"A menina, o relógio de ouro e tudo" (John D. MacDonald) tem o avô (na verdade um tio) que inventou o relógio, mas não os goblins.
Da sinopse da trama em Wikipedia :
Kirby plays with the watch and accidentally finds out his uncle's secret: the watch can stop time for everybody but the holder, leaving him in a peculiar red-lighted world with everybody around "frozen", and effectively placing everybody else in the world at his mercy.