I really loved this book. (Or, technically, series of four interconnected novellas, but that's really just semantics.) It has a specific, strong, connection to the Dark Tower mythology in that Ted has apparently escaped from a mind-prison in Midworld where he is forced to work for the Crimson King as a "breaker", and therefore has yellow-coated "low men" chasing him down. But, that little plot detail taken out, the book stands up perfectly fine on its own, so don't let that stop you.

I think one of the reasons this story works so well is that the characters, especially the kid whose perspective we're usually witnessing, are so down-to-earth and ordinary that we feel the freakishness of everything that happens to them as if it's happening to us. That's great writing.