Insomnia (novel)

"It's a long walk back to Eden, sweetheart, so don't sweat the small stuff."

Insomnia is a novel written by Stephen King.

Ralph Roberts, an elderly widower, is suffering from insomnia. Soon he begins to see things that are invisible to others--auras that represent people's life forces and little bald men who are present at the homes of the dying. Soon Ralph discovers that the fate of the universe is resting on his shoulders.

This story provides examples of:

 * Ambiguously Human - The Little Bald Doctors.
 * Ax Crazy - Atropos and
 * Balancing Death's Books -
 * Because Destiny Says So -
 * Big Bad:
 * Bittersweet Ending -
 * The Cameo - Mike Hanlon from IT has a small scene at the library. Ralph also drives by the giant statue of Paul Bunyan that came alive in IT.
 * Catch Phrase - "Hey hey, Susan Day! How many kids did you kill today?"
 * Canon Discontinuity - In the final Dark Tower novel, it's revealed that
 * Canon Welding - Quite a bit. In addition to taking place in the fictional town of Derry, Maine and featuring assorted references to IT, the book also ties into The Dark Tower and introduces two major characters, the Crimson King and Patrick Danville. Ralph also makes a small appearance in Bag of Bones
 * Cosmic Horror
 * Creepy Souvenir - Atropos takes an item as a souvenir from the people he 'kills'.
 * Domestic Abuse - Ed Deapneau to his wife.
 * Doorstopper
 * The Dragon
 * Ear Ache - Ralph cuts off one of Atropos' ears.
 * Eldritch Abomination - The Crimson King.
 * The Grim Reaper - The Little Bald Doctors.
 * Halfway Plot Switch - A large chunk of the novel deals with Ralph dealing with his insomnia and serves as a rumination on age and death. The cosmic plot only picks up a couple of hundred pages into the book.
 * Heroic Sacrifice -
 * The Insomniac - Ralph.
 * Soul Cutting Blade - The Little Bald Doctors' scissors. For Clothos and Lachesis, at least; Atropos uses a rusty scalpel.
 * Suicide Attack -
 * Tragic Monster -
 * Villainous Breakdown - Atropos throws a tantrum whenever his plans are thwarted.