The Homing

Rating:
Summary: The Homing
Review: I loved the begining of the book. The plot was awesome. It wasn't as good as Second Child which was one of the greatest books I have ever read. The ending was really horrible and I was extremly dissapointed. I don't think anyone liked the ending.

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: I thought the Homing was just great. It was a carefully, constructed novel, that had took a little from every genre. A little medical suspense, a bit of classic horror, some sci-fi, and a dash of psychological suspense. Great book, with a fast moving plot, and characters that you actually care about. I loved it!

Rating:
Summary: The Homing
Review: I'm reading these reviews and I'm trying to figure out anyone could have actually enjoyed this book. This is without a doubt the worst book I have ever read. I had read Saul's book Black Lightning and found that one rather interesting so I decided to give The Homing a shot. I figured it was a bestselling novel so it has to be pretty decent. Wrong. The only reason I kept reading was because I just kept telling myself that it had to get better. Unfortunately, it just kept getting worse. The ending of this book was beyond ridiculous. I guess this book is considered to be in the horror genre. The only horror to be found in this book is that John Saul could conceive of something so absurd and that anyone could actually find this an enjoyable read. I'm writing this review to warn everyone out there that it's not worth your time to read this book. Trust me.

Rating:
Summary: The buzz you hear is the monotony of the narrative
Review: I've read about ten of Saul's novels, and The Homing is definitely my least favorite. The story is indeed far-fetched, but what ruins this novel for me is the sheer monotony of its action. The same thing happens to one character after another. Here's the backdrop: Karen Spellman moves her two daughters from L.A. back to the farming community she grew up in when she marries an old flame; naturally, her teenaged daughter Julie does not want to leave the big city for life on a farm. Julie likes her new step-father well enough, though, and she and her step-brother get along very well (a little too well for step-siblings, if you know what I mean). Her step-grandfather basically hates these new women moving into his dead daughter-in-law's house, but that's not really important. What is important here are bees and all kinds of other insects. First young Mollie is stung by a bee at the wedding and almost dies; only a new, definitely non-FDA approved antivenom saves her. Then Julie is stung, and she has quite a unique reaction to the antivenom. She appears to be perfectly healthy, but she actually feels miserable; worst of all, she inexplicably cannot tell anyone how she really feels, parroting out "I'm fine" phrases against her will to everyone. She starts to wonder if she is going crazy, begins doing things against her will, etc. This mystery ailment strikes one teenager after another-every single time, we have to go through the whole routine once again-teen feels awful, appears normal, can't tell anyone the truth, fears he/she is going insane, begins acting weird. It's like reading the same chapter over and over again, the only difference being the name of the character each time. That monotony is what ruined the novel for me.

As for the larger story, it is pretty unrealistic. The death and suffering the reader witnesses is rather out of the ordinary, though. I have one word for you: insects. If you absolutely love insects-bees, ants, scorpions, spiders, mosquitoes, etc.-this is the book for you. If you have some kind of phobia about insects, you will probably want to steer clear of this one. Insects are everywhere in this book, doing all of the worst things you can think of them doing; it's intense enough to make you start itching and feeling things crawling all over you. The story gets slightly gory a time or two, but for the most part the horror just makes you uncomfortable. I think there is also too much of it; Saul goes into detail about the behavior of the insects time after time after time.

I am a John Saul fan, but I don't think the storyline here really succeeds. Even if you cut out a couple hundred pages of monotony, I don't think the premise behind everything would hold up very well. Characterization is another weakness here. Karen picks up and leaves L.A. to marry an old sweetheart, but we really don't see any romance between the two; their relationship clearly exists, but we don't get a real look at it. A lot of the dialogue seems forced at times, individuals keep doing the same dumb things over and over again and then going on and on about their bad decisions. I watched these characters move about and interact with one another, but I never really got to know (let alone care about) a single one of them. That is basically the third strike that makes this novel rather disappointing to me. If you buy into the insect foundation of the plot here, you may well enjoy the book. I did not buy into it, and nothing else about the book succeeded in rallying me to its cause. Saul never seemed to put his heart into The Homing, and it shows. I'm still a Saul fan, but this is definitely my least favorite of his novels.

Rating:
Summary: The buzz you hear is the monotony of the narrative
Review: I've read about ten of Saul's novels, and The Homing is definitely my least favorite. The story is indeed far-fetched, but what ruins this novel for me is the sheer monotony of its action. The same thing happens to one character after another. Here's the backdrop: Karen Spellman moves her two daughters from L.A. back to the farming community she grew up in when she marries an old flame; naturally, her teenaged daughter Julie does not want to leave the big city for life on a farm. Julie likes her new step-father well enough, though, and she and her step-brother get along very well (a little too well for step-siblings, if you know what I mean). Her step-grandfather basically hates these new women moving into his dead daughter-in-law's house, but that's not really important. What is important here are bees and all kinds of other insects. First young Mollie is stung by a bee at the wedding and almost dies; only a new, definitely non-FDA approved antivenom saves her. Then Julie is stung, and she has quite a unique reaction to the antivenom. She appears to be perfectly healthy, but she actually feels miserable; worst of all, she inexplicably cannot tell anyone how she really feels, parroting out "I'm fine" phrases against her will to everyone. She starts to wonder if she is going crazy, begins doing things against her will, etc. This mystery ailment strikes one teenager after another-every single time, we have to go through the whole routine once again-teen feels awful, appears normal, can't tell anyone the truth, fears he/she is going insane, begins acting weird. It's like reading the same chapter over and over again, the only difference being the name of the character each time. That monotony is what ruined the novel for me.

