The first book that I had picked up of John Saul was "The Right hand of Evil".It was very dark book and it impressed me.So I thought let's go back to from where Johhn Saul started it all.And thats how a picked up a copy of "Suffer the Children".
After reading the book it left me totally numbed. There are just no words to decribe the emotional roller coaster ride that this book took me on.
The best part of this book is the ending..it just shatters you completely and stays with you for a very long time.
Recommend all to pick up this masterpiece.

Have you ever picked up a book after looking at the cover and letting your mind wonder how cool the book is going to be because the cover art was cool, or it led your mind to think that the book was going to be amazing? This is exactly what I did with Jon Saul's Suffer the Children. I read the back cover and it led me to think that it was going to be a mixture of the Poltergeist and the Amityville horror, and after reading it, I definitely got that impression.

Fact: Children do suffer in this novel; Oh! how they suffer.

The small town of Port Arbello is rocked by the disappearance of some local children who have gone out to play, and had never come back home. Just to interject on my own review; what was Saul thinking when he thought of the name of the town? Port Arbello? Seriously? If you say it together, this comes to mind:


Okay, good, I thought I was the only one who caught on to that; it was worth a quick laugh anyway. On with the rest of this review.

This story is based on a long ago legend of the Conger family, who many years ago had a prominent member that raped and killed his youngest daughter, and after that he decided to take his own life. The family now consists of a father, mother, and two daughters. Throughout the years the family legend was told to the children to keep them from going too far out on the edge of the property. There is a slick embankment there and, hidden there, is a cave where supposedly anything that was cast out to sea would eventually wash back up.

One day, Elizabeth and Sarah decide it would be a good idea to go investigate this cave, and the aftermath of this decision only leads us, the reader into the horrifying outcome of what is actually happening in this small town. I stuck with this book because not only was it a fairly quick read, but it had me gasping every few pages, and in my opinion that makes for a good time.

Titulo: Dejad a los niños
Autor: John Saul
Motivo de lectura: #Horror52Weeks
Lectura / Relectura: Lectura
Mi edicion: Electronico
Puntuacion: -10000/5

Este libro contiene violacion, incesto, abuso infantil, y un nivel de crueldad animal que me revuelve el estomago, las cosas que se describen que repetidamente le hacen al cadaver de un gato es una salvajada (gato que en vida fue mascota de la familia).

El dia que yo normalice o disfrute esta clase de lectura dejo de leer.
Ni siquiera voy a perder el tiempo en reseñar esta basura que algunos llamaran libro..

3.5 stars, this book is creepy! Excellent story and character development, with you always asking "OK, but why?" definitely a creepy book that would be perfect for an October scary read or even a middle of winter story. Ties everything up in the end, sort of, and definitely not in a happy way. Beware the woods!

A few leaps were taken in terms of characterisation and general plotting, but Suffer the Children was fucked up enough to be intoxicating. The atmosphere that was built around the overall setting of the book brought a fair amount of dread, and the lore behind the wrongness of it all was alluring despite the lack of the needed exposition for the circumstances it influenced. As for the characters, their voices weren’t as distinct as they potentially could have been, considering Saul’s evident adroitness in writing. The embraced ambiguity especially caused the rest of it to fall apart towards the end, but for a composition that took less than a month to complete, this was rather impressive. Can’t say any more about it other than go ahead and try it, I guess.

After hearing so much about this particular novel, I chanced upon it at the local used bookstore. I finished it in two days. This is the first Saul novel I've read, and I have to say that I enjoyed it. The writing was fast-paced, the characters were tolerable, even though Elizabeth annoyed me in whatever characterization she appeared. Normally I am able to read through most disturbing scenes in novels. I'm somehow built up a tolerance to them. But whether it was because of the inclusion of children or just the overall situation, I found myself utterly grossed out and disturbed by certain parts of the novel. Still, it's a fast read and keeps you holding on until the end. And that's where my main complaint comes in. I felt horribly let down by the ending. And I know I'm not the only one. After everything that happened, the novel ended on such a blank and unsatisfying note. I felt no closure. But I did feel an overwhelming sense of dread as I closed the book. So I guess the ending worked on that note. Overall, the novel is great for fans of horror and thriller fiction.

Few books have struck me with such ferocious intensity as Suffer the Children by John Saul. A lot of horror books tempt you with their promises of monsters so horrible they could not possibly exist in the real world. What are truly horrifying are the monsters that do exist here in our everyday lives. They may even exist inside of us.

This is the tale of a haunting. While some may have taken this book as a ghost story, I instead saw a story about generational violence and the inherited shame of incest. Like many victims of childhood abuse I related strongly to the overwhelming desire to recreate our abuse in order to gain mastery of our emotions during that which made us most powerless. This book exposed those desires to their most raw point. The monster isn’t the abuser but the chaos the abuse creates. There is no victory to be had in this fight. None shall escape unscathed.

There's weird, there's weird, and then there's Suffer the children weird. Not so much weird as confusing. I just finished and still can't tell you exactly what I've read.

The writting is down right amazing. The characters well developed, as is the plot. But I'm still left cringing and scratching my head. So much stuff happens in the story. It's not overwhelming, just unexplained. No reason is given as to why things happen, and no explanation when they do

And the ending buffles the most, as even more unkowns are thrown in

If you like dark thrillers then sure, pick up the book cause you'll love it, but if that's not your cup of tea, find something else to read cause you'll want to put this one down. Or join a book club amd read it xause then you'll have people pushing you to finish it even when you want to stop. That's what I did

4.5 out of 5. What an introduction to this author for me. Well written and very creepy. Loved the premise and found the characters engaging and well developed. I will most certainly be reading more...

This was pretty engaging and disturbing, but the unlikable, toxic, immature and idiotic adult characters with a deadly case of It’s Probably Nothing Syndrome (particularly the reaction to the father’s assault on his 10 year old daughter- he thinks he RAPED her, but his secretary’s like “Nah, you just beat her into a pulp, s’okay”) make this a just okay read, when it could have been a great horror.

One of my fav authors.

This book was just okay. I did not believe the characters or their relationships. I may think twice before reading more John Saul. This was his first effort, so maybe the books will improve after this one.