Now, the thing about the play novel is, is that it's all in Japanese. And although a LOT of people know Japanese, discounting all the people in Japan (cheaters who are born with the language), no-one can REALLY TRULY be bothered to learn it. So, to summarise:
'Silent Hill: Play Novel' recounts, in book form, the main storyline of Silent Hill, the game-for-video-computers-at-home, which tells the tale of Harry Massinger, a Novelist that can't drive properly. He has a daughter with a penchant for running away, and carries quite a few weapons for a man of his status. His jacket is very nice.
His radio is broken, and he is paranoid enough to carry a flashlight everywhere, which is a boon in Silent Hill because it's very dark and there are monsters everywhere. He eventually finds his daughter with the help of a lost policewoman, an evil god, and a group of people who quite rightly burned a child for talking out of turn, and not being the right kind of religious. This IS midwestern America we're talking about.
They return home, where by the third game, Cheryl, has become a completely different person called heather, and Harry Mason can't even get out of a chair, when twenty years ago, he was jumping around an undead fairground killing malevolent deities.