Rating: 
Summary: John Saul Delivers ! ! !
Review: A well written tale that primarily focuses on a little girl's private struggle for love and acceptance among her new peers when her mother re-marries and she is thrust into a whole new unfriendly world. Add to that the haunting secret of an old shoe mill and the vengefl spirit of the little girl that dwells within its cursed walls and you've got a story to remember.It's got a few plot holes but the characters and the story line are well written so if you like John Saul you'll enjoy this one.
Rating: 
Summary: INFERNO OF HATRED
Review: Carolyn Rogers marries her childhood flame, the rich Philip Sturgess. The last male heir in the Massachusetts town's local nobility, Philip Sturgess is an impressive man. Unlike his forebears including his aged mother Abigail and 12-year-old spoiled daughter, Tracy, Philip is a kind and reasonable man. He is not too different in temperament and interest from Carolyn's first husband, Alan Rogers, whom she divorced. Twelve-year-old Beth Rogers is miserable at Hilltop, the Sturgess home. Tracy treats her shabbily, humiliates her and does whatever she can to make Beth's life miserable. Beth seeks solace in her old friends who lived on Cherry Street ("where we were happy") and the times she spends with her father. A gentle, intelligent man, Alderman Rogers is involved in a project with Philip Sturgess. Both men want to reopen an old shoe mill with an incindiary history. One century earlier in 1886, several child workers perished in a fire in the old mill. Questionable incidents surrounding the mill crop up; its history looms large. Alderman Rogers, a town alderman as well as an architect/builder has taken on the project at Philip Sturgess' request. Like Michelle from "Comes the Blind Fury," Beth believes she has made contact with a child who died a century earlier in the fire. Like Michelle, Beth is 12 and believes in the supernatural. Strange things happen in the mill. Two boys die in similar circumstances several decades apart; the place reeks of fire. Questions around the old mill are not resolved and the story concludes in a blast of heat. Sympathetic characters, a spooky plot and a heated resolution all make for a compelling story.
Rating:
Summary: INFERNO OF HATRED
Review: Carolyn Rogers marries her childhood flame, the rich Philip Sturgess. The last male heir in the Massachusetts town's local nobility, Philip Sturgess is an impressive man. Unlike his forebears including his aged mother Abigail and 12-year-old spoiled daughter, Tracy, Philip is a kind and reasonable man. He is not too different in temperament and interest from Carolyn's first husband, Alan Rogers, whom she divorced. Twelve-year-old Beth Rogers is miserable at Hilltop, the Sturgess home. Tracy treats her shabbily, humiliates her and does whatever she can to make Beth's life miserable. Beth seeks solace in her old friends who lived on Cherry Street ("where we were happy") and the times she spends with her father. A gentle, intelligent man, Alderman Rogers is involved in a project with Philip Sturgess. Both men want to reopen an old shoe mill with an incindiary history. One century earlier in 1886, several child workers perished in a fire in the old mill. Questionable incidents surrounding the mill crop up; its history looms large. Alderman Rogers, a town alderman as well as an architect/builder has taken on the project at Philip Sturgess' request. Like Michelle from "Comes the Blind Fury," Beth believes she has made contact with a child who died a century earlier in the fire. Like Michelle, Beth is 12 and believes in the supernatural. Strange things happen in the mill. Two boys die in similar circumstances several decades apart; the place reeks of fire. Questions around the old mill are not resolved and the story concludes in a blast of heat. Sympathetic characters, a spooky plot and a heated resolution all make for a compelling story.
Rating:
Summary: Decent horror
Review: Carolyn Rogers marries Phillip Sturgess -- rich, eligible, successful bachelor with a heart of gold despite his snobbish breeding. Phillip, along with Carolyn's ex-husband, plan on reopening a mill where a group of the town's children burned to death in the late 1800s and has recently become the site of many mysterious accidents. And that's about all the Carolyn and Phillip have to do with the story. The main focus of the story is Beth Rogers, Carolyn's daughter from her first marriage, and Tracey Sturgess, Phillip's daughter from his first marriage. Tracey goes out of her way to make Beth feel unwanted through any means necessary, and Beth finds herself miserable and lonely. Beth befriends a girl-child who died in the fire at the mill (not unlike the girl in Saul's Comes the Blind Fury) who becomes something of a best friend to Beth. Finally, this all comes to head in a "grand finale". This was a good read, typical early-Saul fare. It shared many similarities with Comes the Blind Fury, but it was different enough to keep me reading. Saul has a way of really making you love and hate his characters. I sort of thought that the ending was a little rushed and the revealed "secret" a little weak, but an enjoyable read still.
Rating:
Summary: This is one of Sauls greatest!!
Review: Ive read about all of Sauls books except a couple, and this is one of his best. The characters are very real, and the suspense picks up the further you read into the book! Ive read this book twice, and its even better the second time.
Rating:
Summary: Suspense to Keep Our Attention
Review: John Saul is a fantastic writer and uses many different types of suspense to make his writings much more interesting. He uses the methods of keeping the reader on the edge, guessing, and fear/excitement.- M. Ratliff, BDH
Rating:
Summary: A real page turner
Review: This book is a very imaginative stuff by john saul. john has succeeded in making the story powerfull not only by acute suspence but also bringing in emotions. It is a constant reminder to the readers of the horror stories that there exist another world which is only visible to a few gifted ones. Yet if you believe in nonscense such as monsters than this book is not for you but for those who know that there is something out there unexplained that is not so devastating to blow away a whole town ( unreal in the actual world ) but at the same time is enough to engulf a person one by one by concealing itself form the outside world.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the best introduction to Saul
Review: This book was my introduction to Saul's work, and while it was a good read, there were certain things that I felt were a "cop-out" and could have been handled better. The storyline is good and I devoured the book in less than 24 hours. While the story is typical Saul, from what I've read of his other books, the ending of this one is lacking. What builds up through the book is anticlimactic at the end. I found myself wishing that I could rewrite the ending or that I'd find one more chapter that would satisfy my desire for what was missing. Read it, but be prepared to be disappointed with the last couple chapters.
Rating: 
Summary: The fire should have stayed in Hell
Review: This has to be the worst John Saul book I've read recently (and I've read 6 in the past 2 months!). It's more like a V.C. Andrews book than anything that's supposed to be horror. Evil, rich, spoiled girl makes life a living Hell for poor, sweet, step-sister? Please! How cliche can you get?
Rating:
Summary: Read this book if you dare!
Review: This was a good book The characters all resemble that of a small town and the haunted mill was a good location for the storys plot. Unspeakable things happened to children working at that milll long ago. The doors have been shut for years when the last surviving heir of the Sturgess family decides to turn in into a mall.His family will end up paying the price for the reconstructing of the old abandaned mill. The ending was quite satisfying but as readers of John Saul no his endings usually leave you hanging in mid air.
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