Conspiracy Uncovered!
Okay, so go here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4502278
Listen to the interview, listen especially hard to the second time Ron McLarty talks, when he's reading an excerpt of his book. It isn't him. My father has convinced me that it's Stephen King. McLarty is a real person, yes, but I'm doubting that he really wrote this book. This is the first thing he's had published, ever. And he got picked up by Penguin and Viking, with a two book deal for 2 million dollars AND Warner Bros. picked up the movie deal for another million. No effing way. This does not happen to first time writers. JKR sent Harry Potter to something like nine different publishing houses before she got picked up for what's turned out to be one the the best-selling series of all time. And no way she got paid 2 million for the first pair of those books. Sure, now she's a gazillionaire, but only, really, after the fourth book and the movies and merch hit the stores. In any case, I've gone out and purchased McLarty's book, and plan to spend tonight reading and doing some rough character analysis. If this is, in fact, the much adored Mr. King, I should have no problem figuring that out from the way his main character progresses in this novel.

Did I mention, the novel starts with a car crash in Maine?