The famous author Scott Landon died two years ago, and his widow has decided to clean up the office where he used to write.  Together with her sister Amanda she starts sorting, boxing and labeling his books and notes and memorabilia.  The work brings back lots of memories, some about the great time they had together, some about less merrier moments, like when a lunatic tried to kill him.  She has been keeping off some scholars who insisted she'd release Scott's notes, claiming she was refusing the world access to a written but unpublished masterpiece, and they tried every trick they could think of.  And while sorting his notes and her memories, someone tries a nastier way to get what he wants.  At first she isn't worried, but when the man who first introduces himself as Zack McCool stuffs a dead cat in het letterbox she knows he is dead serious.

The nostalgia triggered by her sorting theough Scott's things bring her back to memories she had been suppressing.  Piece by piece it looks as if she's following a treasure hunt - a bool, as the Scott in her memories calls it - he has been preparing for her long before he died.  Part of it is the depression he knew her sister Amanda would be sinking into, part of it are small clues that bring her back to the past.  That even bring her elsewhere, once she remembered how.

At first the story seems to be going in several directions at the same time: the mourning widow, the strange memories, the mad extorter, the sick sister,...  But soon the story follows Scott's rather complicated plan to bring his wife his final present after his death.  Mostly this plan consists of triggering memories of key moments in their long relationship, and it's here that this novel shows its warm and very intimate attention to the affection these two people clearly had for each other, illustrated by the very private language they used: silly names, silly phrases, with very own meanings for each of them.

The bool-hunt brings Lisey to a place that can be metaphorical for many things, a place Scott calls Boo'ya Moon.  The link to The Talisman or the Dark Tower comes to mind, but Boo'ya Moon is different.  It's a well of inspiration, it's the home of horrific creatures, it's a place of healing, it's a place of lost souls - it stands for a place we all have but are probably not aware of. 

Is this a horror story?  Well, it has an ugly creature that eats people - and for once much of its looks are left to the reader's imagination, which peobably makes it worse - and it has a wee bit of magic and a very alarming figure causing her harm, and threatening to cause a lot more.  But I would say it's much more of a love story showing King's romantic side.  Or rather, a story about a loving relationship, a love that survived many things and only deepened over the years, but yes, with that little bit of creepiness woven into it.