Bad. Bad all over. I only got through about ten pages.

I'm bummed because growing up, I read a lot of novels by Saul. I remember them fondly but now I'm scared to give them a re-read. The only thing I can think of is that this trilogy was published when JSaul was at peak popularity, and I can't blame him for churning out a few books to make bank.

Luckily I got this copy free as an extra from a book sale. I'd be really bummed if I'd spent money on it.

I throughly enjoyed this book. It’s all I can say when I can’t put a book down. I got premonitions at times but never put it totally together til I was closer to the end. But I still was looking for another culprit.

I loved this serial novel. I enjoyed spending time in Blackstone. The pages felt as if they turned themselves and it was hard to put the book down.

I really enjoyed it. The character's and setting of the town was strong. reminiscent of King.
I loved the old school feel of it.
My only critique would be that it was a little predictable.
Overall a good read.

Saul has used the serialisation of small novellas with one underlying story to facilitate the publishing of a series of short stories. Ideas that wouldn't serve as a standalone book don't combine to create one novel either and although they are all centred around the effects of items from an evil asylum, this is still a collection of short stories. Marketed as such readers would have a greater understanding of The Blackstone Chronicles, however due to the episodic nature this lacks the usual Saul tension and sense of the macabre. Compared to Saul's usual standard this feels oddly lacking.

John Saul was one of the first horror authors I have ever read, for which he has earned a sentimental value and a whole shelf of my bookcase. I've stopped reading him long ago, but nevertheless collected most of his books. I picked up Blackstone Chronicles just to see how I'd enjoy his work now all these years later and I found out that it just doesn't rate that high anymore (much to my disappointment), although it is very interesting to see how my tastes have changed and matured. After a decade of Masterton, Clark, Ketchum, Lee, Laymon, Clegg, Lebbon , Pinbourough, Kenyon, etc. Saul reads boring bland, pedestrian, cardboard like and predictable. This book at the time was a New York Times bestseller, so I guess majority will read horror so long as it's bland enough, but they'll walk away having no idea of the real potential greatness of the genre. It's not a terrible book, it reads very fast, it's just so incredibly blah. There are characters without characters development, the culprit (the great reveal in the end presumably) is made so blatantly obvious throughout the book, I thought it was a set up, but no, that was actually him. Some descriptions and histories are a bit of fun, but it never goes too far, as if constantly kept through a conscientious effort at a friendly rating. So, basically this would be ok to read if you like your horror very tame and your suspense predictable or if you're just discovering horror or if you're very young and impressionable and this is the next step from R.L. Stine books. I'm always gonna have a soft spot in my heart for the author who turned me on to modern horror, but I don't know if I'm gonna necessarily be reading much more of him given options.

mildly interesting story but a bit trite. extremely male writing. if u love stephen king u would probably like this

Wasn't a fan of John Saul until I cracked this time of generational terror....then i had to read almost everything he wrote that was similar in tone to this series.
When a condemned asylum is the centerpiece of your town, nothing good can come of it....and nothing good does.
I don't want to say anymore about it without giving things away but if you.love supernatural and psychological reads,you should at least give it a try.

Not worth the time

It was contrived and the plot tried too hard to fit what the author wanted out of it. It didn’t flow like real life and seemed unbelievable, not scary and not mysterious. Boring in some places.

I have to say...as for somebody who clearly knows Stephen King, the writing styles are quite similar, and while not quite paranormal, this serial almost has a paranormal feel to it. I need to read more John Saul after this at some point, I think.

I'm normally a John Saul fan but this one was (in my opinion), not up to par. Very slow and boring with a plot that you've probably read 20 times previously.

I was fortunate that in 1997 this series started off as one book before they broke it up into several books. However, this book scared the crap out of me. I enjoyed every frightening moment. A great writer to spook your imagination.