How odd that a thread about this story came up just now. My mom is in town for her annual Christmas visit and I've been telling her about RJ for a while, but she has no interest whatsoever in anything supernatural or spooky. So I gave her my copy of "The Long Way Home" to read since it isn't spooky at all. She liked it a lot.
If there's enough time (tomorrow is her last day in KC), I'll have her read "Interlude at Duane's" from the Thriller anthology. Or mabye I'll just let her take the book home with her. She likes thrillers, just not supernatural ones.
BTW - my mom drove through a blizzard that hit the Milwaukee/Chicago area on Friday to get here to KC for this visit. *sniff* I have the best mom!