Rating: 
Summary: MIDNIGHT MUDDLES
Review: I have been a fan of John Saul from the beginning of his illustrious career, and found "The Manhattan Hunt Club" a brilliant foray into terror, quite unusual for Saul, and in my opinion his best book. "Midnight Voices" is somewhat reminiscent of his earlier works, but does not stand up to the best of those. There's so much wrong with this book that it's hard to focus on some of the pluses: like the creepy atmosphere he establishes in the opening murder scene of Brad Evans; the detail and horror he gives us in the Rockwell building itself; and some of the earlier expository scenes. But, here's what bothers me most:
1. The pacing is incredibly slow, and Saul once again uses the "thought overs" to rehash things we've already talked about, and nothing new occurs in them.
2. Doesn't Caroline marry Anthony Fleming a little quickly, particularly since she's having such a hard time getting over the murdered Brad?
3. And aren't Ryan and Laurie two of the worst brats you've read in a while? Ryan's antics in the last part of the chapter are about as believable as the Loch Ness monster. He's shown no resourcefulness up to this point, so his emergence as a hero is somewhat hard to swallow.
4. Who in the world is the little boy in the basement, and was he the one who had the italicized dream (it was a he, but it wasn't Ryan?).
5 What in the world happened to Anthony's first wife and sons and daughter? Did they just disappear---does Saul expect us to use our imaginations that much?
6. And who killed Brad and Caroline's best friend? Saul doesn't let us know.
7. And what in the world happens to all those lovely old people?
8. And what is the significance of the shattered tombstone at the end?
I am not trying to spoil anything about the book for readers, but this novel seems so hastily written and so poorly edited, I wonder why Saul even wrote it.
NOT RECOMMENDED.
Rating: 
Summary: chilling Dorian Gray like tale
Review: When Brad Evan's was killed while jogging in Central Park at night, he had ignored the feeling he was being watched for the past ten weeks. His death leaves his widow Caroline broken hearted and broke. She takes a job working in an antique store where she meets Irene Delamond who lives at the Rockwell at 100 Central Park West, a building more exclusive than the Dakota.Irene takes an immediate liking to Caroline and decides to set her up with Anthony Fleming, one of the Rockwell tenants. Within a year, Carolina marries Anthony and she and her children from her first marriage move into 100 Central Park West where the tenants, most of them elderly, take an extraordinary interest in the two youngsters. It isn't until Caroline stumbles upon something terrifying in her husband's office at home that she realizes that Anthony and his friends want something more from her and the children than friendship. Fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz will be thrilled with the latest offering of John Saul. MIDNIGHT VOICES is a chilling work of horror that slowly but believably builds toward an inevitable climax. Readers will love Caroline who will do whatever it takes to protect her children from those malevolent Dorian Gray like beings wearing the mask of mortality. Harriet Klausner
Rating: 
Summary: Filled With Things That Go Bump In the Night
Review: In every neighborhood there is always one house that all the children know to stay away from. But these houses aren't just limited to tiny suburbs in small towns. Even in New York City there's a building that all the neighborhood children know to avoid. An old building known as The Rockwell where witches and trolls and vampires live. When newlywed Caroline Evans moves into her husband's apartment at The Rockwell, her children are quick to voice their fears about the ongoing rumors. To Caroline, those who live there are just a bunch of lonely elderly people who simply adore her children and shower them with gifts and lots of homemade goods. It isn't long, though, before the rumors become real for the children when they hear strange voices and laughter at night. Soon after, not only does Caroline's daughter begin to have recurring nightmares but she also becomes strangely ill. Just like the foster girl who lived upstairs. Now that little girl has disappeared - and when a social worker begins asking too many questions, she disappears too. Everyone knows witches and trolls and vampires aren't real. But when Caroline and her children realize the evil that truly resides at The Rockwell, it just might be far worse. Filled with things that go bump in the night, the imagery alone in Midnight Voices will leave the reader with lots of chills and thrills. This book also reads somewhat like a crime suspense novel, and though some parts are a little predictable, it still provides a very entertaining read.
Rating:
Summary: Rosemary's Baby Meets The Glow
Review: I am giving this very derivative novel two stars only because John Saul is a good writer and is fun to read. In the hands of someone less skilled, it would deserve perhaps one star. In the first place, I am aghast at the fact that Brad Evans, an attorney with two young children, would have no life insurance to protect his family! A 26-year-old single female attorney, less than a year out of law school, told me she already has a quarter of a million dollars in life insurance. Unbelievable! (That is the biggest suspension of disbelief in the book!) Secondly, you can see everything coming, and I do mean everything. I realize The Glow was not a particularly best-selling book, but did no one else sense the "Rosemary's Baby" connection? And The Glow was recently on television. I read this only because I was on a long car trip with my in-laws and found this preferable! If you are at all familiar with some classic horror books or movies, don't bother to read this book. Caroline is a twit! Ryan is a holy terror (even if he's right). The situation the family finds itself in is laughable. Do not bother with this book!
