THE COSMIC PUPPETS (1957) by Philip K. Dick.
One of Dick's lesser-known early novels, so short it's nearly a novella, but well worth a read - and chock full of the weirdness that became his hallmark.
The protagonist visits his childhood small town Millgate, somewhere in rural California. Instead he finds an alternate-reality version of it - where he no longer should be alive.
Millgate has split in two - the town he remembers, and the different, decaying version that seems to have replaced it. (Or has it?)
Eventually it becomes evident that Millgate is the battleground of two vast, competing forces - one good, the other one evil...
Parts of this novel are reminiscent of Stephen King (if King had known how to write with fewer words). An American small town haunted by a great supernatural evil, kids with magical powers... but it's unmistakably a Philip K. Dick story.
Note of caution: The novel gets quite dark in one disturbing scene that somehow passed censorship in the 1950s.
I wish more novels were as brief as this one! Perhaps the ending is a bit weak, and the story is a tad too simplistic - but the novel as a whole works, and would make a pretty good Urban Fantasy movie.
Recommended for its entertainment value.
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