Rating: 
Summary: Psychological suspense with a supernatural flavor
Review: Joan Hapgood has a cozy, comfortable life at Hapgood Farm withher husband Bill and son Matt (from a previous relationship). That is, until the day her aging and increasingly senile mother, Emily Moore, sets her house on fire and Joan brings her to live at the farm. Emily is the mother from hell and makes life [extremely] intolerable for Joan's family. .... The psychological suspense is unrelenting as John Saul leads the reader through a tangle of fractured relationships, unearthly jealousy, repercussions of child abuse, fragile egos, and injured psyches held together with blood revenge. It becomes pretty clear in the last quarter of the book what's going on, but the ending will still sucker-punch you. There aren't many books I feel compelled to finish the same day I start them. This was one of them.
Rating: 
Summary: Good entertainment
Review: Nightshade is the first book I've read of Saul's in many a year, and turned out to be pleasantly entertaining thriller. For the first 2/3 of the book, Nightshade pleasantly reminded me of the original HAUNTING movie. Psychological in nature, we wonder does the ghost of Cynthia really exist, or does she live only in the mind of the mother, Joan? Only in the final 1/3 does the book veer sharply out of psychological horror into a more graphic vein. Other aspects of the book that I liked: the characterization is very good. I came to feel something for each of the characters, whether it be hatred, concern, etc. With the possible exception of Joan's mother, all the characters are fully fleshed-out. Another nice point, and somewhat rare for a "horror" novel, is that the characters actions all seem legit. The actions they perform all seem to be what a regular person would do under the situation(s). No one develops superhuman characteristics (such as heroism) in the last pages of the book as seems to norm for a novel of this sort. This is a nice surprise. And, the book kept me reading. I'd have to describe this book as a definite page-turner. Only a few quibbles kept me from giving this book 5 stars. Some of the action and passages are a bit repetitive. A good example is that I don't know how many times we read that a character thinks they are alone in a room, hears something, then "spins around". Also, the action at book's end is a bit predictible. Lastly, the book is suspenseful, but unfortunately, not genuinely horrifying. Saul's attempts to actually horrify the reader fail with me because the action(s) or the gore felt more like they were thrown in for the potential effect more than the fact that it actually needed to be included/described. But those minor complaints aside, Nightshade is an enjoyable, satisfying thriller, better when the horror is psychological and implied than when it explodes to being realistic and graphic, but very good oveall.
Rating:
Summary: Saul returns to his roots!
Review: John Saul returns with a very vintage ghost story. Effective scenes and characers you care about propelled by a plot that makes you want to read it ALL in one sitting. After a few novels of adult terror, Saul returns to his kids in trouble in a small town premise with great results.
Rating:
Summary: CHILLING...A MASTERPIECE
Review: Matt Moore has it all...a loving mother, a stepfather who treats him as his own son, great friends, and a beautiful loving girlfriend.When a fire forces Matt's grandmother to move in with his family, he is faced with the secrets of his family's past. Emily Moore is the grandmother on the edge of sanity. Emily's life revolves around her dead daughter Cynthia. Joan Moore is Emily's "other" daughter. Joan has tried to please her mother since she was a child, always trying to receive the love and attention devoted to her older sister. Once Emily has moved into the house, the family is driven apart, as well as being driven toward madness. Strange things begin happening, dreams of Cynthia haunt all in the house, and the strong scent of the perfume she wore is present in the room Emily has set up for Cynthia's return. When a tragedy occurs, tearing the family further apart, it appears all suspicion falls on Matt. All those that love Matt begin pulling away from him, leaving him alone and doubting his own sanity. Matt must try to make sense of what is happening and put his life back together, in doing this he will come face to face with the evil of his family's past, shattering all he has believed in. "Nightshade" is a terrifying, page-turning thrill ride into madness and dark family secrets. Shocking plot twists come fast and furious, leading the reader to a bone-chilling climax. John Saul is a master at creating suspense novels that grab the reader and never let go. I finished this book in a few hours, and have to say it is the best horror/suspense novel I have read in a long time. A MUST read! Nick Gonnella
Rating: 
Summary: Not exactly horror
Review: Let me say this right up front: I like Saul's writing style. He has a way with words. BLACKSTONE CHORONICLES led me to this author, and I've tried several of his works since then.
