Rating: 
Summary: Very Scary.
Review: Punish the Sinners is one of the most feveirish novels I have ever read. Sometimes John Saul says that he dose not belive he should be put in the horror section with Stephen King, and Dean Koontz, but he dose deserve to be put in the catagory! This one one of the most frightening novels I have ever read, and I would reccomend it to anyone. After the ending one has to think for a while, what just happened? Then after ten seconds of thinking you figure out the terrifying truth at the end. I would reccomend this novel if you haven't read John Saul before, or if you have. Don't get me wrong, this is not John Sauls best work, but it is one of his best...that I can tell you for sure. While reading this novel I just could not put it down. It is one of those books that you start and they are so interesting, or in this books case suspenseful, that you can't even put it down for a bathroom break. After reading this one and a few other, I can positivly say John Sauls earlier work was better than his work now. You will not be dissapointed if you read this. If you like horror/suspense I can assure you that you will enjoy this and rate it five starts as well.John Saul's Punish the sinners prolouge starts off with a boy creeping into his parent's room closet while they are trying to have relations. As he is in his parent's closet his sister comes in and murders both his parents, then hangs herself. After the terrifying prlouge it is a few decades later, and a new man is hired as a teacher in a private catholic school. The new teacher also falls in love with a woman he found on his train ride over to the town. Ever since this new teacher moves in girls start commiting scuicide one by one. No one even knows why they commit scuicide, they just one after another either try to kill themselves or they do. Everyone in the small town assumes that the reason the girls are commiting scuicide has to do with the new teacher's phycology class..except his students and his new girlfriend.....I won't tell you more about this novel because I do not wish to 'give it away' for you. I hope you take my word for it, and read this. I can assure you that you'll enjoy it if you enjoy other novels in this genre.
Rating:
Summary: Simply Outstanding!!!
Review: Punish the Sinners is simply an outstanding novel. It gives the reader a sense of urgency. I actually found my palms to be sweating while reading about Peter Balsam's (the main character)thoughts concerning his "bad" feeling about the town and his old friend Monseignor Vernon. I could not put the book down. I can honestly say that after reading The Blackstone Chronicles and then Punish the Sinners, I cannot wait to read all of John Saul's books. Saul is a master at placing you the readers into the main character's mind. Happy reading!
Rating: 
Summary: Slow to start
Review: The book takes too long to get started. The first book (The Saints of Neilsville) plods along with a laughable predictability. The second book (The Society of St. Peter Martyr) picks up the pace and things really start to get creepy and strange. This section unfortunately relies too heavily on descriptions of all sorts of sexual acts. I'm not sure if I should laugh or be insulted. The two books take the plot on an unexpected tangent. Just as things seem to be petering out (excuse the pun), it picks up speed with the same frantic pace of some Stephen King novels. The last twenty pages then take a huge and wonderfully surprising tangent, earning this book a higher review than I otherwise would have given it.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling and Surprising
Review: This book grips you from the very start and never lets go. While its a fast pace horror novel regarding suicide, and religious fervor it also tackles other topics such as abuse of power, sexual hypocrisy and the church overall. I got a bit upset when the sexual element was introduced; thinking Saul was making a judgement call but as the story progressed it redeemed it self. It also has one of the best and realistic endings I ever seen in a novel of this type. I am glad Saul had the good sense to end it in the way he did. A great audio book from the first CD to the last. The reader did a good job though his female voices needed some fine tuning at times. Still a great listening experience. I'm off to buy another! This book contains 5 CDs and is read by a single reader.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling and Surprising
Review: This book grips you from the very start and never lets go. While its a fast pace horror novel regarding suicide, and religious fervor it also tackles other topics such as abuse of power, sexual hypocrisy and the church overall. I got a bit upset when the sexual element was introduced; thinking Saul was making a judgement call but as the story progressed it redeemed it self. It also has one of the best and realistic endings I ever seen in a novel of this type. I am glad Saul had the good sense to end it in the way he did. A great audio book from the first CD to the last. The reader did a good job though his female voices needed some fine tuning at times. Still a great listening experience. I'm off to buy another! This book contains 5 CDs and is read by a single reader.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: This book took me no time to read because it had my complete attention. My only complaint was the ending...
Rating:
Summary: I love it, I hate it
Review: This is the best book Saul wrote, it's great. I read it a few times actually and each time I couldn't leave it and move on with my life, like doing something for school or something. It touched me, the subject is very well built, so are the characters. Peter Balsam, and old childhood friend of Peter Vernon (now the Monsenior) is asked to come and teach psychology. He is an outcast in a relligious society and relates only to another oucast, a divorced woman. Prejudice coming from religious ideas is a great background for the Monsenior who finally came with a plan how to punish the "sinners". He is a very disturbed character and if you are a smart reader you'll get the idea why he is as he is. He is by no means the common religious fanatic, he's more. You enter a world of dark, creepy secretes hidden under a mask of peace and God. It's so usual for saul to do this, paint a perfect picture and turn it into grothesque, showing the true evil. I like that he's not a writer that ends books the way most do, he doesn't make it sweeter than life is. I hated this book, I threw it on the floor in rage when I finished it. But I loved it too, believe me. I understand it, it has a certain logic. Oh, you have to read it to see what I mean. If you didn't read Saul before - this is the best and the most evil book I'd say. Ok, let's say, the most evil from the pleasant ones. "The right hand of Evil" is the most evil. I am 22 and still it gave me nightmares. It wasn't believable and it was kind of distgusting like also "Suffer the children". Morbid. I would relate it to "Comes the blind Fury". It's about fury, but at a more unconscious level, I don't suspect that the evil character realizes hos rage so well, he can't controle it, it's madness and yet a perfect plan, so cold, and so calculated. It's brilliant! Great, grrrrrrrreat book.
Rating: 
Summary: Really good.
Review: This is the first novel I have read from Saul and I admit I was impressed. From the first page it hooks you in and keeps you there. The ending was not typical and much of a surprise. Overall really good book, along the lines of Stephen King novels, which have that eerie and mysterious flavor to them that make them such good thrillers. I look forward to reading more of John Saul's work.
Rating:
Summary: Saul's Best?
Review: To date, this is by far the best *and also the first) John Saul novel I have read. And based on other reviews, I think that sentiment is shared by a lot of other readers. Had I not had other commitments, I probably would have read this cover-to-cover. All in all, I think it took me two days. If you are looking for a quick escape - read it. Too bad, nothing else by John has even come close to this one.....
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