As for the larger story, it is pretty unrealistic. The death and suffering the reader witnesses is rather out of the ordinary, though. I have one word for you: insects. If you absolutely love insects-bees, ants, scorpions, spiders, mosquitoes, etc.-this is the book for you. If you have some kind of phobia about insects, you will probably want to steer clear of this one. Insects are everywhere in this book, doing all of the worst things you can think of them doing; it's intense enough to make you start itching and feeling things crawling all over you. The story gets slightly gory a time or two, but for the most part the horror just makes you uncomfortable. I think there is also too much of it; Saul goes into detail about the behavior of the insects time after time after time.

I am a John Saul fan, but I don't think the storyline here really succeeds. Even if you cut out a couple hundred pages of monotony, I don't think the premise behind everything would hold up very well. Characterization is another weakness here. Karen picks up and leaves L.A. to marry an old sweetheart, but we really don't see any romance between the two; their relationship clearly exists, but we don't get a real look at it. A lot of the dialogue seems forced at times, individuals keep doing the same dumb things over and over again and then going on and on about their bad decisions. I watched these characters move about and interact with one another, but I never really got to know (let alone care about) a single one of them. That is basically the third strike that makes this novel rather disappointing to me. If you buy into the insect foundation of the plot here, you may well enjoy the book. I did not buy into it, and nothing else about the book succeeded in rallying me to its cause. Saul never seemed to put his heart into The Homing, and it shows. I'm still a Saul fan, but this is definitely my least favorite of his novels.

Rating:
Summary: Not so bad, considering...
Review: I've read almost everything John Saul has written. He definitely has no problem with eliminating major characters to drive the plot. I have read other reviews, and I agree that much of the stuff was repetitive, but I did enjoy and feel for the characters, especially the doctor. Mr. Saul has no problem killing kids, and has always been unnerving to me, especially in his first book, "Suffer the Children". Other books, like "Shadows" and "Cry for the Strangers" killed off kids as if it was a natural thing. Sure, it's not pretty prose, but Mr. Saul spares no one to move the plot along. "The Homing" had good characters, solid drive and an interesting premise, as well as the really bad requisite bad guy. I enjoyed it. Saul spares no one. Everyone is fair game. Unfortunately, just like life..

Rating:
Summary: I'd give it a 1/16th star but one was the lowest option
Review: If this wasn't the worst novel I've ever read, then it had to be close. It started off bad and then it only got worse from there. Where to start... For one, the characters were so ridiculously unbelievable it was laughable. The emotions, thoughts, and dialogue were simple, trite, and horrifyingly bland. I've seen more realistic personalities and emotional reactions from professional wrestlers than I found from the individuals in this book. I'm amazed at how unbothered some of these characters were despite the grisly, and quite super-super-natural happenings.

The story - which in another's hands might have had potential - sloshed through some pretty well worn territory and, I thought, was predictable before the first 100 pages and was ultimately crippled by the generic prose.

The only way I'd ever recommend The Homing is if a person had never read a book in their entire life and, being that this would be their first experience to popular fiction, I could confidently say that everything else they read from then onwards would be a vast improvement. Not to belabor my point (which bitters and sits in my mouth like battery acid), but if this book were a movie, then it be going straight to video. Casstte I mean, not DVD. No one would waste two ounces of readable plastic for something so abominably bad. Granted this was the first Saul novel I've ever read so I can't speak to his other work, but I'd need some thorough convincing before I ever pick up another one of his books again.

My final recommendation: Unless you're a glutton for punishment, don't buy or read this book. There are way too many good ones out there waiting for your time and attention.

If your into horror and are looking for something disturbingly different, try House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Whether you enjoy it or not, you won't forget it.


Rating:
Summary: NOT ONE OF HIS BEST
Review: IT STARTS OFF REAL SLOW AND THEN FOR A WHILE YOU ARE HOOKED. BUT THE ENDING WAS VERY DISAPPOINTING AND WEAK. IT'S NOT ONE OF JOHN'S BEST!

Rating:
Summary: Attack of the Killer Insects
Review: It's been years since I've read this book, but from what I remember, "The Homing" is about an engaged woman (Karen Spellman) who leaves Los Angeles with her two daughters (15-year-old Julie and 9-year-old Molly) to settle down in her hometown of Pleasant Valley and marry Russell Owen, a guy she's known since kindergarten. Soon after their arrival, a deadly swarm of insects is released upon the town by a local lunatic (Carl Henderson). These bugs travel among living things (animals, humans), feeding and multiplying inside their host until it dies. Then the swarm moves on, repeating the process.

Although the killer insect theme definitely falls into the horror genre, I wouldn't really group "The Homing" with those other cheesy, one-dimensional stories about bloodthirsty vermin that, without any apparent reason, start attacking humans. John Saul writes a little more intelligently than that. "The Homing" is more horror-ish than his other books, though, but it's still worth a try if you're a Saul fan--that is, if you don't mind the creepy crawlies that come with it.

Rating:
Summary: The best John Saul book I have ever read.
Review: John Saul outdoes himself in "The Homing." He creates one of the memorable psycopaths in history. This book was so well written, that I could not put it down until I had finished it.