Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, is about to begin a most fantastic journey, an exalting, terrifying quest for the mystical Talisman—the only thing that can save Jack’s dying mother. But to reach his goal, Jack must make his way not only across the breadth of the United States but also through the wondrous and menacing parallel world of the Territories.
In the Territories, Jack finds another realm, where the air is so sweet and clear a man can smell a radish being pulled from the ground a mile away—and a life can be snuffed out instantly in the continuing struggle between good and evil. Here Jack discovers “Twinners,” reflections of the people he knows on earth—most notably Queen Laura DeLoessian, the Twinner of Jack’s own imperiled mother. As Jack “flips” between worlds, making his way westward toward the redemptive Talisman, a sequence of heart-stopping encounters challenges him at every step.
Twenty years ago, a boy named Jack Sawyer travelled to a parallel universe called the Territories in search of the talisman to save his mother's life.
Now Jack is a former Los Angeles homicide detective living in the quiet town of French Landing in Wisconsin. But a series of murders involving young children force him out of retirement.
If Jack is to save the latest victim, he must retrieve his childhood memories and revisit the one place he never wanted to see again . .
