Customer Reviews

Black Creek Crossing: A Novel

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(19)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Angel Sullivan has always been the outcast, suffering the taunts of cruel schoolmates and the wild fits of an alcoholic father. Things for Angel's family have hit rock bottom until a call from her aunt has them moving to a new town and making a fresh start.

In the town of Roundtree, Massachusetts a beautiful home awaits, a home that is selling at a steal of a price, there is only one problem...the house at Black Creek Crossing holds a murderous secret.

Seth Baker lives in Roundtree and, much the same as Angel, he too is the outcast of his schoolmates, as well the victim of a psychically abusive father. Seth does his best to deal with his father, but finds sanctuary in photograph taking, until he meets Angel.

As Seth and Angel become better friends, Seth tells her of the deadly legacy surrounding her home and the rumors of supernatural possession that still dwells there. Angel, desperate for the truth about Black Creek Crossing, uncovers a centuries-old horror that lies within her home's walls.

Now, that Angel and Seth have uncovered the dark secrets buried in Roundtree, they find themselves trapped in a maelstrom of desire and violence that will erupt in unspeakable tragedy.

`Black Creek Crossing' is a chilling page-turner that begs to be read in one sitting. From the shocking opening to the explosive climax the plot speeds along with unstoppable force. Vivid gothic descriptions and likable characters combined with creepy scares will hold readers breathless until the final page has been turned.

John Saul is THE master of the horror novel, there is absolutely no one better. His novels are always original, well written, fast-paced and expertly plotted.

Expect to see `Black Creek Crossing' at the top of the bestseller lists for it's one of John Saul's best novels.

A MUST read!

Nick Gonnella

There seems to be a trend among successful page turner authors to short change their readers once they have made it. This is a terrific example. I began reading this book, and became engrossed early on. Unfortunately, Saul gets us interested in the story without doing much to develop the characters or make us care much about them. There are numerous loose ends in the book, and the story ends without much resolution. It's almost as if the author did a page count and decided it was time to end the story, whether it made sense or not. Why were the kid's parents the way they were? What happened to the other two bullies? Why did the two main character kids do what they did? What's the deal with the roundtree in the cemetary? This book reads more like a draft than a finished product. My condolences to the author, to the readers who pay good money for the book, and shame on the editor for allowing a half-done book to be published under the guise of a finished product.

First of all, I find it hard to believe that some people think John Saul is the "absolute best" and the "king of horror" - ?? I am no stranger to his works, I own the majority of them, albeit in paperback, as I don't consider him good enough to warrant me spending $30 bucks on one of his novels. But I do tend to read most of them. Some are pretty entertaining, such as his earlier works like 'Nathaniel' and 'Hellfire'.

He does seem to have a pre-occupation with writing about children and teens, which, to me, "dumbs-down" his writing. How about some adult main characters - give it a rest with the children who don't fit in, have a ghostly secret, grew up poor, abused, sad and wretched, etc. I guess that is his main forte.

Anyway, the book had a fairly good (but totally over-used) plot. You know, the old haunted house on the edge of town with a secret past, etc..etc.. And who hasn't wanted to find an old book of witchcraft and create havoc in the lives of your worst enemies? Of course that would be fun. But haven't we seen (and read) all this before? I certainly have. Let's get some originality here, please. I am not sure if I will pick up Saul's next offering in paperback or not, after this bore-fest.
Put it this way, if you are say, under 14, you'll probably love it. Go for it. For anyone over 14 - this is JUST NOT SCARY ENOUGH!

In regards to Saul in general, Stephen King he isn't! Heck, he isn't even Dean Koontz, who in my opinion leans toward mediocre as well. If you really want to read some scary stuff, pick up any one of Peter Straub's books - I recommend "Ghost Story" highly - or read some H.P.Lovecraft, Clive Barker, Richard Matheson, or of course, in MY opinion the true 'King of Horror' and you know who that is, right? Case closed.

It is with a heavy heart that I am giving a favorite author of mine this low of a rating. BCC is actually a 1 and a 1/2 star book, but since there are no 1/2s, I give it 2 stars. I have been reading John Saul for 14 years now and must say he has written some of the finest horror novels I have ever read. He has a style all his own and feel that anyone who is looking to read a good horror book, they will find it with this author, but NOT with BLACK CREEK CROSSING.

