Goodbook...scared me...lots of interesting characters...John saul usually handles the child characters of his novel very well,as if they are talking to us,asking questions to us,something like that. Among all characters my favortie is Logan. In the end..particularly in epiloge I felt like crying. Even though John saul is branded as horror writer,he had touched this novel sentimentally, father,son relationship,lifestyle of average American family etc.Good novel, very interesting to read...recomended for all

This book is a werewolf story that walks the wire between traditional and original. The three-star rating is not meant to be defamatory; I thought the book had a steady arc and entertaining summations. I thought the kills were thrilling and engrossing. My fours are meant for exceptional books, and my fives are for books that completely redefined my understanding of the literary world. A three meant it did its job sufficiently, and this book, if a werewolf story is what you seek, does precisely that.

Although I'm not marking any spoilers, there may be a few minor ones ahead, so here is my warning.
This was my first John Saul book, so I'll be talking a little bit about my experience with the novel and my thoughts on the writing rather than a review of just the book itself.

I picked this book up at a library book sale. I've always heard/known of John Saul, but never read anything of his. This is apparently one of his newer*ish* books.
Starting out, I noticed right away how straight-forward and simplistic his style of writing is. No fancy prose, not too much detail, etc. - He gets right down to business with his writing. It's not bad, but not great, either. There were a few times where I thought his choice of wording was poor, and there were a few scenes I think could have been shown a little better where he instead told us how or what the characters were feeling.
Other than those minor complaints, I actually liked the story being told; I thought it was very creative and enjoyable - but not particularly compelling. I was never really drawn into the story, never experienced a sense of immersion, and never felt like I really cared about the characters all that much. At times, even, some of the characters felt pretty one-dimensional.
Although I enjoyed the story being told and I wanted to find out what happened next, it felt like I was observing what was happening from a distance. I just couldn't really get into it that much.
There are also a couple of continuity errors that I noticed, and I point them out not just for the sake of being negative or trying to pick out the flaws, but to bring them into question a little bit, and see if maybe anyone else has noticed them. Earlier when I mentioned minor spoilers ahead, this is where they might lie.
The first one is actually pretty big, (and the only one I'll even bother to mention) It's in chapter eight, when Olivia is talking to MaryAnne, and then she leaves, driving away, and MaryAnne is talking to another character (I fail to remember his name), and then all of a sudden, in the same scene, "the other character" is gone, and MaryAnne is now talking to Olivia again, as if she had never left.... I read over this scene like three times, wondering what it was that I missed, and found out that I didn't miss anything - this whole scene just didn't make sense. I'm not sure if it's an error in my copy of the book, if maybe I have an older edition or something - I have no idea, but it was pretty weird to encounter something like that. (I don't know, maybe there is still something I missed there, please comment if you know)
Anyway, onto the rest of the story,
I did enjoy it, it was suspenseful and a bit chilling at times, though towards the end I started to get a little tired of it and was more or less excited to be done with the book. It did feel a little repetitive in the second half of the novel. A lot of the same stuff kept occurring.
There were a few plot twists towards the end, one of which was a bit predictable, and another that I actually did NOT see coming at all, and I enjoyed very much.
Based on how the rest of the story had been going, and the way Saul wrote it, I thought I knew where the story was going and how it would end, but he actually proved me wrong and surprised me at the end, so bonus points for that.
The ending itself was good, but not great. Again, it took a slightly different turn than expected, which is always a good thing, and I didn't dislike the ending at all - though I did feel a little less fond of the story by the end of the book versus when I was halfway through it and it had more of a mystery aspect to it, which is probably when I was enjoying it the most.
I was going to give this book 3.5 /5 stars, but the more I think about it, I think a simple 3 / 5 is more suitable.
I liked the story, but can't see myself reading it again, and I don't feel the need or desire to go out and read other books by Saul. Only if one comes as a strong recommendation from someone, maybe then.

The worst John Saul book I have read. Story line is almost immediately predictable, but the premise is kept up 3/4 of the way through. Imagery is repetitive and it feels as if it was edited after the fact to increase word count or lengthen novel gratuitously. Characters were annoying and I honestly hoped they would all be "taken care of" by the end. I've been a fan of Saul for 25+ years but this story really disappointed me. Very simple storytelling at best.

Un libro con la historia de un hombre lobo, me gustó la descripción del ambiente donde se desarrolla la novela. Lo único malo es que es el primero de una serie de libros, supongo ya que el final quedó abierto.
Recomendable

This book was so good. Creepy and suspenseful right from the start. It had a tight grip on me the whole way through, making me more and more nervous as to what was going to happen with every passing page. There were a few things I saw coming, and others that completely shocked me. I was unsettled the entire time, not sure until near the end of just what was happening. If you like that edge of your seat, nail biting kind of feeling, you need to read this book.

Good book :') I really love the way this author writes and I look forward to reading more books by him. He has a way of writing that makes that engulfs you within the book. Great read -- and great author -- for spooky season.

I read Second Child by him as well, Guardian comes second to that book -- but still a great read.

This book definitely had me on the edge of my seat from page to page. I found there to be a lot of twists that I wasn't expecting and I definitely can't say that I lost interest in it. Definitely an interesting combination of sci fi and horror. I really enjoyed the story and the characters and I really liked the way it ended. I recommend for fans of thrillers and horror!

Excellent book and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish. My only thing I thought was negative is the old story of scientists experimentig and creating a dangerous wolf like man. Othet than that Saul is a great author who knows his audience. I haven't been disappointed with too many John Saul books.

MaryAnne Carpenter becomes a guardian of her orphaned god son after the untimely and rather mysterious deaths of his parents. But all is not well in Idaho and certainly not with the boy who has rather weird habits in connection with the woods and nature and thus the search for suspects and clues begin.
I enjoyed my flashback to the 1990s with this mystery thriller, where kids don't talk about TikTok challenges, adults have the same old (US) trigger warning-worth problems of how to learn to load a gun, immediately marrying rich strangers from Silicon Valley or cheating on their wives with blonde bombshells, being stay-at-home-mothers with bankrupt husbands and provincial sheriffs cursing at forensic lab assistants over unamusing test results. The drama unfolded, the mystery gets clearer, the deaths get resolved and everything has an open ending, because you shall think about what comes next with evil in the world.
That thriller genre was so popular back then, it feels like you have read or watched all of that before, which makes the reading very predictable. Yet, it's kind of interesting to see again how male authors wrote about women and family, which are 2 important parts of the setting in this story. They all feel like clichés and more like chess pieces to be moved towards the inevitable crimes and mystery. You won't find the big character developments in there, the god child Joey coming closest to having a real arc.
Still, if you like mystery, thrill and look for something that does not include the world of touch screens or you're feeling a bit nostalgic, it's worth reading this book. The conclusion included a very 90s-like twist on an old myth, which has become a widely used topic in paranormal stories since then. It's nice to see the beginnings.

Incredible. I read the entire book in only a few short hours. The pace was very quick, but the story and the tension didnt feel rushed, and Saul left it on kind of an open end, leaving possibilities for interpretation. Definitely recommend!

Absolutely loved this book, couldn't put it down. To me it was scary and I'm 73.