this guy reminded me more of Robert McCammon. (Trust me, that's a good comparison.) 
 Nicholas Close used to lead a somewhat charmed life. That all changed the day his wife died & he got into an accident that left him seeing ghosts. Not just any type of ghosts, but the images of people dying over & over again. Desperate to get away from the memory of his beloved wife's death, Nicholas goes home again- only to discover that the nightmares of his childhood are far worse than anything he could have faced back in his old life. A childhood friend of his was horribly murdered... and it was supposed to have been Nicholas that was taken. With more & more children going missing, Nicholas will have to figure out who- or what- is behind the disappearances before it finds him. 
 Readers who are looking for something full of action will be a little surprised by how slow this book starts out, considering that it leaps directly into everything. Don't lose heart- the story picks up as the book progresses & the attention to detail is pretty good in this book. Irwin bases a lot of his supernatural goings-on in actual mythology & Paganism, which made for a really nice touch to the story that I'm sure that people will love. (I'd elaborate more on this, but I can't without spoiling parts of the book.) 
 It's just that at times I really wished that the book would just get on with what it was trying to do. This is a great book- ESPECIALLY for an author's first book, but people who are looking for something fast paced will be slightly disappointed at first. (It does pick up towards the end, though.) 
 I just can't bring myself to give this book 4 stars. It's far better than 3 stars, yet not quite 4.