Mary is frustrated. Her husband has left her for a younger model (bummer) and her best friend and best friends husband have both DIED in two separate accidents - just hours apart.....

One good thing, is that Mary is now RICH as she has been left a shed load of cash in the WILL - but, she has to take care of her 13 year old Godson (again, Bummer)

The Godson seems like a normal kid at first, but something soon feels not quite right. Then there is that strange feeling that someone is always watching. With murders happening closer and closer to home Mary starts to worry that her Godson is someone connected - or even directly involved!

A very cool super creepy read and just a tad devastating.

I love John Saul books. He is almost as good of a horror author as Stephen King. His writing style is unique and that is what makes him one of my favorite authors. I haven't read a book of his I haven't liked yet, they are all so great. I would reread any of his books anytime but there are too many to go into detail about each one.

John Saul has been one of my favourites. I loved the suspense of this novel. It is a bit gorey at times but nothing too outrageous. This book was published in 1993 but still seems relevant. I have read a few stories lately that mirror this concept.

So...Werewolves now...Ok.

I've always enjoyed John Saul, and I like how he made the 'child-horror' theme his own. When you're dealing with kiddos, things can get more emotional. Here it's hard to know what to think of Joey, but I liked how it ended and wrapped things up with the character. Saul jumps from having the villain one-layered to being full fledged and sympathetic. There's not many cliche characters, although Saul seemed to have struggled a bit with the parents. The standard jerk father is overboard and not terribly convincing, while MaryAnne doesn't seem that bright.

The book's pace is great, starting right away with personal angst and tragedy, ending with great loss and astounding grief, leaving the door ominously open for a potential sequel. From a fear factor point of view, suspense was there but there was never much that was too frightening. More violence wouldn't have hurt, but the violence that was there counted in a semi-chilling way, even if it was not gory and was short-cut. One death in particular was very surprising and emotionally gripping.

On the negative side, the book isn't the most believable story for it's setting, ruined in part by some of the mother's actions. Sometimes things slow a bit to where they could be helped with a spruced up death sequence, or else more hints laying with Joey and his involvement in it all. If Saul had included more government agencies or anything along those lines, the book may have picked up a more intelligent high. In the end it was a fun read though, a light horror book that took an interesting twist on an age-old horror theme. I won't give away what that theme was for fear of spoiling the 'mountain-man murders', but I liked how this small surprise was saved for the end. I for one would enjoy a sequel.

MaryAnne Carpenter wordt midden in de nacht opgebeld. Haar petekind Joey is in een keer wees geworden nadat zijn ouders zijn omgekomen bij een ongeluk. MaryAnne neemt haar twee kinderen mee naar de boerderij van haar overleden vrienden om Joey op te vangen.
Maar Joey reageert raar. Hij is niet de verdrietige jongen die MaryAnne verwachtte, maar een jongen met hele diepe geheimen.
En dan worden in de buurt een voor een mensen vermoord en MaryAnne heeft het gevoel dat het te maken heeft met Joey en dat haar gezin in gevaar is.
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Het Ding is een verhaal dat je vol ongeloof leest. Ik heb het boek al twee keer gelezen en ik sta elke keer weer verbaast over hoe John Saul zo goed het verhaal heeft beschreven.
Samen met De Kronieken van Blackstone was Het Ding mijn kennismaking met John Saul en ik ben er verslaafd aangeraakt. John Saul staat met zijn boeken in mijn top 10 van beste Thriller/Horror auteur aller tijden. Het verbaast me nog dat ik nooit een verfilming van zijn boeken heb gezien. Misschien maar goed ook, want anders wordt het weer zo afgezaagd.
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John Saul is geboren in 1942 in Pasadena, Californië. Hij groeide op in Whittier en haalde zijn diploma in 1959 van de Whittier High School.
Na verschillende opleidingen aan net zoveel beroepsopleidingen te hebben gevolgd zonder het behalen van een diploma of graad, besloot hij van school te gaan en auteur te worden. In de daarop 15 jaar schreef Saul verschillende manuscripten en had hij verschillende baantjes. geen enkele uitgever zag iets in zijn verhalen, totdat zijn agent bij Dell terecht kwam. Daar wilden ze niets kopen, maar vroegen ze hem of hij een psychologische thriller kon schrijven. Saul maakte een verhaallijn, schreef het uit en hoopte dat het goed genoeg was. Zowel zijn agent als Dell waren laaiend enthusiast en zagen in dit verhaal een bestseller. Dell pakte groots uit. Advertenties en TV spots voor deze onbekende auteur werden gemaakt. En het slaagde. Saul werd in een klap wereldberoemd. Suffer the Children was geboren. Alle boeken die erna kwamen kwamen wel in de Bestsellerlijsten en zijn boeken werden wereldwijd uitgebracht en in verschillende talen vertaalt. De boeken werden uitgegeven door uitgeverijen die zijn verbonden aan Random House. Naast auteur is Saul ook acteur, scriptschrijver en is 1 van zijn boeken in 1984 uitgebracht als film.
Meer informatie over John Saul is te vinden op een van de onderstaande sites.
http://www.johnsaul.com/index.html
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0766657/
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Boekinformatie
Uitgeverij Van Reemst
ISBN: 90.410.0196.4

when i was reading this book it made me stop and think how much we git from dna vs learned reactions/likes due to whats around us...

a boy takes off and gose into the near by mountan to git away for some alone time and if i rember right he meats his dad... who was never in his life.. i think he git a wolf and treats it like a dog.. its been years but its a good book.. will have to reread it someday

Horror and suspense. Mary Anne needs to move to Idaho to help out with unexpected deaths of her friends occur. Will she be able to save their son Joey or are more sinister things at play? Her two children go with her and tragedy continues to strike. Will she be able to save her family or is she just putting herself in danger. Twisted ending also that's why I always love John Saul books not what you expect.

A nice little thriller that will cause your hair to stand up a little. Somewhat predictable but it will keep you reading and enjoying. I read it on vacation and feel satisfied that it was a good use of my airline and hotel time.

Loved it

I really liked this book. It’s probably my 2nd favorite John Saul book (1st being Second Child). Although I didn’t like the portrayal of any child being hurt or killed. I really enjoyed the setting. Another thing I like about this book is how John Saul shows how cruel children can be to each other; something that is quite common.

I normally love Johns stuff, but some of his books can be a bit dated in their style and prose, and this is one such example. While some of the writing it beautiful, particularly the descriptions of Idaho and the ranch, much of the characters were your typical troped out stereotypes, and the twist the book’s story was hinging on could be seen from a mile away, and it took a lot of the suspense out of it for me.

Tengo muchas dudas con esta novela... La sinopsis y el inicio de la novela son muy fuertes y te atrapan mucho, y solo el pensar que la historia abarca físicamente solo un lugar hace pensar que tiene mucho merito que enganche al lector, aunque según van avanzando los acontecimientos creo que a pesar de haber mucha acción se vuelve bastante repetitiva y monótona. Respecto al final, creo que deja algunas pistas respecto a nuestro antagonista y las razones de sus actos y su mutación, aunque creo que deja algunos cabos sueltos que parece que el autor podría abarcarlos en otra próxima novela. Interesante para leer, con un autor que se atreve a explicar y describir acciones bastante inquietantes y desagradables, aunque creo que no es de sus mejores obras.