3.5 ⭐️
Peccato per il finale frettoloso e deludente.
Il tema è un classico di questa narrativa ed è intrigante; purtroppo Saul non scrive come il Re (King) d’antan perché con questo materiale sarebbe stato un signor libro gotico.
Saul resta un medio scrittore horror.

Come back, John Saul

This was such a good series. I was glad to read it again and sad to remember that John Saul quit writing 15 years ago. It's a shame. There could've been so many more books.

It started off fun and then became boring and predictable.

I was very excited when this book came in the mail. I think that led to me being slightly disappointed. That, and the first 5 novellas that make up this serial novel were very good and entertaining. I was let down by the ending. I have read a handful of Saul's books and the first 5 parts of this book were some of his most entertaining pieces. There was suspense, horror, and for his fans- nostalgia. I liked how he used past characters and brought them back into this story/setting. For example, we get to see Elizabeth Conger from his first novel Suffer The Children. We see her all grown up and with a family of her own. She got what she deserved LOL.

I loved the whole serial novel idea. It works. each part ( 6 of them) were quick and entertaining reads. Saul mentioned that once King came out with The Green Mile, it got his creative juices flowing and he saw that there was a contemporary audience for this long forgotten format.

For those of you that has seen the Friday the 13th TV Series, or read The Amityville sequels ( later sequels) or seen the later movies , this serial novel feels alot like those. Objects were the key here. Objects that had a malevolent presence in them or led to characters feeling a certain way that changed personality traits etc. Were the objects cursed or possessed?

Each section had a prelude that showed the object in use in the past. It was always tied to a resident/inmate of the towns Asylum ( which was a great character in and of itself). The prelude showed the inmate or patient using the object or why it was important to them and then immediately showed them having endured some type of horrible old school treatment. Torture and death always ensued. In the present , the asylum is still standing in the small New England town but has long since been abandoned. The antagonist, who is hidden from the reader, takes 1 object each section and mails it or delivers it to a character that is either related or connected to its previous owner from the past. It has a gothic feel to it where the sins of the past effect the present.

Part 1 - An Eye for an Eye, The Doll:

Part 2 - Twist of Fate, The Locket:

Part 3 - Ashes to Ashes, The Dragon's Flame:

Part 4 - In the Shadow of Evil, The Handkerchief

Part 5 – Day of Reckoning, The Stereoscope:

Part 6 – Asylum:

As mentioned, the ending was not something I liked. You saw the Identity of the antagonist a mile away. Probably from Part 2 to part 3 you had a good idea and would put $$ on who you thought it was. I also didnt like that once the character was revealed, the other characters that found out let everything slide. This person , troubled or not, caused a large portion of the town to endure losses and hardships and they just let it slide. Small town and strong relationships aside, that would not happen in real life LOL.

3.5 Stars

Loved this book, even though I am not a fan of short stories. I felt that each of the stories were interesting enough to keep me reading. And they all tied together in the end. Although I did see the main plot twist coming in short story 2, it was still a great read.

Classic chills and thrills from this acclaimed author. Keeps you guessing until the very end.

I won’t say this collection is perfect, but it is perfect to me. I absolutely love John Saul’s writing and this was no exception. Those creepy moments with great details...I was hooked! Can’t wait to read more of his books.

The story was interesting, however the writing style was a bit juvenile, reminded me of the Mary Hahn books. I feel he also copied Stephen King's Needful Things just a tiny bit. All and all a good creepy set of stories.

This book was in my stash of books I’m trying to get rid of and it was highly reviewed so I thought I’d try it. Horror is not a genre I usually read. Now I remember why I don’t read it. It makes a person think about all the different ways one can be tortured or die and I guess I just don’t enjoy perverse things. I can just watch the local news for that.

Aside from not enjoying horror, the characters were cliches to the point where I was rolling my eyes at some of the dialogue. Some of the characters were so terrible, I didn’t really mind that evil got them.

The individual plots were ok but there are so many loose ends and questions at the end.

Lastly, there was a woman held captive for days on end with her feet, hands, and mouth bound with tape. All I kept wondering was how she was going to the bathroom in a dark empty room alone.

I originally read this book impatiently as a six set serial when it was first published in 1997. I would always wait to read the last chapter until I purchased the next novella. After the first novella I learned my lesson. It was a lot easier to wait to read the terrible event, before reading the latest sequel.

Similar in format to Stephen King's The Green Mile, which I've also read. The Blackstone Chronicles was a mystery, suspenseful thriller, and horror novel. Each novella built upon the other, yet they had a separate story involving a past event in the small town's long closed Asylum, which was due for partial demolition & renovation. As the various sequels unfold the reader learns the horrors that occurred which were historically considered "treatments" for the mentally unsound. Or those labeled falsely as mentally ill.

Each novella was creepy, for me only daytime reading. The suspense would build to a crescendo - full of agony and sometimes gore - definitely horror. This book as a complication was so much better than the maddeningly waiting for all six serial novellas to be released over a seemingly long period of time.

The writing didn't seem dated at all. The book was just as or rather even more entertaining than the first time I said it. I was eager to reach the conclusion of this dramatic who done it full of terrible deeds committed by people feeling they had ever right, even a mission to do it.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly.

2/5 stars. It was alright. Honestly I had fun reading it, but I'd never recommend it to someone. Definitely shows it's age... Let me put it this way. Even the most mediocre of the "good" fantasy/sci-fi I've been reading lately is light years better written than this. The characters are uninteresting, their struggles are uninteresting, the plot devices and mystery is only mildly interesting, and the twist villain at the end was surprising but more in a "huh, that's not a great twist villain" kinda way than an actual surprisingly kinda way. Nonetheless, it was an easy read, and the mystery was juuuuuust interesting enough that I managed to finish it while enjoying it.

This is Absolutely Superb and it fully deserved five stars but their was one unexpected flaw...

The bloody open ending!! I hate books with these, I need all questions answered. Yes the reader can offer his or her opinion on how and why but I much prefer it all to be explained in the story by the author. Shame on you Mr Saul LOL

That said, I Highly Recommend this book. It is an awesome read and it was one of those rare books that, although I was very keen to finish it, I also didn't want it to end.

I now feel like a certified member of the Blackstone community.