This was better than his last book, The Intruders. But the book still had some problems. The fact that the gangstas decided to help out the hero near the end didn't ring true. And, of course, they served no real purpose either. They ended up just being loose threads of a (pretty pointless) subplot that needed to be tied up. Michael Marshall lists Stephen King as a major influence, but his books read more like Dean Koontz (albeit with better writing, and a much better sense of humor).