I love John Saul, and this has got to be my absolute favorite book of his! It has lots of twists and turns that keep you guessing until the very end when the surprise ending leaves you speechless!

I feel like I used to be better at reviewing books on here.

I liked this one. It was decently creepy, the lines between what was reality and what was supernatural were properly blurred (I still have questions about some of it), and I had a hard time putting it down.

Also I'm never having kids.

okay, this next part isn't my own review, but it was written on GoodReads in 2008 and i feel it deserves a wider audience:

I LOVE THIS BOOK.. IM NOT SURE WHY CUZ IF YOU ASK ME FOR DETAILS ABOUT IT I COULDNT GIVE EM TO YA... MAYBE THATS WHY I CAN READ BOOKS A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT TIMES.... MY MEMORY IS HORRIBLE....

thank you, "♥ Lou"! if you were still around, i'd follow your reviews! you've read Nathaniel 3 times! that is a horrible memory PLUS dedication! i am your fan.

as for me, i was in high school when i read this, and i actually remember it pretty clearly. this is because my high school girlfriend and i read chapters to each other in the park inbetween make-out sessions. how creepy and romantic! but mainly creepy. it is important to point out that i painted my nails black back then.

the novel itself is about some eerie kid, like all john saul novels apparently.

Nathaniel has been on my personal bookshelf for many years, I picked it up from a garage sale for $1 (along with a few more of Mr Saul's book) but until now I haven't had a chance to read it.

The blurb intrigued me when I read it and made me think of Stephen King a little bit.

Nathaniel was easy to read, there was lots of twists that kept your attention and made you want to keep reading. It was dark, believable with a hint of the supernatural.

I must admit when I read this quote:
"If that's what you want," Anna whispered. "If you're sure that is what you want, then you're welcome here. More than welcome. But I warn you," she suddenly added. "Once you become a part of Prairie Bend, you'll never be able to leave." Page 53, Nathaniel.

It made me shiver.

A dark story which starts quite slow but remains engaging as it picks up pace. I like the way John Saul writes, very much worth a read of this old school horror. I look forward to reading more of John's work as it is easy to read, the characters are well written and there is no unnecessary pretentious use of big words to try and sound intelligent. If you like 80's and 90's horror then this is definitely for you.

This book was really good until the last few chapters. The twist at the end totally ruined it for me and turned the whole story into a garbled mess that made no sense. I really hate frustrating ending like this

This was an good book for what it was which was kind of a horror/mystery novel. It did not blow me away but it did keep me entertained the whole way through. It played with pretty common themes of isolation, restricting community, loss and helplessness. While it was a bit light on dealing with the primary protagonist (who I would say was the boy) I appreciated the balance it found when dealing with the themes when it came to the mother and some of the other characters. It is a strong statement in abuse disguised as a supernatural horror novel.

At this point, I don't really have high expectations for John Saul. Some of his books have a big nostalgia factor for me, like Creature, and some of them are just so over-the-top in their gross-out factor that I have to be entertained, like Suffer the Children, but this one shocked me because it was like... I mean, this was good . Not perfect, but good.

It does start off following a usual Saul formula; man takes family back to his old hometown which has at least one parent that is an abusive asshole, except this time Man is Dead, and also this small town is way more... I mean, it's way more rural and out-of-touch than usual? This book just felt different than, say, The Unloved. A lot of the side characters were way more sympathetic, and there was a genuine mystery here, where you weren't actually sure who was in the right for a while, which I definitely dug. It felt almost western? I don't know, there was just something about this book that felt different, and good, and I would definitely, honestly, probably recommend this one.

Terror ochentero del bueno , yo no terminé de enterarme de que va la historia hasta el tercio final. Maldiciónes ,fantasmas y niños muertos las especialidad de este escritor
Súper recomendable.

This book had great atmosphere and settings. The barn and farm were eerie. I liked some of the characters, Janet and Mark's sister Laura. And some I didn't. I thought old Amos was horrible and mean, especially to Michael's dog Shadow. I liked when Shadow got back at Amos later on in the book. I wished some things (that confused me) in the plot were explained a little better, though.

Typical John Saul....awesome book.

Listened to an abridged version on audible.

I hated it.