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.

Very well written with 3 spelling errors, after 3/4 of the way thru it got a little predictable. But still a stimulating read!

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

Another great Saul thriller. Never a disappointment. Thanks, John.

NICE BOOK.

Pff <3

Sin dudas uno de los mejores libros de terror que leí hasta el momento es todo tan crudo y retorcido. Súper recomendable. Fue inesperado!!!

"-¿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.

SPOILERS

The Unloved by John Saul tells the story of Kevin Deveraux and his family -- wife Anne, daughter Julie, and son Jeff. Kevin's much hated, widowed mother is dying and Kevin is summoned home by his sister, Marguerete, a ballet dancer whose dreams were cut short when her hip was broken in an accident. Helene, the mother, is controlling, demanding, and cruel. She bullies Marguerete and is infuriated that she herself only holds the family lands in trust (introducing a plot hole). When she finally dies, her will forces Kevin to stay on so that the disinherited Marguerete can remain at home. The estate lawyer assures Kevin that there is no way around the will, leaving the reader/listener to wonder who the real estate was being held in trust for, if not Kevin, and why the lawyer was apparently unaware of the trust. At any rate, the sweet and meek Marguerete moves into her mother's old rooms and promptly goes all Norman Bates, assuming the personality of her mother, lightly flavored with her own natural insanity. Anne dies when her car is swept into the sea, followed rapidly by several less natural deaths. The kids are eventually saved, but not before nearly everyone around them is murdered by Marguerete.

This is definitely a kids-in-jeopardy story, and just as definitely not a kids-save-the-world one. Julie and Jeff are able to help themselves to a limited extent, but must rely on the adults around them to save them. The murders are described, so there is violence and some gore, but it is not excessive. There is little in the way of the supernatural. Kevin has a premonitory dream, and there are hints that Marguerete is possessed in some way, though not enough to rule out her simply being crazy.

The book is well read by Sandra Burr. The characters have distinct voices with appropriate accents. The pacing and inflection are good.

Recommend to fans of V.C. Andrews for the endangered children, wicked grandmother, Southern setting, and "You have an inheritance you never knew about! Come collect your misery now!" setup.
It's a possible read-alike for Psycho by Robert Bloch. The setup takes much longer, but Psycho fans will likely find post 'round the bend Marguerete worth the wait.
It wouldn't be my first choice for Stephen King fans, though it might appeal to those who are jaded with that author's unnaturally competent kids, and who are willing to trade supernatural evil for the human variety.

I absolutely loved this book. John Saul has been my favorite author for more than a decade. This one definitely gripped me. I couldn't put it down!

Struggling to finish this one, but I'm not ready to give up yet. I am between a one or 2 star rating. Whereas the story is lacking and the dialogue and the situations the characters find themselves in are ludicrous, it passes the time, if nothing else. But to say that the writing is pedestrian would be a major upgrade to what this drivel actually is.

Some spoilers ahead. This book may have been the least amount of effort I have seen from a writer. So much repetition, like he was on a deadline and just had to turn something in. Something happens in the story, a new character comes in and the other characters just repeat exactly what we just read. And then another person wanders into the scene and guess what? It gets repeated a third time. A character is pushed downstairs, only to be taken upstairs again and pushed down in a span of 5 pages. The Jeff character is relegated to saying the same 2 sentences throughout the book: "I saw a gh-ghost!" and "She killed them and she's going to kill me!" Two main characters die almost exactly the same way: oh, look, a knife is coming at my chest, how strange. Should I duck, should I fight? No, I think I'll just ponder about life while it slips away.

And here is one of the strangest things about this terrible story. The main characters get killed off one by one, so at the end who comes to the rescue? The boyfriend's dad? Who? What? Who cares? Also, two minors get tortured and nearly killed in this mansion where both of their parents were also murdered. Naturally, they decide to continue to live in that house, because a stranger told them it was a good idea.

But my favorite absurdity in this book is when the boyfriend's dad and the chief of police find the aunt putting on a recital for 4 dead bodies, the now dead-boyfriend included, to which the dad replies: "wow, that's wacko*. We should take her away." And here's the gold at the end of the rainbow. The chief of police looks at this tableau and tells the father of one the corpses in one of the chairs: nah, let her finish. Let her finish, indeed, folks. (*yes, he literally says "wacko," not making that up)

I like the cover, so I'll keep this one. This is my 2nd or 3rd Saul book and probably the last one. His books read too much like Mexican novelas. So much drama, so much overreaction. So little action.

John Saul je dobrý autor, bohužel tato kniha mě poněkud zklamala. Sice byla velmi čtivá, pohodová, ovšem popis vražd byl velmi nudný, všechny se odehrály velmi rychle, čtenář si ani nestihl uvědomit, že se něco děje. V tomhle ohledu mě kniha zklamala, očekávala jsem více.