Black Creek Crossing (Ay Spoken Word - Saul)

Rating:
Summary: Saul's Old Black Magick Will Hold You in Its Spell
Review: I don't normally read horror fiction, but I always make an exception for John Saul's novels. He has a rare talent for decanting the old stereotypic conventions of the genre into engrossingly new American Gothic bottles that always somehow manage to transcend the melodramatics and cliched limitations of his chosen subject area. His latest highly-complex, beautifully-crafted chiller kept me glued to my chair until its gory lightening-and-thunderbolt-from-the-blue denouement shocked me back shuddering into the relative sanity of the real world.

Coupled with an offer of employment for her ne'er-do-well, drunken husband Marty, devoutly-religious Myra Sullivan sees her wealthy, realtor sister Joni Fletcher's encouragement to buy a badly run-down, old house in Roundtree, an historic New England community, as a sign from heaven offering a fresh start for her troubled family. Unfortunately, the Sullivan's bright daughter Angel's hopes that a new school in a new environment will transform her life are soon dashed. Once again, she's a total misfit within her peer group: her only friends, her classmate and fellow pariah, Seth Baker, and a mysterious, Cheshire-like cat that apparently comes with her new home whom she names Houdini. Fighting a losing battle against terror and harassment on all sides, what happens to Angel and Seth after John Saul juxtaposes the influence of the Sullivan house with its tragedy-haunted past upon its desperately, dysfunctional modern inhabitants is magical storytelling at its suspenseful best. I should actually say 'MagicK' because...once Houdini leads them to a witch's grimmoire hidden away for more than three hundred years in the Sullivan's basement and then to a safe hideaway where they can practice its teachings...that's what his desperate young protagonists eventually turn to as their only defense against a world where neither their parents nor their peers offer them any welcome, acceptance or personal security. The horrific results of their steadily increasing involvement with Old Magick are literally and completely spellbinding.

There are so many strengths to "Black Creek Crossing". Most horror novels require tremendous leaps of the imagination in order to accept their premises. Here, the utterly realistic characterizations...the beautifully-detailed backstory...and the utter 'logic' of the youngsters' actions given the pressures of their situation all combine to create a moving and thoroughly compelling reading experience.

Rating:
Summary: This book could have been better...1 and a 1/2 stars
Review: It is with a heavy heart that I am giving a favorite author of mine this low of a rating. BCC is actually a 1 and a 1/2 star book, but since there are no 1/2s, I give it 2 stars. I have been reading John Saul for 14 years now and must say he has written some of the finest horror novels I have ever read. He has a style all his own and feel that anyone who is looking to read a good horror book, they will find it with this author, but NOT with BLACK CREEK CROSSING.

BCC has a lot of the same similarities to his older books, girl who is outcast by people in school, at least one of her parents rejects her, she gets befriended by something evil, and then evil is unleashed.

The only, and I mean only, difference in this book is the ending, but when it happened, I wasn't blown away or anything. BCC does not have any build up of suspense whatsoever and you actually have to read about 2/3 of the book before anything takes off. And when I say take off, it's more of a cough and a sputter. When Angela and Seth begin to dabble in witchcraft, it is such a disappointment because John could have built it up and created such a dark atmosphere, but he doesnt. What he does do successfully with BCC is tell you instead of show you. Anyone who reads horror or any book for that matter, wants to be shown, NOT TOLD. You almost feel as if John was bored writing this book and I promise you will be bored reading it. I found myslef skimming so much towards the end because I just wanted to move on to another book.

In the last few years, John has written some of his best books, EVER! BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES, THE PRESENCE, THE RIGHT HAND OF EVIL, NIGHTSHADE, and MIDNIGHT VOICES. BCC is a huge step back...WAY BACK... and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this was a book he probably started many, many years ago, and didnt have anything to give his publisher this time around so he decided to pull this one out, dust it off, and turn it in.

You can skip BCC, but don't write John Saul off just yet, I'm confident he will produce another chiller soon.

Rating:
Summary: LOOK ELSEWHERE ANGEL
Review: This is the prolific Mr. Saul's thirty-first book; it shows. It's tired, it's rehash of several of Saul's earlier books in which mistreated teens seek revenge on their tormentors. And it's not even as well done as those earlier works.
We meet Angel Sullivan, an overweight, unattractive 15 year old who suffers endless torment from both boys and girls in her school. Never mind the fact that Angie has little backbone and how can one feel sorry for somebody who doesn't take up for herself, or take advantage of the talents she has? She teams up with Seth Baker, another tormented teen (the boys call him "Beth"), and he too takes the guff without any resistance. Suffice to say, his bully father still beats him with a belt? Come on, Saul, this is antiquated stuff. Angie's mother Myra is a religious fanatic, seeing visions of the Virgin Mary, and allowing her drunken abusive husband to abuse both her and Angel. We have the typical stud villains and of course the catty female wenches to keep harassing the two misfits. Of course, they stumble upon a secret place (led there by the irrepressible Houdini, a black cat that just appears in Angel's room). We have the legend of witches and murders happening in the house at Black Creek Crossing, and we have not one original sequence in the book. At the improbable resolution, we don't even have the satisfaction of all the tormentors getting their just desserts, except the parents of course.
I've always thought John Saul must have had a horrible childhood. All of these teen books smell of abuse, loneliness and revenge. Not a nice way to spend the evening, especially when it's done so pedestrian as in BLACK CREEK CROSSING.

Rating:
Summary: Something Old, Something New....
Review: While this was a mostly entertaining read, the cast of characters was seemed right out of the horror story master template: outcast teen "heroes", good-looking cool crowd tormentors, unsupportive and/or abusive parents, etc. We've seen them all before- many times! Even the "evil house" theme has been done to death. But if you can take the book for what it is, it can be a mostly enjoyable read to pass a rainy summer day (or night!). My main complaint would be the ending of the story which seemed rushed. The fate of the two main protagonists seemed to come out of left field and the story left several loose ends, namely the fate of two of the main tormentors and also never explained the reason for the "specialness" of the tree, which plays a big part in the story. Not a terrible book, but definately not his best.