BCC has a lot of the same similarities to his older books, girl who is outcast by people in school, at least one of her parents rejects her, she gets befriended by something evil, and then evil is unleashed.

The only, and I mean only, difference in this book is the ending, but when it happened, I wasn't blown away or anything. BCC does not have any build up of suspense whatsoever and you actually have to read about 2/3 of the book before anything takes off. And when I say take off, it's more of a cough and a sputter. When Angela and Seth begin to dabble in witchcraft, it is such a disappointment because John could have built it up and created such a dark atmosphere, but he doesnt. What he does do successfully with BCC is tell you instead of show you. Anyone who reads horror or any book for that matter, wants to be shown, NOT TOLD. You almost feel as if John was bored writing this book and I promise you will be bored reading it. I found myslef skimming so much towards the end because I just wanted to move on to another book.

In the last few years, John has written some of his best books, EVER! BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES, THE PRESENCE, THE RIGHT HAND OF EVIL, NIGHTSHADE, and MIDNIGHT VOICES. BCC is a huge step back...WAY BACK... and I wouldn't be surprised to find out that this was a book he probably started many, many years ago, and didnt have anything to give his publisher this time around so he decided to pull this one out, dust it off, and turn it in.

You can skip BCC, but don't write John Saul off just yet, I'm confident he will produce another chiller soon.

I have been a fan of John Saul's books for many years but found that his "children in peril" theme was getting a little stale.
I was pleased to see that he was changing his style with his previous two novels "Midnight Voices" and "Manhattan Hunt Club", both of which I gave 5 stars.
In "Black Creek Crossing", he is back to his old style and I am rather disappointed. This is so similar to his older books, that I thought I was re-reading one of them! Although this is not a bad story, hopefully Mr. Saul will continue to address adults in peril suspense and not totally regress to his previous type of story.

This a horror story without much horror. The hauntings are strictly pro forma, as are the obligatory abusive parents and school bullies. "Black Creek Crossing" has few original story elements, and even the spirit-infested house has few descriptions worthy of even a tingle.

The two teenaged protagonists are your typical picked-on outcasts who spend most of the book being tormented alternately at school and at home, until they discover witchcraft and start dishing out payback. The rest of the story proceeds in utterly predictable fashion.

No thrills, no chills, and it was hard to feel sorry for any of the characters. The ending was straight out of any Hollywood made-for-sequels horror movie. I can't recommend this book unless you're looking for a lightweight and completely forgettable horror novel.

I found this book to be interesting until the last few chapters. It almost seems as though the author tired of writing the book and decided to just wrap everything up quickly at the end. I was so disappointed that after reading this book for hours that the ending just didn't satisfy.

While fascinating in subject matter, this story has many inconsistencies and loose ends. The ending with regard to Angel and Seth is strange and doesn't make sense. I don't feel that I wasted my time in reading it, but on the other hand, I wasn't totally satisfied that it was as good as Mr. Saul's previous books.

This book had soo many elements from Saul's others books that it felt like he was just trying to throw out a book to keep is publisher off his back. The drunken father, the abusive parent, the unattractive kids that are picked on by their peers for no reason.
Why was Seth called Beth again? I don't remember ever finding out exactly why he got that name besides him just not standing up for himself.
Obviously Saul didn't do a lot of research for his book on witches. The black cat was just sorta thrown in there.
And what decade is this supposed to be set?! The way the mother acted was like it was the 50s, but the fathers...i couldn't even tell! I mean, why did Angel and Seth need to kill themselves? They would've been fine. With the forensics that are out now, they wouldn't have been proved guilty of killing their parents cause their finger prints weren't on either weapon! And also, they didn't get revenge against everyone who'd caused them pain. There was still Zack, his other friend, and Heather! It just ended far to abruptly!
There were soo many open ended parts that it pretty much killed the book. The cat, why the tree was always hit by lightning; why did only the young witch show up and not her mother as well? I can't even remember all the rest of the other things because the book was rather forgettable by the end.
I've read many horror books, and many of Saul's works, and I can say that this was his worst.

I did not like this book at all. The writing was horrible and the plot was simplistic. After I managed to finish the book, I wondered "What has happened to John Saul?". (...)