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: 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: It's too good to be a fiction Review: A widow is struggling to raise her two children and the thrill starts when she remarried. With the connection of her best friend and neighbour girl death, she and her kids feel kind of strange that everybody in the building where she live with her new husband is paying too much attention to them. With New York City background setting It's too good to be a fiction.
Rating: Summary: Slow and Predictable Review: Admittedly, I'm not a big fan of horror fiction, but this was the worst novel that I've read in a long time. The pacing is s-l-o-w. The characters are so simple and one-dimensional that they areren't credible. Worst of all for a suspense novel, the plot twists can be predicted about two chapters ahead. To add insult to injury, Saul doesn't even bother to clean up the loose ends. See the "MIDNIGHT MUDDLES" review by Michael Butts for more on that.
Rating: Summary: Move along, nothing to see here. Review: Before you read this book, ask yourself, "Have I ever read anything by John Saul before?"
If you answer yes, then consider asking if you're willing to part with more money to read something with the same plot formula of his other "horror" stories.
If you answer no, you might enjoy this somewhat spooky read about a townhouse full of elderly who seem to have found the fountain of youth - literally.
Rating: Summary: DORIAN GRAY IN MANHATTAN Review: Caroline Evans, recently widowed has a lot on her plate. Her two young children, Ryan, 11 and Laurie, 13 chafe at their financial reversal. They are no longer able to attend the private school where they had established peer relationships; at the public school they now attend they often feel slighted. Caroline's fortune appears to change at a chance encounter in a park. A casual conversation with a seemingly interested person leads her literally to love. She is soon introduced to Tony Fleming, a sophisticated gentleman who lives in Central Park West in a building many describe as being haunted. Shortly after their wedding, the family of four settles into the "haunted house" and frightening events become the norm. Only Ryan appears to be aware of the senior population and how they appear to be rejuvenating; even a portrait on the ceiling appears to reflect the ages of the established occupants. The quest for youth appears to be the priority of the building's residents. Children disappear and the question is who and what is responsible. Is Tony what he seems? And does he really know Caroline and her children before he married her? This chilling story will certainly keep readers engrossed until that last page is read.
Rating: Summary: Eerie, But May Be Saul's Best Review: Elegant old buildings. Anyone who ever visited a major city knows them. They can occupy the corner of a street or be half a block long. They're usually sandblasted with gargoyles carved into the facades, have a doorman who looks like a hobbitt, and will often have the silhouette of a lone soul sitting in the window. Is this person guarding the gates of hell? Caroline Evans, the heroine of "Midnight Voices" is going to get the chance to find out. Following the death of her husband, Brad, who is murdered while jogging in Central Park at night - hey, you get what you pay for, right? - she meets Anthony Fleming. Fleming is everything a woman like Caroline could ask for: attractive, well off, eager to get her children to like him, and a resident of the stately Rockwell, a building that Saul thinly disguises as a Dakota-like wannabe, the building that was the home of the late John Lennon. But, once Caroline moves into the Rockwell she crosses the line between reality and imagination for everything in it isn't always what it seems. Why are there hardly any children in the Rockwell? Caroline's son and daughter increase the total of kids from one to three. What is the secret in her husband Tony's study? Do the dark rumors and children's stories about the Rockwell and its residents have any truth to them? John Saul has come a long way from his first novel, a psychological thriller called "Suffer the Children". In his earlier works, it is a child or a young person who recognizes the demons and has to convinve the adult community of their existence. But here it is the adults - Caroline specifically - who sees the demons and recognizes that she must fight evil over the battleground that will be her own children. Caroline is reminiscent, to me, of Nora in Peter Straub's "The Hellfire Club". Both women are on their own and must use their own wits against what, at times, appear to be insurmountable odds. For Saul slowly weaves the threads that are the death of Caroline's first husband with the death of her college roomate into a knot of evil that is hard to break. Anyone who ever attended a family reunion, looked at a box of old photos, or picked up a daguerrotype and said, "Gee, isn't Mary the spitting image of Aunt So-and-So?" will think twice after reading this book.
Rating: Summary: Predictable Review: Halfway through the book (chapter 18) the author practically gives the ending. I had to read 22 more chapters thinking that something more or something else would happen but didn't. It was an interesting storyline but I don't know why the author didn't keep it suspenseful.
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: 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.
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