A curious 90s relic, The Blackstone Chronicles is a trimmed-neat little piece of work that carries little fat and as a result, reads light as air.

In the heyday of the serial novel, writers like John Saul found a bit of respite from the antipolar demands of dense, complete novels and creatively demanding short stories; two disparate modes of writing that could offset the challenges of one with the boons of the other.

The idea is to lend the overarching structure of a novel the piece meal construction of a book of short stories. A framing narrative that builds its themes and resolution off the backs of near self-contained novellas that resolve within themselves yet inform the whole. It doesn't need to be as densely plotted as a full novel, and characters can be conveniently slotted in and out of the picture as needs be without any inorganic choppiness; the majority of their development confined to singular novellas, they can exist as fully formed entities for their own individual stories then converted to a more symbolic or thematic purpose within the framework narrative. The serial novel is a reliable skeleton for the author to flesh out.

Within the scope of that exercise, John Saul's The Blackstone Chronicles comes off as the example text for the serial novel method - it's basic, demonstrative, and satisfying lean, but it's also clichéd to the point of being a near non-entity - a barebones array of horror tropes wrapped in a comforting cloak of predictable prose.

Its horrors range from haunted, murderous dolls, to fanatical Christian matriarchs, to symbolic manifestations of abortion, the typical human anxieties that ache around the periphery of much of our horror film and literature. The Blackstone Chronicles is an almost impressive work in its adherence to convention. All the notes are struck so finely on the nose that it produces satisfaction merely to watch the pieces fall exactly as you suspected. A total "I knew it." of a book.

Just unsettling enough to give a flutter of the creeps, The Blackstone Chronicles is a totally average bit of pulp that feels wholly emblematic of what you'd expect from the typical 90s New York Time's Bestsellers List - easily forgotten two and a half decades after it made its bright little splash.

It was a really good book I had a hard time putting it down. But i was a little disappointed in the ending, still had a lot of questions and wasn't quite sure who really sent all the gifts, was it really him and if so it doesn't make sense to me.

I enjoyed this. That's all I can say.

I think something went wrong when I downloaded this for my kindle Paperwhite. I was supposed to have all the volumes and I only received the first volume in the series. i will definitely have research this.

This book is over 30 years old and it may just be the case that I read it too late and it is very outdated. That being said this is just a collection of tropes. Trope after trope. Dead dog, person falling down stairs, evil religious mother figure, oh then another one of those, cursed objects doing what cursed objects do, and a bunch of lazy sequences that turned out to be just a dream. Saul also does not use the serial set up to his advantage. Instead of having cool cliff hangers, he just has six different stories that are connected by a frame story. So not much motivation to come back to each new book. Large portions of this are full of redundant descriptions. They are meant to create mood and tension i guess, but they fail as they are overlong and not particularly skillful. Also I can't enjoy reading three scenes of a girl in a bathtub.
The ending is very predictable and also dumb. The cop... just, come on. Overall this is a very poorly executed old school horror series without much horror. This was the first book by John Saul that I have read and I expect it will be my last.

John Saul did not disappoint on this one. I can imagine the excitement of his readers back in the day when he first announced this six-part serial novel. The anticipation of waiting for each new part probably kept everyone on their toes just as much as the writing did. Some parts were stronger than others, but overall each had a nice creepy feel to it. The conclusion, in my opinion, was the weakest moment, as certain major plot points are simply swept under the rug. John Saul stayed within the classic elements of horror here, so there's nothing to blow you away but it's a fun read regardless, made better when sampled in small doses as Mr. Saul intended it.

Just finished the Blackstone Chronicles - all the 6 parts. I'm sad that it's over! If you like thrillers that keep you wondering what is going on, what kind of evil is lurking, you will not be able to put it down. John Saul did a wonderful job of developing the different characters you encounter in the book. You don't necessarily know off the bat who is the main character, but eventually you start noticing the one constant character in all the stories.
I usually enjoy a good thriller / suspense / horror with an asylum in the backdrop. This is it! You get crazy people, doing weird things, weird deaths, suspenseful moments where every line you read you just want to read faster to find out where the author is taking you. The description of the town, of the streets and houses and the people, you can literally see it all around you, it was so well-written.

I loved it, and I loved it even more when I finished and was reading the afterword where John Saul was thanking everyone who helped him, including my beloved Stephen King. As a fan of Mr. King, knowing that he supported Mr. Saul throughout, made it even better for me. After reading this, I now plan on reading as many novels by John Saul as I possibly can.

What came first, the egg or the John Saul?

I must admit that this is one of the most insidious stories I’ve ever read; it slowly but surely gets under the skin, in its own unassuming fashion. You have to read with a discerning eye; Saul inserts a few tips into the story regarding the patients and their relation to the current residents of Blackstone. Even though I actually managed to identify the shadowy antagonist of the story, the ending was still rather shocking. Something that did bother me was the reaction of the people who were eventually privy to the truth: a bit too blasé and not very convincing, considering all that had happened.

I haven’t read a horror mystery as good as this one, the series was done so well and kept me completely enthralled the entire time. I will be thinking of how well the stories intertwined and what they all did to loved ones. So much madness

The first four parts were decent to good -- a lot of good things happening. But then it quickly went down. The last part was totally stupid. I was lost. I didn't get it. Where did the story go? It's books like these that get my blood boiling for wasting my time.

I do love reading serial novels and have since The Green Mile, but this is not one of them. If you want to try something new and different, try Ninth Step Station: The Complete Season 1

I read these when they originally came out and loved them then. I still love them. John Saul is one of my favorites. Blackstone is a typical New England town in New Hampshire. I loved the main character of Oliver Metcalfe. He was brought up with wealth and entitlement but doesn't act that way, he truly is tortured by the sight of the asylum. I loved his relationship with Rebecca Morrison. They were so well suited for each other. Most of the people in the town I didn't like they were nosy busybodies who had nothing better to do. The ones I disliked the most were Martha Ward and Germaine Wagner. They deserved what they got. I felt sorry for the first victim Elizabeth because she hadn't really done anything. Her daughter was a brat and needed a good smack. I liked the mystery of who was leaving these packages for certain people. I was certain after a while it was Oliver, But I was happy to be wrong. I never would've guessed who it turned out to be.

I read this series back when they came out one by one. The story still holds up but I am left with wanting to know more, what happens next.