Rating: 
Summary: Semi-Slow Pace, Not-so-great Ending
Review: This is the sixth John Saul novel I have read, and I would have to say this is my least favorite. Why? The pace of the story is good but can be slow at times. Never once did the book have me hooked. About the last fifty pages, it got VERY exciting but was turned down but the rushed ending.
Rating: 
Summary: Midnight Voices
Review: This was a very good book. I have never read any of John Saul's books before, and am very glad I chose him as a author. His work seemed appealing to me since I do enjoy reading suspense/horror books. It was not as good as Dean Koontz, but this is only because I am a huge Koontz fan, but nevertheless, I enjoyed the book. The beginning was slightly confusing, since it started off with her husband being murdered. It didnt go into as much detail as some authors would have, but it did get the point across. Secondly between the beginning and the end it did become slightly dry at times, then would pick back up and get you wanting to read the next page. The end was well writting, though, since it became more descriptive on the murders. This book has influenced me to read more of his books, since they do seem well written. My personal advice is to get out and get one of his books, read it and see how you like it for yourself.
Rating: 
Summary: I quit reading it in frustration
Review: Too bad, but this book is filled with page after page of redundant text. We get it, alright? The lady is stupid and poor and there are spooky things going on. I've put the book down for now.......maybe later I will give it another go. And too, I wonder why there was no insurance for our damsel.
Rating:
Summary: Who is the Neck-Cracker, Sweet?
Review: We never really get to discover "who" killed Caroline's husband, as well as the social worker (the neck-cracker). Was it Fleming? And if a hired killer, then who? Someone outside of the Rockwell who nonetheless knew of the old cronies' bizarre youth-finding habits?
The concoction-bearing homeopathic doctor who also resides in the Rockwell is just TOO TOO close a depiction to the doctor in Rosemary's Baby. In fact , the Rockwell theme itself is too close, esp.with the several references to the Dakota.
Nevertheless, I finished it to the end in a few days, and DID enjoy it. I have read John Saul since my teenage years, when I devoured Suffer the Children and all those early books.
Rating: 
Summary: chilling Dorian Gray like tale
Review: When Brad Evan's was killed while jogging in Central Park at night, he had ignored the feeling he was being watched for the past ten weeks. His death leaves his widow Caroline broken hearted and broke. She takes a job working in an antique store where she meets Irene Delamond who lives at the Rockwell at 100 Central Park West, a building more exclusive than the Dakota.Irene takes an immediate liking to Caroline and decides to set her up with Anthony Fleming, one of the Rockwell tenants. Within a year, Carolina marries Anthony and she and her children from her first marriage move into 100 Central Park West where the tenants, most of them elderly, take an extraordinary interest in the two youngsters. It isn't until Caroline stumbles upon something terrifying in her husband's office at home that she realizes that Anthony and his friends want something more from her and the children than friendship. Fans of Stephen King and Dean Koontz will be thrilled with the latest offering of John Saul. MIDNIGHT VOICES is a chilling work of horror that slowly but believably builds toward an inevitable climax. Readers will love Caroline who will do whatever it takes to protect her children from those malevolent Dorian Gray like beings wearing the mask of mortality. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Some Rumors Shouldn't Be Ignored
Review: When Caroline Evans' husband is murdered in Central Park, she goes to work at an antique shop to support herself and her two children. During her son's baseball games in the Park, she meets Anthony Fleming. The meeting seems innocent enough with one of his friends introducing them. After only a few months of courtship, Caroline and Anthony are married and she and her children Laurie and Ryan move into his apartment in The Rockwell, an upscale apartment building located just outside the Park. The Rockwell has a reputation amongst the neighborhood children as being a haven for vampires and witches.
Ryan is dead set against the marriage from the beginning and creates havoc for the newly weds, forcing Anthony to take measures into his own hands. Laurie hears voices her first night in her new home coming from behind the walls. Then what seemed to be a nightmare, takes on a frightening reality when she awakes in a bloody gown. Ryan finds some disturbing photographs in Anthony's office causing his suspicions about the man to grow. What the loving bride fails to realize, is that Anthony and his neighbors desperately need her children to survive. Rebecca Mayhew, the foster child of the Albions and Laurie's new friend, is sick with an unknown illness. Andrea Constanza, a college friend of Caroline's, is Rebecca's caseworker. In her worry over the girl's steadily worsening condition she confronts her mysterious Dr. Theodore Humphries, D.O. another Rockwell neighbor. Andrea is murdered that night. Then Rebecca disappears behind a mysterious story of her staying with relatives out of state for her health. Midnight Voices teaches that rumors are not always created to hurt an individual or to scare little children sometimes they are meant to warn people away from danger...
