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3.25 stars, rounding down. This was my second John Saul book and I think the first one I read - The God Project - was a little better than this one. The God Project had a more intriguing mystery that unfurled itself over the course of the 300 or so pages, whereas the basic elements of this one you kind-of had mostly figured out in the first few chapters. The first half of Creature was a bit slow and padded out, and the second half the pacing picks up and is generally better.
If Dean Koontz is the poor-man's Stephen King then maybe Saul is the poor-man's Koontz. Saul's writing is pretty simplistic to the point where you feel like you're reading a YA novel, and you can get through his books in a day or maybe a couple of days at most. There's just more of a weighty feel to the prose of King or a Robert McCammon, and certainly more so if you delve back into classic horror like Shirley Jackson. I feel like Saul is a good place to start for a younger person maybe around 13 or 14 who's taking their first dip into full-on novels originally written for adults. They're not bad these John Saul novels, but they float away into the ether like cotton candy. I think from here on out with Saul I need to stick to what people say are his best work and not just read one of his based on a random goodreads algorithmic recommendation which is how I read this one. Most people say he really only has maybe 4 or 5 truly "good" books worthy of 4+ stars: Suffer The Children, Shadows, and maybe the Blackstone Chronicles, and maybe one or two more. I think I'll limit further reading of this author to these so-called "best of" his books, keeping in mind that "best of" is a relative term in this case.
Random observations on "Creature": As I recall, the whole "roid rage" phenomena hit the mainstream media coverage big time in the mid to late 80s, so this obviously inspired Saul for this story. Also, I'm guessing Saul isn't a big fan of Genesis drummer Phil Collins? He names one of the more unsavory characters in the novel, the high-school head football coach, by that name. Too funny...
If Dean Koontz is the poor-man's Stephen King then maybe Saul is the poor-man's Koontz. Saul's writing is pretty simplistic to the point where you feel like you're reading a YA novel, and you can get through his books in a day or maybe a couple of days at most. There's just more of a weighty feel to the prose of King or a Robert McCammon, and certainly more so if you delve back into classic horror like Shirley Jackson. I feel like Saul is a good place to start for a younger person maybe around 13 or 14 who's taking their first dip into full-on novels originally written for adults. They're not bad these John Saul novels, but they float away into the ether like cotton candy. I think from here on out with Saul I need to stick to what people say are his best work and not just read one of his based on a random goodreads algorithmic recommendation which is how I read this one. Most people say he really only has maybe 4 or 5 truly "good" books worthy of 4+ stars: Suffer The Children, Shadows, and maybe the Blackstone Chronicles, and maybe one or two more. I think I'll limit further reading of this author to these so-called "best of" his books, keeping in mind that "best of" is a relative term in this case.
Random observations on "Creature": As I recall, the whole "roid rage" phenomena hit the mainstream media coverage big time in the mid to late 80s, so this obviously inspired Saul for this story. Also, I'm guessing Saul isn't a big fan of Genesis drummer Phil Collins? He names one of the more unsavory characters in the novel, the high-school head football coach, by that name. Too funny...
