I read these books out of order...I have a knack for finding series books and starting nowhere near the beginning. In any case, this story begins with "lost boy lost girl" by Peter Straub. It sucks to be author Tim Underhill. His sister in law commits suicide, his nephew disappears, and his investigation into matters clouds the veracity of his current best selling novel.
"In the Night Room" contains a story within a story, yet the one I was interested in turned out to be secondary and fictional. The worlds of fantasy and reality collide. Fiction becomes reality, as far as the strange candy fetish can carry it.
Confused? Yeah, me too.