Rating:
Summary: A good read, but not his best
Review: No one can touch a nerve better than John Saul. His Suffer the Children was one of the most disturbing books I have ever read, and with Midnight Voices he brings us another tale of children caught up in the grip of evil. Many neighborhood children fear the Rockwell, the huge, ancient apartment building on Manhattan's Central Park West. Rumors of witches living in the crumbling apartments and bodies buried in the basement abound. Yet despite the gloomy atmosphere of the place, there is no real evidence to indicate the stories are anything but rumors. Then Caroline Evans, a young widow with two children, who is struggling to get by after her husband's brutal murder, marries Anthony Fleming, one of the Rockwell's inhabitants. Soon her children are disturbed by the sounds of unidentified voices late at night. Then Caroline's daughter begins having terrifying dreams of strangers' entering her room at night and touching her. She grows weak, appearing to have the flu, but the homeopathic remedies given her by the doctor who lives in the building, the doctor her stepfather insists should see her, does little to help her. Caroline's best friend, the caseworker of a foster child living in the Rockwell, is murdered, and soon Caroline discovers a secret about her new husband's past. Knowing something is terribly wrong, she determines to take her children and flee the Rockwell and its inhabitants, but it is already too late. Her daughter has already fallen prey to the evil that dwells there, and Caroline is powerless to help her. Despite an ending that seemed a bit predictable and anti-climatic, John Saul's mastery of suspense never lets the story falter. Recommended. ###
Rating:
Summary: It's all been written and filmed before....nothing new here
Review: This book contains NOTHIONG new. EVERYTHING in it has been written TO DEATH before....in fact it borders on plagiarism the material is so incredibly over-used.....the old people who are a little too friendly and not what they seem; the drugged food; the strange things done to the drugged people in the middle of the night; the old pictures where, surprise, surprise, the people look just like all of the peole that are around now....GIVE ME A BREAK!! I have been reading Saul since The God Project and I NEVER thought he'd stoop so low as to use materieal that has been over-used SO MUCH in both books AND movies!!
Pass this up, it's not worth the time. Just rent some old horror flicks and you'll see the exact same thing. What a waste of time this book was.
Rating:
Summary: Great story with a twisted ending!
Review: I love John Saul, and I can't wait to read his next novel. "Midnight Voices" is gripping and scary. Caroline and her children move into an old apartment building in New York with her new husband. Things aren't going so well, her son hates her new husband, she is hearing voices, and her daughter has horrible nightmares. When the reality of these nightmares becomes apparent, all Caroline can do is get sucked deeper and deeper into a maze of secrets that threatens both her children's lives as well as her own. The tale is haunting and very well written, props for John Saul!!
Rating:
Summary: Midnight Voices
Review: "Midnight Voices" what a weird title. I guess it relates to the book, in one way or another. I liked this book compared to some of the other books by John Saul. This was one of the very few that actually had a pretty decent ending. I have to say that a lot of what he wrote about in the begining was somewhat boreing, but it really does tie in with what the rest of the book has to say. I think that John Saul should have gone further deep on giving us information about the hotel and the people in it. This would have given a better conection to the hotel, characters, and title of the book. The one thing about all of John Saul's books, that I like is that he really goes into detail about the main setting, although some of the characters are a little spacy. This is a very good book and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in murder, mystery, and gore.
Rating:
Summary: A creepy, crawly little midnight snack for you.
Review: Once again, author John Saul takes us to places we shouldn't be, but those of us who cannot stay away from the dark basements of our minds will find ourselves in a macabre building called "The Rockwell" in Manhattan. Looking a bit like an old Scottish castle, it's the perfect setting for us to peek in on what is going on with Caroline Fleming and her new husband Anthony and two children. Caroline's first husband had died unexpectedly while jogging in Central Park, mugged and strangled and Caroline is sure she cannot go on until she meets Anthony Fleming. Charming, suave, and dracula-ish, she marries him. But he lives in the Rockwell, and the children don't want to move in THERE. They've heard the stories, the hauntings and dead things and whispery noises. Caroline does her best to convince them how silly that is, and the Rockwell does have lots of neighbors in the building that welcome the children with open arms. Of course, there is something strange about the place, and John Saul will be happy to tell you all about it, in a nightmare. After you've stayed up all night turning pages. Enjoy your visit to the Rockwell, you may not get to visit again.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing.
Review: Since his first novel, SUFFER THE CHILDREN, John Saul has been a consistent presence on the bestseller list and he has kept the horror genre alive in the mainstream for long time. Having read 3-4 of his novels--most of them highly recommended by other Amazon reviewers-- I have to admit: I just don't understand his success. It's true that he writes very engaging novels. His writing style is very compelling and his characters--for the most part-- are very likeable and indentifibable. But his plots are very cliched and they read like made-for-t.v. movies; watered down, full of hokey ideas that have been done and done again, and ultimately they are pretty disappointing for horror fans. Why do I continue to read him? Because I love the horror genre with a wild passion, I guess, and there just isn't enough new stuff out tere to satisfy me. I also consider his success a bit of a mystery. Afterall, everything he does is a million copy bestseller and surely not all those people could be wrong, could they? But again and again I have been disappointed by his work and I find myself groaning out loud at how cheezy his books are. Unfortunately, MIDNIGHT VOICES is no exception. A widow meets a storybook prince charming and moves her two children into his apartment in NYC; it is a tenament building that has an odd reputation and even stranger tenants that seem very close to one another in a creepy way. Very quickly, the overly nice and elderly tenants become menacing (in a way that the children notice first, of course) and they seem to pay special attention to the youngsters, showering them with gifts and treats. Soon it becomes apparent that they need the children for some nefarious purpose and the widow must face the cabal os strange tenanats and fight for survival... I really want to like Saul. As a horror fanatic I would love nothing more. He has written enough books to keep me occupied for quite some time. But other than his talent for writing engaging novels, (thus the 3 star rating,) Saul just does not deliver the goods in my opinion. Everytime I turn the last page of one of his books, I swear 'no more!: And it suprises me because I love the genre so much I get an equal kick out of the good and the bad! Although he is good for the genre-- his success proves to publishers that the genre is marketable and profitibale-- I just cannot recommend this book to discerning horror lovers. You'd be better off watching a "scary" Lifetime movie.
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