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Blackstone Chronicles #6

Asylum

john saul

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Editor Oliver Metcalf has written a provocative article on the Asylum that implies there may be a curse on the town. The community is outraged, charging him with inflaming hysteria. More urgent is the mysterious disappearance of Rebecca Morrison. As Blackstone rallies to find the missing woman, a mysterious package arrives on Harvey Connally’s front porch. The contents hold the ultimate, grisly key to the horrors of the Asylum. Now, at last, Oliver must confront the gruesome truth of the past—one that threatens to crush all the inhabitants of Blackstone in one final grip of terror…

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1,1997
Series
Blackstone Chronicles

This edition

Format
128 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published
May 28, 1997 by Fawcett
ISBN
9780449227947
ASIN
0449227944
Language
English

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About the author

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john saul

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John Saul grew up in Whittier California where he graduated from Whittier High School in 1959. He attended several colleges—Antioch, in Ohio, Cerritos, in Norwalk, California, Montana State University and San Francisco State College, variously majoring in anthropology, liberal arts, and theater, but never obtaining a degree.
After leaving college, he decided the best thing for a college dropout to do was become a writer, and spent the next fifteen years working in various jobs while attempting to write a book someone would want to publish. Should anyone ever want to write a novel concerning the car-rental industry or the travails of temporary typists, John can provide excellent background material.

Those years garnered him a nice collection of unpublished manuscripts, but not a lot of money. Eventually he found an agent in New York, who spent several years sending his manuscripts around, and trying to make the rejection slips sound hopeful. Then, in 1976, one of his manuscripts reached Dell, who didn't want to buy it, but asked if he'd be interested in writing a psychological thriller. He put together an outline, and crossed his fingers.

At that point, things started getting bizarre. His agent decided the outline had all the makings of a best-seller, and so did Dell. Gambling on a first novel by an unknown author, they backed the book with television advertising (one of the first times a paperback original was promoted on television) and the gamble paid off. Within a month Suffer the Children appeared on all the best-seller lists in the country and made the #1 spot in Canada. Subsequently all 32 of his books, have made all the best-seller lists and have been published world wide. Though many of his books were published by Bantam/Doubleday/Dell his last fourteen books have been published by Ballantine/Fawcett/Columbine.

In addition to his work as novelist, John is also interested in the theater. He has acted, and as a playwright has had several one-act plays produced in Los Angeles and Seattle, and two optioned in New York. One of his novels was produced by Gerber Productions Company and M.G.M. as a C.B.S. movie and currently one of his novels is in development.

John served on the Expansion Arts Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is actively involved with the development of other writers, and is a lecturer at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference and the Maui Writers Conference and received the Life Time Achievement Award from the Northwest Writers Conference. John is also a trustee and Vice President of The Chester Woodruff Foundation (New York), a philanthropic organization.

John lives part-time in the Pacific Northwest, both in Seattle and in the San Juan Islands. He also maintains a residence on the Big Island of Hawaii. He currently enjoys motor homing, travel and golf. He is an avid reader, bridge player, golfer and loves to cook.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4.2 / 5.0, 43 votes)
5 stars
21(49%)
4 stars
10(23%)
3 stars
12(28%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
43 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
pospmdemicanon16
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Write a review...after reading all 6 of these books- i know the author thinks he's ties everything up nice and neat but i don't. i think the ending was pathetic, it was a wimpy ending. instead of actually coming up with an ending he found an easy way out. of course this ending also leaves room in case he wants to write more books for this series but i don't think thats going to happen i thik he was tired of writing them and instead of cleaning things up and tying off loose ends he preferred to leave them out there dangling in the wind so readers can think whatever they want to and draw their own conclusions. some people may like hat but idon't.
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kansas778
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Nope. Predicted the big twist way back. There is definite otherworldly component, but I feel like it should either it needs to be stronger or just written better. I feel like I was told a lot of things that some addition descriptions would have been nice. I have no feeling for the town or any of the people. None. They didn't have personalities except for the "romantic" couple and quite frankly, their courtship is creepy.
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thefuzzmonster
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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All in all a good story. It worked well as a serial, not quite as good as The Green Mile but that’s to be expected. King is King. I might have to revisit some old John Saul books again since this did remind me of my early days as a teen reader.
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distortiondear
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Hmmm...not the ending I expected, nor was it realistic enough to be one I might have envisioned. Instead of tying up loose ends and perhaps leaving a few well chosen ones to the imagination and a potential sequel, this series seemed to be pulled and tugged to an end through contrivance and artifice. But having enjoyed the series up to this point, loving both this format and the other John Saul books I've read, I gave it a generous three stars. Overall, I would recommend the Blackstone books to those who are not insistent on tight wrap-ups and accuracy of detail, but who are out for a quick, enjoyable spin around a book in serial format with a few chilling thrills along the way. If you expect more, you'll be disappointed.
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asi
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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I finally completed reading the Blackstone Chronicles by John Saul. Holy crap! That was a great serial!

Overlooking the quaint little town of Blackstone sits an abandoned mental asylum. Relics of the horrors that occurred within its walls are mysteriously given to six of the town's residents, whose families all had ties to the asylum. These gifts will push the town to the brink of madness, and some people over the edge into the abyss.

I have been a Saul fan for over 20 years, and this may well be his masterpiece.
My rating: 4.75/5 stars
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FallenAngel18
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Well that was unexpected.

The first four books were unflinchingly vicious, redolent of insanity and death. They were gripping and thrilling, proceeding straight to the action with nary a pause for breath. All beef, zero fat.

The fifth was more or less the same. Though it was evidently more muted, the consequences of the events were still horrifying enough.

This one, the final book in the series, was sadly underwhelming. It didn't feel as taut and vibrant as the other novellas though in some scenes it can be just as menacing. I was expecting fireworks and brimstone, an opus that would top all the brutalities and psychoses that the earlier books revelled in - a fitting climax to such a promising series. I shan't say it was a dud, but I think it could have been so much more. Maybe the author ran out of steam?

I did like the resolution somewhat, but I find a few of the details to be unsatisfying. What about the families that suffered - will they ever get the justice that they deserved? Also - I guess the opprobium of the town is now going to shift to poor Uncle Harvey? He is a decent man who tried to do his best by Oliver, but I guess to save the hero's name his own would just have to live in wholly undeserved eternal infamy. It's also strange how the local gossipmonger holds the full reverence of the town, as shown in the epilogue's pivotal scene.

Anyway, I did enjoy it, and I can find myself re-reading the entire thing in the future. The events near the end left the door open for a sequel and the author did say that he'd entertain writing one if the inspiration strikes him. I would definitely have grabbed that too, but the lack of any book in sight two decades after its publication means that the story might have ended for good.

The Blackstone Chronicles has been one helluva satisfying ride, but if I'll rate this book by its lonesome, I'll give it 6/10 or 3 unforgettably crazy stars out of 5.
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