With that said......NIGHTSHADE is the second Saul novel I've read in as many weeks. I was extremely disappointed in the other novel, and NIGHT only scores a bit higher due to some of the darker family issues raised in it. The Hapgoods appear for all the world to be a loving, happy, content family. That all shatters quite quickly when grandma Emily, suffering from Alzheimer's and seemingly intent on making everyone around her feel lower than dung, moves into the Hapgood's estate. Constantly comparing Joan Hapgood to her beautiful, smart but dead older sister, Cynthia, Emily strikes out to totally deflate her younger daughter. Teenage grandson, Matt, starts having violent, erotic dreams that plague him. Then the body count starts to rise. What ensues is an attempt to create a sharp psychological thriller. It almost succeeds. However, too much of the novel is repetitive with some passages being repeated almost word for word. The PSYCHO-like feel to the story is interesting, and as I stated above, Saul creates incredible word pictures. Unfortunately, the villain is too easily figured out very early in the novel, and not a lot actually happens through a great deal of the story. In its favor, NIGHT is a quick read that could be enjoyable if you are looking for light suspense or horror.
This novel brings out some very disturbing family dysfunctions. As in RIGHT HAND OF EVIL, Saul digs out those family secrets and weaves them in with the sinister aspects of his story. Child abuse, incest, and mental illness all come together here, but they are also all too neatly wrapped up without deeper inspection throughout this story. There was great potential for a darker sort of story. I give this 3 stars because of Saul's knack for word art, but I, for one, wasn't too enamored of the book overall.
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Summary: Saul out does himself again
Review: Once again, John Saul delivers a story that keeps me turning the pages. This is vintage Saul. A story that has all the elements this author is famous for--small town, unstable family, paranormal events. So, curl up by the fire or relax on your chaise by the pool and disappear into Saul's familiar, yet strange little town. Be prepared to stay awhile because you won't be able to put the book down until you're done!
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Summary: A family who are the model citizens turn into "psychos"!
Review: I listened to this book on tape while driving to work in my car. Lee Merriwether does a very good job of changing the voices for the characters.
The book moves very fast and has a lot of surprises - some of which are pretty gory. But that's why I read books by John Saul. I read "The Homing" a good many years ago and ever since I have been fascinated by his novels.
In "Nightshade", the ghost of an Aunt who has been dead for many years comes back to destroy the family. The whole town wonders what is happening to this once pleasant family with a star football player. The family has turned into "psychos" and people in the town are turning up dead or missing.
If you like some scary stuff, this is a very good choice.
Rating:
Summary: I Slept With The Lights On
Review: This book was chillingly suspenseful. It's a great book for those who love getting their pants scared right off. John Saul was able to create a gruesomely, delightfully scary storyline. The characters seemed to jump to life right off the bat and... wow! I was sucked right in and the next thing I knew I couldn't believe what I was reading. I admit I slept with the bedroom light on until I finished the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Filler...filler...filler....
Review: Never judge a book by it's cover...as an author this can't be stressed enough...as a reader, I couldn't resist! Unfortunately, I was wrong in this case. The cover was awesome and promised a haunting tale that the story just didn't deliver. I thought I'd never finish this book! It grabbed my attention at the beginning, but by the third chapter, I felt as if I had read the same thing over and over. This happens throughout much of the book as Mr. Saul builds to the stories climax. This could have been a very good psychological thriller and a real page-turner, if it had been told in half the length. Instead I found myself putting it down and walking away, waiting sometimes days before I picked it up again then once again becoming frustrated with the same scenario's, bearing slightly different descriptions. This is a classic example of once hitting the best seller list, always remaining there...we should all be so lucky!
Rating:
Summary: Don't Bother
Review: Saul is a competent writer. Although his style staggers some when he attempts to get prosaic (I'm thinking of the dozen or so times he tries to describe the pretty sunsets/weather in the book), his craft is not bad. It isn't exceptionally good, but it doesn't grate. It gets the job done, and to that end, I applaud his workmanship.
The plot of this particular tale, however, is nothing more than a hastily strung together conglomeration of stories that have been done to death before him, and done better. Even for a reader searching for nothing more than a good, diverting tale, this book is unfullfilling.
What you have here, essentially, is a ghost story featuring young high-schooler Matt Moore, and his stressed and depressed mother, Joan, both of whom are alternately plagued by Joan's vicious mother, Emily, the spectre of Joan's dead sister, Cynthia, and an entire town's hate and accusations, once the bodies start piling up (or, in most cases, just disappearing).
Rote and tired tales can still be done well, but in this case, Saul has diluted the strength of his story with dull repetition (Matt's inner dialogues of self-doubt, for example, occur far too often and compose a good 1/6th of the 400 pg book), clumsy editing, and a few rather silly plot contrivances (I'm thinking of the final explanation for the deer hunting accident). He does a great job of setting up audience sympathies (particularly when he relates Emily's unmotherly tendency towards violence, and when he shows us the townsfolk's unfounded hatred of Matt), but those sympathies are betrayed by an ending that is watered down and, alternately, unnecessary. Especially the last three pages.
If you want a good ghost story, try King's Bag of Bones. At the very least, don't try here. No offense, Saul. But, hey, you gave it a good shot.
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