Rating: Summary: midnight voices Review: Not one of Mr. Saul's better ones but it is still a good read. There is a lot of Rosemary's Baby in this one. Ending is pretty good and could almost be called a surprise.
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.
Rating: Summary: Not one of Saul's better books. Review: Since the sudden, tragic death of her husband, Caroline Evans is left alone to raise her two children in New York City. As Caroline struggles to pay her bills, she also has to cope with her son's hostility over his father's death. Just as she believes she has reached the darkest place in her life, Caroline meets Anthony Fleming, a charming man who wins her heart.Shortly after their meeting, Caroline and Anthony wed, and he moves her into his apartment building, the building known as The Rockwell has it's own history, and the stories surrounding it are those of vampires and witches. Once Caroline and her children move into The Rockwell they will be plagued with nightmares, and soon her daughter will become sick, and her son will grow angry towards his new step-father. What has Caroline gotten herself into? Can this building possess true evil? And, is the man she calls her husband, the man she loves, a monster? As Caroline begins to investigate the strange occurrences, and disappearances surrounding The Rockwell she uncovers dark secrets about Anthony's past, secrets that are best left unlearned. 'Midnight Voices' is not the best novel from John Saul, while it does have some creepy moments, the novel suffers from too many characters and not enough surprises. A John Saul novel is usually very entertaining, and although 'Midnight Voices' picks up the pace about half-way through, it drags along with various sub-plots, and the introduction of back-round on too characters. John Saul has written much better this, he still is one of the better writers in the horror field, but next time he should concentrate on the thrills, and suspense, as found in some of his earlier work; 'The Homing', 'Black Lightning', 'Right Hand Of Evil', and 'Night Shade'. Nick Gonnella
Rating: Summary: Eerie Suspense Review: Suspense and murder set against the façade of an eerie New York apartment building form the backdrop for this latest novel from veteran author John Saul. When Caroline Evans' husband is murdered while jogging, her world is turned upside down. Trying to raise ten-year-old Ryan and twelve-year-old Laurie on the meager salary of an antique store employee, Caroline barely has enough money to survive. When she meets Tony Fleming, her circumstances seem to improve. Upon their marriage, Caroline and her children move into Tony's apartment in The Rockwell, an ancient apartment building abounding with rumors of dead bodies and ghouls. Though many of the residents other than Tony are elderly, they seem unusually friendly towards the children even as Caroline begins to redecorate Tony's apartment. But Ryan's outspoken aversion to his kindly step-father and Laurie's nightmares put a damper on Caroline's newfound happiness. And when Laurie's sickness comes on the heels of the illness of their young neighbor Rebecca, Caroline begins investigating Tony's sacred study. The secrets she discovers there give Caroline a chilling sense of foreboding as Laurie's evil dreams intensify and she weakens further. Mr. Saul has craftily executed the quintessential suspense/horror novel with the normality of the book's beginning being marred by the introduction of terrorizing elements. The mystery is a gradual evolution captivating the reader's attention. The only drawback is the somewhat abrupt ending after such a spellbinding build-up.
Rating: Summary: Eerie Suspense Review: Suspense and murder set against the façade of an eerie New York apartment building form the backdrop for this latest novel from veteran author John Saul. When Caroline Evans' husband is murdered while jogging, her world is turned upside down. Trying to raise ten-year-old Ryan and twelve-year-old Laurie on the meager salary of an antique store employee, Caroline barely has enough money to survive. When she meets Tony Fleming, her circumstances seem to improve. Upon their marriage, Caroline and her children move into Tony's apartment in The Rockwell, an ancient apartment building abounding with rumors of dead bodies and ghouls. Though many of the residents other than Tony are elderly, they seem unusually friendly towards the children even as Caroline begins to redecorate Tony's apartment. But Ryan's outspoken aversion to his kindly step-father and Laurie's nightmares put a damper on Caroline's newfound happiness. And when Laurie's sickness comes on the heels of the illness of their young neighbor Rebecca, Caroline begins investigating Tony's sacred study. The secrets she discovers there give Caroline a chilling sense of foreboding as Laurie's evil dreams intensify and she weakens further. Mr. Saul has craftily executed the quintessential suspense/horror novel with the normality of the book's beginning being marred by the introduction of terrorizing elements. The mystery is a gradual evolution captivating the reader's attention. The only drawback is the somewhat abrupt ending after such a spellbinding build-up.
Rating: Summary: fun...but not a classic Review: The novel had enough terrorizing scenes and enough gore to make it a page turner for horror fans, but there are a few problems with it. First, I think Saul went overboard with "down on her luck " nature of the lead character Caroline. Her husband was murdered (that part is necessary), she is running out of money, she hates her boss because her boss is SO unfair, the bills are piling up, she struggles to make time for her kids, blah blah blah. It seems as if Saul is down on his knees begging us to like his main character. But his descritions and development of the old people in the Rockwell building and the building itself are deliciously eery. I did find the book a little on the predictable side. The reader will figure out most of the story about halfway through, if not earlier. All in all, it was a fun novel to read, but one I wont remember six months from now.
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: I would love to give this five stars Review: This book was great, I mean really a pleasure to read, but Saul ends this book as he does with the Manhattan Hunt Club the same way, predictable and too fast that makes the build-up to the end somewhat cheaper when you're done reading it. Thats the bad part, the great part, however, is that this is an engaging story that is IMPOSSIBLE to put down. I'd love to give it five stars, but as I said the ending was too simple and tied up the story way too easily.
Rating: Summary: GREAT READ Review: This is a good book to read. I read about 3 books a week and, it is hard to find a book this good. This completely held my interest, start to finish. You will not go wrong reading this book.
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