**3.5**

Wow this was an incredible read! The story of Diane and Edna Amber and the “haunted” mine and cave. Saul kept me questioning who was bad; Diane or her mother… absolutely chilling and it was hard to put down because I was so riveted

Thriller all the way through. Well written and takes several turns to the final surprising ending. The epilogue adds even more mystery to the story, sound like there should be a sequel.

Another solid horror thriller from John Saul. 1981's "When the Wind Blows", his fifth book (and the seventh Saul I've read) takes place in the fictitious mining town of Amberton somewhere in the Rockies. All the familiar Saul tropes are in this one: tragic family past, supernatural legends (this one of Native American origin), creepy kids in peril, mental illness, and plenty of murder going on. Feels especially similar to Saul's third novel, "Cry for the Strangers", which uses the storms instead of the wind blowing as its catalyst for the evil that ensues, causing similar short term memory loss in its homicidal crazies. Saul's tried and true formula for putting together a story always works well for me, despite his writing style not being the most literary. I equate it to film: who wants to watch "Ghandi" - albeit a cinematic masterpiece - when you're in the mood for the thrilling and fun "Raiders of the Lost Ark"? Once again, Saul is all about building that tension, revealing a little at a time, and has some particularly effective scenes of cruelty, though not as arresting as some of his other books I've read. Since this one also has the theme of a single parent/grandparent sheltering their children, particularly involving an attic, I'm willing to bet John Saul was heavily influenced by V. C. Andrews 1979 debut best-seller "Flowers in the Attic" which has similar themes. After all, Saul started his horror career by being asked by his agent to write a Stephen King style horror story as his debut, and the brilliant 1977 novel Suffer the Children was born. The embattled relationship between mother and daughter in "When The Wind Blows" is grating at times, particularly the dialogue and the wild swings in mood, but that helps reflect both characters extreme mental states, also filling it with creepy dark humor that is part of its charm. I'm now going to read V. C. Andrews "Flowers in the Attic" to see what all the fuss was about. I kinda know that twist too, but I need to read Saul's source for "When the Wind Blows". Then I'll likely continue my John Saul journey with 1982's "The God Project", his next novel.

Un libro en su mayoría muy entretenido y disfrutable, sin embargo algunas veces muy pesado, nos relata la vida de los Amber y su mina de carbón, empezando en 1910 el relato nos cuentan cómo es que mientras estaban haciendo excavaciones en la cueva poco a poco empieza a inundarse hasta terminar atrapando y matando a muchos de los trabajadores de la mina así como al mismo dueño el señor Amber, al mismo tiempo en la casa de los Amber nace Diana, todos estos sucesos pasan cuando el viento sopla y un tenue lloriqueo de niños se escucha de fondo, despues de eso pasan más de 50 años para que Edna Amber, madre de Diana decide reabrir la mina, aquí es donde realmente comienza la historia, ya que nuevas muertes han de suceder, siendo muy relevantes personajes como Christie Lyons, la familia Crowley, Dan Gurley, Esperanza Rodríguez y más, en general es una historia buena y entretenida.

I like John Saul, but I don't like that he often kills off all the best characters.

One of the best among Saul's collection.

I read this because it was recommended for Stephen King fans and I was sooo let down by this! The writing was poor, the plot was slow and boring, the characters were obnoxious and unappealing and I was so bored that I dumped it after a handful of chapters. I didn't feel there was any suspense or tension and I was left wondering 'when is something interesting going to happen?'. Not one I'd recommend.

Well, John Saul has certainly created some crazy characters in this one. a disturbing tale of mother/child relationships gone horribly wrong.

Eek!! Eww!!! I was reading these when I was 9?? 8?? 10??? The sexuality is SO DISGUSTING, how the hell did my tiny mind process this stuff, yikes.

Crazy Edna Ambers doesn't want her daughter Diana to keep orphan Christie. And maybe she's right because when the wind blows bad things happen. If you like reading about dead baby ghosts, this is entertaining and eerie. But don't get too attached to the characters...John Saul likes murdering characters and no one is safe when the wind blows

This book took me a few chapters to get used to the writing style and what was actually happening in the book. I was confused throughout but kept reading because I wanted to know if it was supernatural or just about a crazy town. I still don’t have my answer. This was my frost and last book of this author.