Creeped me out as a kid. One Saul Bellows was plenty!

Just okay. Kind of repetitive. Kind of predictable. Could have been a short story.

This book...like so many of Mr. Sauks's books, I had serious issues with the endings. I really liked the book up until that point, but the endsing annoys me, and it didn't actually make that much sense.

Because the sherriff says how his grandparents moved there from away and their son married a half-Indian girl. So, ok, fine. But when he's haunted by the voice of his grandmother, it's all about these Native American stories. Yet it's clear that that grandmother hadn't been Native at all. So why would that grandmother be connected to any Native American story?

Plus, it doesn't actually make much sense - his grandparents were from away.

Well, mostly, I was just irritated by the ending.

This was ok. It felt like it needed more work though, the ending was a bit lame, felt a bit like one of those irritating lead-ins to a next book in a series.
I was given a few books by this author by a neighbour, I quite liked them but reading them in quick succession, I can't help feeling they are a tad 'Nora Roberts', as in the author has a formula and runs with it. Kids, dead pets and weather carrying bad vibes are his thing apparently.

Well. I love John Saul but this was just okay. I loved the storyline but the novel was just really slow. I think it could have been a little bit better. But it still doesnt change the fact that he is one of my favorite authors. But this one I will defintely havent pass on.

Una obra menor del gran John Saul, esta su estilo, sus ingeniosos argumentos y su gran creación de personajes. Pero esta vez no le salió tan redondo, por momentos tengo la sensación que le costó cerrar la historia, darle una forma más dinámica y creíble.
Pero al fanático de Saul no lo va a decepcionar porque como dije todos sus ingredientes están, solo creo que la mezcla final le quedo con poco gusto.
Spoiler: Reconozco que engaña, parece una historia de muertes por algo sobrenatural, y termina siendo una obra sobre un asesino serial.

There are a bunch of authors of these type of psych horror that I read growing up. I called them popcorn books. The same thrill as watching a horror movie. I eventually stopped reading them because they were somewhat formulaic. They were fun but I wanted to be surprised.

Rereading them as an adult, they are still fun. I have a few more that I am reading but I think this is just a nostalgia phase.

On my trip home from Oklahoma I read this on Audible Audiobook for my many hours of driving.
I enjoyed this book and may re-read it with no interruptions. Like looking for deer and critters.
I do like a good John Saul book! :)

I have read quite a few Saul novels over the years, but I was hoping that an early novel (this was first published in 1979) of his would be different from his usual fare. Alas, no. Saul seems to have discovered his formula quite early-- a young family with a few young kids moves to a new, small town and bad things start to happen. The source of the bad things does vary, albeit they usually have some supernatural aspect to them. Take this formula, rinse and repeat, and you have the gist of many if not all of Saul's novels.

So, here the small town is Clark's Harbor, a small, largely fishing town on the Washington coast. In this case, we have Glen and Rebecca Palmer, along with their two kids, Missy aged 7 and Robby, a few years older. Robby has some sort of mental dysfunction that makes him fidgety all the time and also destructive. One day the Palmers were taking a vacation and when they got to the small town of Clark's Harbor, Robby seemed to suddenly be ok. When they left, as soon as they got away Robby resorted to his old self. The Palmers decide that they will relocate to Clark's Harbor and buy a run down shack by Sod beach. Glen starts to renovate an old building in town to make it an art gallery, as he paints and his wife is a potter.

Along the way, we are introduced to more 'strangers' in Clark's Harbor, usually for them to meet some strange death, which always happens during the area's sudden violent storms. What is causing the deaths? Does this have something to do with an old Indian legend about the place? Sod beach is really "Sands of Death" as the natives called it, and reportedly, they used to bury strangers in the sand with their head just above ground and let the tide kill them. Can you say Creepshow? In any case, suspicion is focused by some of the new 'strangers' that the town sheriff may be up to something; he hates strangers and warns them in a more than neurotic way that if they stay there will be 'trouble'; seems par for the course as they die right and left.

So, a decent read by Saul, and if you have not read enough of his books to be aware of his formula, you may get more out of this than I did. 2 rinse and repeat stars.

Predictable Ending.

This book ended exactly as I thought it would. But it kept my interest well enough throughout. Not the best John Saul

John Saul's books written in the 1970's and 1980's before every one has cell phones and home computers. His stories are of two types: vengeful spirits and unethical scientists. The stories can be disturbing but keep you waiting to see what happens next.

savage