The book was initially very hard to put down but it started to taper off towards the final few chapters that seemed very rushed.

I don't know where to start. So much wrong with this book. Holes in the plot line. People going missing in a tiny town, kids missing, and no one notices??? How the author even came up with the idea for this seriously twisted book is beyond me. I kept reading, hoping it would somehow make sense or get better, but it just kept getting worse with the horror and ridiculousness of it and so many things that just don't make sense!!! I can usually find at least one nice thing to say about a book but I just can't with this one. Just awful.

I knew from the start what I was getting myself into, but I was in the mood for some cheap thrills.

What could have been a terrifying tale of nature gone wrong ends up being just another dull John Saul novel. An ecological horror, The Homing centers on a small town plagued by two evils – a serial killer who likes to kill his victims using insects and a malevolent swarm-like entity that infests the town’s teenagers and controls their minds to ensure the perpetuation of their parasitic beings. As the body count rises, the townspeople must confront the horrifying truth and prepare for the final confrontation with such evil.

I didn’t care for any of the characters, except maybe the dog. They are one-dimensional, feeling more like stereotypes than actual people and always making the worst decisions – the usual “why call the police when you can go straight to the serial killer’s house without telling anyone where you went?!”. The plot is predictable and too repetitive, making it a dull reading. The fact that the dialogue is also subpar doesn’t help too much.

It’s not as bad as other horror novels I’ve read (Graham Masterton’s The Djinn, Alan Dean Foster’s Aliens, James Herbert’s The Rats or Jay Anson’s The Amityville Horror) but it could have been much better. I think the novel would have been significantly better if the author had stuck with just the serial killer, without going into the parasitic life form. It was a bit too overwhelming, and the serial killer was creepy enough to carry the story on his own. * ½ stars.

Haunting

This story is pretty creepy. Insects are not my favorite thing but John Saul turns them into ultimate killers. I found it very interesting and haunting the way he gradually had humming as the sound constantly heard. That was so creepy. I love his characters and how teens are usually the focus of danger. Kept me riveted from start to finish.

more like a movie than a book - a bad movie

i want the part of my life back that I spent on this book. seriously bad. no depth. sensationalistic. bad.

The worst John Saul book I've read. Can't believe. Even finished it.

This book is very special to me because John Saul was my first experience with a horror novel. The Homing is one of the first John Saul books I read, which I found when the bookmobile would visit my town once a month. I would stay up late reading these books and then be so scared that it was hard to sleep. I have had fond memories of this novel over the years and I'm happy to be able to re-read it. I remembered many of the scenes and I had a lot of fun.

The most annoying thing to me in the writing was the use of the redundant phrases "she, herself" and "he, himself". I had previously rated The Homing five amazing stars based on my first memories. I have dropped the rating to 4 stars. John Saul has a special place in my reading life. He is a great and kind man, who has always appreciated his fans. I hope he will still write some more in the future. The last novel he published was The House of Reckoning in 2009.

If you do not like bugs or the thought of swarms of bugs, do not read this book. The only reason I finished this book, is because once I am committed to something I see it through. This book was disturbing on so many levels.

Not entirely sure why but this book creeped me out THOROUGHLY. Shivers and shudders. Perfect for the genre!

That one time Sarah McLaughlin ate too many A&W cheeseburgers and got a tummy ache.

Chilling read about a widow (Karen Spellman) who moves from Los Angeles back to her old, small home town when she remarries a farmer. Her children, (sixteen-year-old Julie and nine-year-old Molly) and other children, get stung by bees, with severe reactions that seem to change some of them. Especially Julie. A shady scientist (Carl Henderson) gives them shots (an antivenin) that the children say make them feel better, but they don’t. Why are the children lying, and suddenly disappearing? What is Carl up to in his isolated home? Where are all the bees coming from? There is a lot more to this book, but I don’t want to give anything away. I really enjoyed it. It was very strange and creepy, especially with the bees, ants, and other insects. I really hated some of the characters and I couldn’t wait for them to get what was coming to them. Another fine horror read by John Saul.

I am honestly not sure what I just read. It was certainly an interesting story line. I don’t think I’ve ever read anything even closely similar to this. This author is definitely unique in his work. If you are looking for something different this is definitely the book to read