A good eerie tale about obsession and pure evil. A young woman takes in her toxic mother who refuses to believe that her favorite daughter the oldest child is dead. So she sets out to make life miserable. What I loved was the mystery of what happened to Cynthia and what kind of person she really was. This was another great classic of John Saul!

I read a few John Saul books back when I was in high school and was really impressed. That being said, I'm not sure why I only read those scant few. I found this copy of Nightshade at a local thrift store and figured I'd dive back in and see if I still liked his writing.

Nightshade is the story of rival sisters. One is Mother's little darling, the other can do nothing right. Unfortunately for dear old Mom, her favorite, Cynthia, dies suddenly and Mom takes all that hate and heartbreak out on the younger, remaining sibling, Joan. Joan goes on to get married and raise a son. Mother is rewarded with dementia brought on by Alzheimer's. Her illness causes her to see and converse with her dead daughter - or does it? Some things aren't at all what they appear to be and as the story goes the plots spirals deeper into Joan's dark and trouble childhood and the relationship she had with both her mother and her sister.

Nightshade is certainly dark, but there were a few things that just didn't click or make sense to me. It was somewhat predictable and on three occasions Saul used the almost exact same wording to describe a scene. The characters felt rather wishy-washy. I get where Saul was trying to go with them, but in the end, I couldn't quite make that leap of having any emotional attachment to them as a whole. What happens is horrendous and tragic, but I wasn't deeply entrenched in their situation enough to shed a single tear or even gasp or anything. Nor do I at all understand why the relationship between Joan's son and his aunt was so bizarre.

I didn't completely hate the book, mind you. I did want to know what happened and how it all resolved. I just felt a little let down that it was so predictable and unbelievable in the end.

Not great but it did keep me reading late into the night...

A very good and scary book from John Saul. Difficult to put down because you wanted to find out the twisted plot. Great development of the caricatures thought out the novel. Enjoy.

OMG!! This book could so be a movie!! John Saul has done it again, the suspense and twists are amazing!!

This book sucks! Did not expect it from John. What a disappointment! It's never a good sign when reading a book makes you want to punch the main character lol but it is what it is..I've enjoyed few other books by this author so hopefully, there'll be better ones in the future

It was ok. A little too predictable, though.

So this book isn't that good but I can't stop reading it why is that? I have this psycho thing where I have to read every book I start. I know it's crazy. It makes me read some books I really hate sometimes. This book isn't' one of them though. He wrote a book called homecoming that's good though. Yeah, so I decided I hate this book.

This book is the equivalent of gas station pizza.
It looks alright on the outside, but when you take a bite you realize that you've made a huge mistake.
But you keep on eating it. Partly because you payed for it already and partly because you can't believe it tastes so bad.
I mean, really. This book is just so disgusting. I am all for disgusting, when it has a purpose.
Warning:
This book contains fairly disturbing incest. It is my opinion that Mr. Saul only added incest for the shock value.

ohn Saul’s first published novel in 1977 was Suffer the Children and it immediately became a best seller. He has since written 32 horror novels and he is often been compared to Dean Koontz. His book Nightshade begins with fifteen year Matthew Moore who seems to have the perfect life. He has a loving family and lives in a beautiful home in New Hampshire. Things begin to crumble when his grandmother Emily moves in who is stricken with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Emily’s daughter, Matthew’s aunt Cynthia has died and the elderly woman has a fixation with the deceased. She even recreates Cynthia’s bedroom in the family home Soon members of Matthew’s family begin having terrifying dreams of Cynthia. Matthew begins to smell Cynthia’s perfume in the house. Then deaths begin happening and Matthew becomes a brooding loner. Is Matt the killer? Is Cynthia’s ghost possessing him or someone else and killing innocents? The book will not reveal this secret until the very end.

The novel like most of Saul’s works will keep the reader guessing until the very end as to the true culprit of the murders. The characters are well written and Saul creates a brooding, dark atmosphere in the novel. He makes the transformation of the very likable and personable Michael into a brooding loner very vivid and will have the reader truly routing for him to escape his plight. The deaths can be pretty bloody and descriptive. The novel does drag at certain points but compensates for this with its building tension and descriptive passages and scenes. Saul’s narrative is pretty straightforward and his plots are not overly complex as in many of Stephen King's and Dean Koontz's novels. Because of the slight sluggishness of the novel I give this book four out of five stars.

Availability: Book
Rating: **** Stars (I really liked it)
Reviewer: Van, Reference Librarian

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GENRE: Adult Books for Young Adults; Horror
PACE: Fast-Paced
STORYLINE: Plot-Driven
TONE: Atmospheric; Creepy
LOCATION: New Hampshire
SUBJECT: Aunts; Change; Cruelty in Women; Family Secrets; Fifteen Year Old Boys; Grandmothers; Mothers & Sons; Teenage Boys

The story centers on a family (literally) haunted by a dead family member. This was my first novel by Saul, and given that what stopped me reading was the clunky style, above all, I imagine it will be my last. I hated Saul's way with point of view. A true, good omniscient point of view needs a strong voice and masterful style, or it comes across as just sloppy head-hopping, which is what we have here, as well as frequent rhetorical questions and other cheesy flourishes and melodramatic prose. There are far too many really well-written and gripping horror novels out there to waste your time on this one.

John Saul's haunting novel "Nightshade" had me staying up past my bedtime as I was quite engrossed in it. Horrors from a childhood better left forgotten reemerge when Matt's grandmother moves in. Plagued with dementia, the old lady is convinced her dead daughter Cynthia has come home - much to little sister Joan's dismay.

When a tragedy rocks the family, Matt's life is turned upside down and soon gets worse. People start to go missing and Aunt Cynthia starts visiting Matt leaving behind her scent of Nightshade.
With Matt suspected of murder, grandma missing and Joan battling her ghostly sister, long buried secrets are thrown in the spotlight and reach a bloody terrifying climax.