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The Unloved

john saul

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Lush, a deceptively tranquil, the secluded island basks in splendid isolation off the South Carolina coast--as does the Devereaux mansion, a once-great  plantation house now crumbling amidst the ancient oaks. Now, for the first time in two decades, Kevin Devereaux has returned here with his wife and children to visit Kevin's hated, and frightening  mother. She said she was ill--but is that really why the old woman has summoned the son she has not  seen in so many years?

Suddenly, horribly, one of  the Devereauxs is going to die. And now, all the dark secrets of this once-proud family will emerge  to wrap their evil around the unsuspecting  children. Until, in the shadowed corridors and  dust-covered rooms of the decaying old house, they learn the  true terror of The Unloved.

368 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1,1988

This edition

Format
368 pages, Hardcover
Published
September 28, 1989 by Severn House Publishers
ISBN
9780727817914
ASIN
0727817914
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Those years garnered him a nice collection of unpublished manuscripts, but not a lot of money.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 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
31(31%)
4 stars
35(35%)
3 stars
34(34%)
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100 reviews All reviews
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chiibiusa
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Me gustó a medias. Tiene cosas buenas y algunas muy malas. Creo que me entretuvo y por eso no justifica que le ponga una calificación menor (habia pensado en ponerle 2 estrellas), pero no sería 100% justo.
Seamos objetivos, empecemos por lo bueno: Es entretenido y John Saul tiene una prosa muy ligera, los dos protagonistas me gustaron y me parecieron divertidos. El final, si bien algo predecible, me pareció bonito.
Lo malo: no sé si será la traducción, pero hay un abuso de las palabras terminadas en "mente" y de a ratos se hacía exasperante (a tal punto de haber 6 adverbios terminados en mente en un párrafo). Hubo un autor que dijo algo así: "evita los adverbios terminados en mente, vas a encontrar maneras más bellas para contar algo".
Otra cosa mala es que, si bien el autor goza de una pluma ligera (y hace que se lea rápido), posee, al menos en este libro, un vocabulario muy limitado y pobre.

No podría decir que es un libro indispensable para leer, las 3 estrellas son por sus dos personajes principales. La idea pudo haber sido mejor explotada.
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Todd
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Very well written with 3 spelling errors, after 3/4 of the way thru it got a little predictable. But still a stimulating read!
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dutchah
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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The Unloved, John Saul, 1988

My favorite quote: “He pitched forward, his vision going black as he died. The last thing he saw was the scarlet gash of Marguerite’s mouth, twisted into a vicious parody of a victorious smile.”

Notable characters: The Devereaux family, Kevin and Anne, and their children Jeff and Julie; Helena, Kevin’s rude-ass dying mother; Marguerite, Kevin’s weird-ass creepy sister

Most memorable scene: When Jenny sees old Aunt Marguerite dancing in the ballroom. Her strange limping waltz is really effective in creeping the reader out. And by “the reader,” I mean me. It creeped me out. There, I said it

Greatest strengths: The horror. And by that, I don’t necessarily mean blood and gore. I mean that it’s seriously scary

Standout achievements: The Unloved has the sole distinction of being the only book that actually made me jump. There’s a line at the end of chapter 20 that says, “... a bolt of lightning flared in the sky outside and a sharp clap of thunder shook the house.” I read this book on a stormy night and right as I read those words, real lightning flashed followed by a big crash of real thunder. It scared me so bad tears were running down my leg

Fun Facts: I know it’s morbid but I was laughing out loud when the little kid corpses were being dragged up the stairs for a dead-kid tea party. I’m calling this a ‘fun’ fact because when I met John Saul many years later, he said he thought that part was hilarious, too, and was cracking up while he wrote it. And that’s when I knew this man was my kinda guy

Other media: N/A

What it taught me: That sometimes, there are no heroes … and that’s okay

How it inspired me: John Saul’s work has influenced me in a million ways, but his ability to foreshadow without weakening the storyline tops the list. Foreshadowing is a tricky thing, but when it’s done well -- as it is here -- it adds an exciting sheen to even the weariest plotline

Additional thoughts: After giving it a lot of thought (and I actually do give a lot of thought to such things) I’ve decided that this is probably my all-time favorite John Saul novel. Probably. I might feel differently later

Haunt me: alistaircross.com
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Shaily
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Another great Saul thriller. Never a disappointment. Thanks, John.
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GhostofNexus
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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Sin dudas uno de los mejores libros de terror que leí hasta el momento es todo tan crudo y retorcido. Súper recomendable. Fue inesperado!!!
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PlasmaBean
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 17,2025
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"-¿Qué te sucede, tienes miedo? - dijo Jeff a su hermana, burlonamente.
Julie lo miró con furia - ¿Y por qué no habría de tenerlo? - preguntó ella -. Si fueras inteligente, también tu lo tendrías."

Kevin Dereaux regresa a la casa de su infancia ya que su madre está por morir, y con el va su familia: Su esposa Anne y sus hijxs Julie y Jeff.

Desde el inicio, la atmósfera es muy densa. La tensión ya se puede notar desde las primeras. su madre, Helena, es una tirana, y tiene a su hija Marguerite básicamente como una esclava. La presencia de esta anciana se transmite al lector de una manera increíble, donde es posible detestarla y temerla al mismo tiempo. Además, algo raro pasa en esa casa.

El autor usa un recurso interesante y el de "la única persona que se da cuenta que hay algo mal desde el inicio y no le creen", en este caso en el personaje de Anne. Me generó mucha desesperación e impotencia al leerla, y hacía mucho que no me pasaba.

El autor lleva a los personajes al límite, y no tiene ni un poco de compasión, ni siquiera por los que ya están sufriendo. Me pareció al respecto una lectura muy interesante, y hacía rato que no me encontraba con tanta crueldad (no porque sea gore, sino porque no les da un respiro).

El final me pareció excelente, no se me ocurre una mejor forma de terminar la historia. Aunque es un poco predecible, no le quita mérito y me mantuvo entretenida en toda la lectura. Es un libro de lectura ágil y que está cargado de suspenso.
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