90’s volcano horror/sci fi. Great concept, I wish it was a better book.

john saul is turning out to be a bit hit and miss for me, but this story was a good read. the ending was slightly dissapointing which it seems is a regular theme for john saul in the books ive read so far (except shadows) but all the same closes the story satisfactorily.

the cover and title are a little misleading, in that this is more a medical/sci fi thriller rather than a horror but it still packs a punch.

interesting concept and likeable characters keep the momentum and result in an entertaining read.

as with most of john sauls books, hes not afraid to kill off characters/children so not one if you are sensitive to younger people in peril (in this case teens)

So creepy. . . but in a good way. lol! Saul at his best.

I enjoyed this book for the most part. I didn't become really invested and intrigued by the story until about half way through however. I loved the ending where everything convulges and I loved the idea behind the experiments as well as the overall message of the book. I wish there had been a little more suspense and hook though.

Great book! John Saul will always be one of my favorite authors. This book proves the ocean, volcanoes and science really can be scary!

Great story!

I was remembering how much John Saul scared me when I first started reading him as a teen. I decided to relive the past and check out a John Saul book from the library.

The Presence is more of a science fiction book, with an element of horror. I thought it was a unique idea and the book was very interesting from start to finish. It was not particularly scary, but was very suspenseful. The ending wrapped things up a little too conveniently for my liking, but it was still a very enjoyable book. This is now one of my favorite John Saul books.

Katherine Sundquist and her son move to Hawaii when she is offered a lucrative job with a research firm run by billionaire Takeo Yoshirhara. Her son Matthew is having a hard time coping with the move until he is befriended by a group of kids at track tryouts at his new school. The group of boys decide to go for a night dive in an active volcano's lava field near their homes. They break into a dive shop and "borrow" tanks to use for the dive and proceed to the beach. As they dive, they begin to have trouble with their tanks and call off the dive early. One of the boys dies that night and then one, by one, the others disappear or die. Matthew is the only one left and his mother has to investigate the cause....she has to save Matthew. This book was OK - no real surprises or changes in the usual story line.... evil scientist, mother and son, secret experiments, etc. etc.

This was my first time reading a John Saul book. I can officially say that I will be getting more of his work. I did really enjoy how he wrote. He is a bit to descriptive for my taste, however as a Stephen King fan that is something I can overlook. John Saul was able to make me feel an attachment to the characters and his story was interesting. I gave the book three stars because there was a couple of things I did not enjoy. I did like overall how he wrapped up the story, but there was still a little to be desired. I also did not like how a couple of characters were killed. I won’t say who they were, but you became attached enough that I felt they deserved a better written death. He put so much time into you as a reader getting to know them and then the way he wrote their death was more suited to less impactful characters. That was why I could not give the book four stars. I will say it is definitely worth a read because it is a good fast paced book.

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What if humans were the real aliens

My first Saul novel.

Two takeaways:

1. Villain's motives never explained.

2. Ending seemed too rushed.

This book starts out like a good mystery in a great place MAUI. The story continues to get more weird the longer it goes on. Not one of my favorites