Read 5/2018.8 yrs since papa's passing.new 2018 accord.niagra falls soon.

It was strange. The story felt messy and a lot of it didn't make sense; the writing was quite simplistic and I didn't really feel much for the characters and the ending was very unsatisfying! However there were some creepy moments and it was weirdly gripping.

Pretty much sucked.

Meh… not bad, not great. It’s like the equivalent of an adult Goosebumps novel. There’s some genuinely unsettling moments in the book but the pacing of this book was all over the place and I could definitely feel that Saul was getting bored with the boom 2/3 of the way through.

The ending is fine, it’s definitely a nasty ending but would’ve been nice to see the bad guys get what they deserve.

Characters are pretty flat… would’ve been nice to see more development and especially for the villains of the story. Their motivations pretty much come down to “wah Christian bad, Islam good, wah.” - just could’ve been better imo.

I would be more impressed if this was Saul’s first book but for his 34th? Sheesh - it was very okay.

I didnt understand the plot. I thought the flow of the story was pretty good however the "bad guys" reason for actions did not make sense to me. I dont believe the evil characters were established well enough to discern this. However, maybe being of horror genre, I was not open minded enough.

Anti-Muslim BS. Real nice.

John Saul is one of my favorite authors. His style of writing is up there with Stephan King but with a twist. However, this book was not my favorite. It left me with a few unanswered questions. Why was the cross so important. The whole relationship between Terri and Tom was a sub plot but left questions as to why it was in the book in the first place. I assume to give the book some body. Overall it was an ok book.

Not as creepy as some others.

Maybe one really creepy, well written scene in the whole book. Nice idea and set up, but nothing in character development and diluted plots.

It is more like slow-burned horror. At ending was ok ok.

I was very disappointed with this book. The two brothers burying a pet lizard and finding a box was a great beginning, and then the story continues in present day. Ryan McIntyre is attacked by deliquent school mates at Dickinson's, and transferred to St. Isaac's at the suggestion of his mother's boyfriend Tom Kelly. It is known from the beginning that Tom Kelly and Father Sebastian Sloane are friends. Ryan fits in at St. Isaac's but things keep getting more bizarre after Ryan finds out that the previous student who occupied his room, Kip Adamson, was murdered while killing a woman. Ryan feels immediate concern and alarm due to other things he hears about the school's history. Once Farrooq and Abdul are introduced, though, the plot becomes boring and very predictable. I've read a few novels by John Saul previously, but this book seemed like he had rushed to get through it or couldn't choose which storyline to focus on. Major potential with the storyline but somewhere it fizzled.

A haunted Catholic school filled with infernal agendas, double crosses (pun intended), secret identities, and a diabolical plot that stretches all the way to The Vatican! What's not to like? Plenty, actually, but if you can get past the eye-rolling plot twists and cartoonish sense of malice this is an addictive read at least until the final pages where it all seems to fall apart in a rushed jumble of "WTF?" moments which leave too many dangling threads in their wake. And what's with all those ghostly Hallmark moments? But having grown up in a Catholic family and been sent to a Catholic highschool I smiled through every moment. If only my old alma mater had been this cool...