"A novel" -- From front cover.

"Something evil has swept into the small Maine town of Castle Rock on the heels of the latest winter storm. Sheriff Norris Ridgewick and his team are desperately searching for two missing girls, but time is running out. In Washington, DC, thirty-seven-year-old Gwendy Peterson couldn't be more different from the self conscious teenaged girl who had once been entrusted -- or cursed -- with an extraordinary and powerful box covered with colorful buttons by a mysterious stranger dressed in black. One day, though, the button box suddenly reappears without explanation. Between this and the troubling disappearances back home, Gwendy decides she might be able to do something to help..." --,From publisher's description.