Rating:
Summary: Gripping Story, Excellent Narration
Review: When Caroline Evans's husband is murdered in Central Park, she thinks her life is over until she meets Tony Fleming a resident of a posh New York apartment building. Although her children are uneasy living in the Rockwell, Caroline hopes they will adjust with time. Although initially happy, her son and daughter are plagued by nightmares, and the building inhabitants are both cloying and creepy...Is the Rockwell more than it seems or are Caroline and the children just imagining things?
I picked up Midnight Voices only because it is narrated by my favorite narrator Aasne Vigesaa, and I was not disappointed. Aasne manages to capture the voices of Caroline Evans, her new husband Tony, and the creepy residents of the Rockwell apartment building to a T.
This book is not for the faint of heart, however. The residents of the Rockwell are truly terrible. Without giving details away, at times I was forced to fast forward certain scenes where torture was murder were described in detail. Fortunately these scenes were few. I had only a couple of peeves with this book. 1. Its never really clear what the ghoulish people in the Rockwell are doing with their victims. Also. Its never clear how they themselves got to be the way they are. 2. The key ring which Caroline has from the antique store is just a little too handy. Especially at the end. 3. Social Services never followed up with the Albions about Rebecca Mahew. 4. Finally, the residents of the Rockwell weren't too smart in their choice of victims.
Other than that, this was a compelling and gripping audiobook. I truly hope there is a sequel.
Rating:
Summary: Chilling Urban Legend-ish Thriller
Review: When tragedy strikes Caroline Evans and her children (Ryan 10, Laurie 12), she's left worrying about her job and her future, struggling to take care of her children. When she's fixed-up with the charming, wealthy and also recently widowed Tony Fleming, her best friend Andrea warns her to stay away from him, that she's got a strange feeling about him. Despite the warnings, Caroline marries Tony and moves her family into her new husband's huge apartment in the old and legendary Rockwell on Central Park West. The 8-story Rockwell is one of the oldest buildings in the city and is 'a source of stories children used to scare themselves half to death.' The other residents are mostly older folks who seem a bit over-anxious to meet Caroline and her children, and are constantly baking all kinds of treats for them. On the very first night in their new home, Laurie's vivid nightmares begin. She and her brother both begin hearing strange voices in the middle of the night that seem to be coming from within their apartment, within their own walls. Ryan has had confrontations with his new stepfather and now fears him. Laurie hasn't been sleeping well from the nightmares and is feeling weak and sickly, just like Rebecca, the only other child living in the building. Caroline doesn't share her children's fears at first, but grows paranoid herself that she's being watched and followed. Suspicion leads her to discover a horrific secret about her new husband and neighbors. Now she must overcome her fears and save herself and her children from the evils that lurk within the walls of The Rockwell. John Saul's chilling campfire tale instantly reflects 'Rosemary's Baby' with the eerie and vivid imagery of the old, creepy apartment house in the city and the evil goings-on that lurk in the night. Very well-written with some believable old 'characters.'
Rating:
Summary: midnight nonsense
Review: While this book does have its creepy moments it does stretch the boundaries of belief a little too far. The story starts out nicely; a murder, a mysterious building and odd occupants but there are just too many questions left unanswered. Who was the actual killer? Why did everyone just disappear in the end? Was it all an illusion? The ending sure didn't shed much light though it did leave room for a sequel. When I was finished I thought it was pretty good and to an extent I still do; but are you really asking me to believe that a woman has just married a living corpse? Worse then that, that she made love with it and didn't realize that something was a miss? A little too much to swallow for my taste. I did enjoy the suspense though and the build up but I wish the ending would have provided more answers. I hope there is a sequel. ... This version contains three audio cassettes and is red by a single reader.
Rating:
Summary: Saul - Midnight Voices
Review: With Midnight Voices, Saul continues the fascination with New York he introduced in his last effort, The Manhattan Hunt Club. Yet, unlike that novel and most of his output since The Blackstone Chronicles (a must-read novel), Midnight Voices is quite well done. Centering on a creepy Manhattan apartment building, Saul takes a page out of Rosemary's Baby and delivers an eerie, disturbing tale. While the plot is strong, for the most part, it was easy to predict its direction and ultimate outcome early on in the novel. In addition, Saul missed a good opportunity to expand the story to include plot lines only uncovered in the novel's epilogue. Unlike many contemporary thrillers or horror novels that run on for too long with too little substance, Saul had a lot to work with and he didn't fully utilize it all. Despite these flaws, Midnight Voices is a fast-paced, creepy thriller worth the few hours it will take readers to finish it.
|
