Makes you never want to be a "stranger".

good

this book is amazing one of my favorite john books, i used to only read him and this is one of his most captivating reads!!

I loved John Saul in highschool and I am really enjoying rereading his books! Well written and suspenseful

It's October and that means it time for a few horror novels; which is the reason I picked this one up. I've read a couple of other John Saul novels in the past and, though they aren't scary, they leave a good impression and give off just a bit of creepiness. This one fell flat in every sense. What made it even worse were the many continuity/plot/character holes throughout the story. Characters saying or thinking one thing (from their point of view) and then later doing the exact opposite. It was disappointing to say the least. Read some of his others and just skip this one.

Bueno, este es sin duda un libro con muchos altibajos. Hay partes que funcionan; la atmósfera está muy bien lograda y las referencias a antiguas leyendas aumenta la sensación de inquietud. Particularmente la primera parte, que es la que me gustó más.

Pero los personajes están poco desarrollados, excepto por Whalen que me parece mucho más interesante y complejo que los protagonistas. Y si, podías ver casi desde el principio que él era el culpable, a pesar de las leyendas indias y demás red herrings

No sé, creo que esta historia hubiera funcionado mucho mejor si hubiera sido más corta, con menos repeticiones y diálogos que no aportaban demasiado a la trama.

Pero a pesar de todo es una lectura decente, con un final decepcionante :/

As this being the 4th book in my Horror Challenge I put upon myself for my YouTube channel AreYouIntoHorror? which is to re read all of john Saul's books in order of publication, well this is one that I had not read in over 30 plus years. That being, it was creepier now than when i originally read it in 1979. Saul grabs you jn to Cry with a prologue as in slot of his books, then forces you to flip these pages as fast as possible to unlock the horrors and mystery of why this small town in Washington state, called Clark's Harbor does not like or accept any new strangers to come into it. My memory of the gruesome story and its murders was all brought back anew and i thoroughly enjoyed this one and rated it a strong 4 stars, however, this could have had more ghosts scenes involving little Missy and her 12 year old Brother Robbie.....this was where it really came up and bit you in the ass.

Brad Randall and his wife Elaine (from Seattle) decide to live in Clark's Harbor (Washington) for a year. Brad is a psychiatrist who is writing a book and the small coastal town seems like the perfect place to do it, away from all the distractions back home. But soon they find Clark's Harbor isn't as lovely as it seems. The townspeople aren't very friendly towards strangers. And now the strangers are dying in violent, mysterious ways...

I really enjoyed this book. I liked the Randall's neighbors (Glen and Rebecca Palmer) and their story concerning their nine-year-old son Robby who suffered from hyperkinesis (whose condition miraculously improved after moving to Clark's Harbor). I disliked Police Chief Harney Whalen. But I liked Deputy Chip Connor who was kind to the Palmers. I found the story of Sod Beach (aka Sands Of Death) to be totally creepy.

This was a fast and easy read. I was always curious to see what was going to happen next. I liked the setting and atmosphere of the coastal town.

Another captivating read by John Saul.

This is one of the best writers!

I remembered reading this in my youth and enjoying it, but find it doesn’t measure up as an adult. John Saul was a much different type of writer than King and Koontz, his books fashioned on creepiness rather than horror. Cry for the Strangers is broken up into three parts — Book One, Book Two, Book Three — and therein lies much of the problem with this story about a fictional seaside town called Clark’s Harbor and the four people who have moved there and find it not welcoming to strangers.

Book One is the best portion, John Saul doing a wonderful job of setting everything up, ratcheting up the creepiness as old legends and some mysterious deaths come into play, as do the townspeople. The husband wants to write a book about biorhythms and try to figure out why young Robbie, a former patient and son of the second couple, has so improved since moving to this unwelcoming town. It’s not a gripping, edge of your seat kind of story, but you’re hooked, willing to keep turning pages to discover what’s happening in Clark’s Harbor. But then comes Book Two.

In the second section, we follow around the unlikable sheriff, while the main two protagonists return to pack for the big move, placing them off-stage. It was while they were off-stage in part two that it came to me what was wrong with this story, which I’ll get to in a bit.

Book Three is better, as the main couple return. While there is some excitement, the ending, rather than being creepy, sort of ruins it for this reader. This same ending would have worked well if this had been a short story — perhaps even a novelette or novella — and that’s what is wrong with this book. This is so long, and the reader has so much invested, that we expect more than we get, and certainly not that final scene.

Cry for the Strangers is a terrific short story which has been padded into a bloated novel. It isn’t that the idea, the premise, isn’t good, it’s that it’s a thick rubber band stretched until the elasticity barely holds. This was an early effort from Saul, but most of his books follow this same kind of pattern. I loved this as a teenager, thinking it was very creepy. But as an adult, I found the narrative stretched so far that it muted the creepiness, highlighting the book’s bloated length. Saul is a good writer, but I can’t help feeling this story would have made a wonderful, perhaps even memorable, read had it not been padded. Trimming down and then combining parts one and three, and losing part two entirely, would have made this a fantastic read!

I wouldn’t discourage anyone from giving this book a read, since I often have the same issues with King and Koontz (whom I prefer). Tastes vary and you might like this book more than I did. I certainly didn’t dislike it, but I ruined a fond teenage memory by revisiting this book. Maybe the old saying is true, that you just can’t go home again…

3.5 stars

I've really enjoyed reading John Saul. I remember reading a book or two when I was younger and enjoyed it then as well. I gave it four stars only because I enjoy more extreme books today and more complex stories. The story was great but I did find it a little long for the context.