I read "desolation" 2 times. This is a good book: it starts on top speed, the suspense is immediately present, it happens quickly feels something fishy. The first half of the book is really great, it's great original, the characters are engaging and we really want to know what happened. what will it happen, how will they get by the characters (if they come out). What's great, too, is that not clear who the real enemy (the cop who does seem to be only a pawn in the chessboard).
The second part of the book is itself a little more difficult to hang. some scenes are hard to imagine, and towards the end, if one is not well focused, it tends to almost stall.
Attention "desolation" is not a bad book, very far from it, but this is not necessarily the best king to start (for my part I would advise "different seasons," or "Pet Sematary").