IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT [Hardcover]

John Saul (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Unknown (2006)
• ASIN: B0028QCM1O
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (53 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,371,610 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

House of Reckoning is John Saul's thirty-sixth novel. His first novel, Suffer the Children, published in 1977, was an immediate million-copy bestseller. His other bestselling suspense novels include Faces of Fear, In the Dark of the Night, Perfect Nightmare, Black Creek Crossing, Midnight Voices, The Manhattan Hunt Club, Nightshade, The Right Hand of Evil, The Presence, Black Lightning, The Homing, and Guardian. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling serial thriller The Blackstone Chronicles, initially published in six installments but now available in one complete volume. Saul divides his time between Seattle, Washington, and Hawaii.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars An interesting premise that Saul isn't able to fulfill, August 7, 2006

By 

Derek Jager (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: In the Dark of the Night: A Novel (Hardcover)

(SPOILER WARNING)

The idea of items that serial killers use containing a leftover "evil" power is a great idea. But Saul doesn't really use it much--he could have had the boys become "possessed" by the spirits of Lizzie Borden, Jeffrey Dahmer, Ed Gein, et al. But nothing really happens to the premise and the book concludes with "Lizzie" running amuck. (In fact, this was the real flaw in the book because the axe she was accussed of using was NEVER found.)

And other than the subject matter, this is really a YA novel -- the main characters are teenagers and the secondary story -- "townies" versus the "summer boys" -- is merely filler and goes nowhere.

Would have been much more interesting to see the ADULTS become slowly obsessed with the items. Again, interesting idea, just doesn't work.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good introduction to John Saul, April 26, 2008

By 

Sick Daddy "Sick Daddy" (Oregon USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: In the Dark of the Night (Audio CD)

3 best friends are looking forward to their upcoming summer vacation in The Pines, a vacation community on the cusp of Phantom lake. Tad and Kent and their families take the trip every year. When the infamous PineCrest house becomes available for rent, their families convince Eric's family to rent the summer vacation house to join them in their summer fun on the lake. After some convincing of his Agoraphobic mother, they agree. The three friends are ecstatic to be spending the summer together.

Pine Crest is an old Victorian Gothic house that reminds them all of a haunted house, whose previous owner , Dr. Darby mysteriously disappeared 7 years prior. It has since been empty. When the boys arrive, and begin to explore portions of the house's carriage house, they begin to find secrets they will soon regret exploring. Time spent in the room seems to pass quickly, as they continue to search for the secrets of PineCrest. As the semi-subconscious voices they hear continue to lure them into the room, things seem to be awakened in the town that had been asleep for many years.

I don't wish to further venture into any plots or storylines, not wanting to spoil the read for anyone.

Between the well written story writing, and Mel Foster's voice characterizations in the audio book, In The Dark of the Night is an entertaining listen. It serves as a good introduction to John Saul, as it was for me.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Terrorizing the teens, August 10, 2008

By 

Linda Pagliuco "katknit" (CT, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: In the Dark of the Night: A Novel (Mass Market Paperback)

In the Dark of the Night has a central premise that is difficult to resist - what if the belongings of famous serial killers were gathered in one place? A better writer than John Saul really could have done something with this idea. But, unless you're 14, there's not much here to snag your attention or scare you. The three high school buddies out to get laid on their summer vacation stumble into a nightmare of a situation from which they can't extricate themselves. Why they couldn't have figured out what was going on after their first week at the lake doesn't say much for their intellectual powers. Saul's writing is formulaic. Phrases that were overused in some of his previous titles keep popping up here as well. "It was as if..." "All he could think/ see/ feel was...."

There's nothing new or genuinely horrific here, and what this book does contain isn't worth the time it takes to read.