The Unwanted

Rating:
Summary: first rate horror read
Review: Being a fan of horror genre,Dean Koontz in particular,and looking to expand my horizons I picked up the Unwanted.At first,I thought this book to be rather similar to Dean Koontz style,but soon I was proven wrong.John Saul is a very solid writer in his own right,from the first pages he creates suspense that captures you and keeps you turning page after page.Some of the book was a bit predictable,but that made the twists in it so much more enjoyable.In the end I found it to be alltogether somewhat darker then Koontz writing,with somewhat ambiguous characters,neither good nor bad,but walking the gray territory in between.There were other differences,which I can't list at the risk of giving away some of the plot and overall I was very impressed.I will certainly be checking out more of John Saul's books and I highly recommend this book to any fan of the horror genre or just a good fast paced read.

Rating:
Summary: Another Good John Saul Book
Review: For some reason, I always get this book mixed up with "Second Child," probably because of the similar plot lines--a young woman is orphaned and then taken in by her distant family in New England. Plus it's been several years since I've read this book (sometime during my high school or middle school years), which adds to the confusion.

Anyway, the similarities between the two books are fairly obvious, in that the protagonist, 15-year-old Cassandra "Cassie" Winslow, loses her mother in a car crash in California and is consequently sent to live with her estranged father and his new family in False Harbor, Massachusetts, a setting that gives "The Unwanted" its somewhat Puritan/witch trial charm. It's here that a triangle of psychic power is reawakened between Cassie, Eric Cavanaugh (her 16-year-old neighbor), and Miranda Sikes (the local bag lady/witch who's been haunting her dreams lately). Soon Cassie becomes aware of powers she never knew she had--powers that are dangerous enough to kill. ("Carrie," anyone?)

"The Unwanted" is certainly a must-read if you're a Saul fan and/or enjoy supernatural horror. This is one of many good books by him.

Rating:
Summary: TOTALLY AWESOME STORY!
Review: Typically I read sci-fi, fantasy, and the like, but one of my friends likes horror and thrillers. He gave me this book and told me to read it b/c it was really good. Boy was he right! I finished this at 3:00am and read it in 2 days, it was so hard to put down! And the end...! Wonderful, man. So you should read it. Now. In the right hands (which don't exist, I don't think) this could make a great movie. It certainly plays in your head like one.