The God Project [Paperback]

John Saul (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Bantam Books (1997)
• ASIN: B001ZWQGIM
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (32 customer reviews)

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

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The novel that turned me into a horror fan, November 20, 2002

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The God Project (Paperback)

Even though this is not horror in the true sense of the word, The God Project holds the distinction of being the first book of its kind that I ever read. If you asked me how and why I became a horror fan, I would point to this novel and credit it with introducing me to the genre I have come to love above all others. Rereading The God Project now, the story still retains a lot of the qualities that gave birth to my fascination with dark fiction all those years ago. This was Saul's sixth published novel, and its medical science fiction theme seems original and well-developed here; later Saul novels built upon a similar plot structure have always seemed rather derivative and thus less compelling in comparison. The medical science Saul builds into this story seems rather impressive and believable, especially given that not too many writers were playing with DNA and genetic manipulation back in 1982. The medical science Saul describes may be utter baloney, but he makes it sound realistic and possible, and that is what makes this book succeed as well as it does.

The basic story is not too complicated. Sally Montgomery refuses to believe that her perfectly healthy little girl's death is due to SIDS. Determined to find out what really killed her baby, she braves the disbelief and worry of her husband and mother to dig into what might have happened. Meanwhile, Lucy Corliss' son Randy mysteriously disappears. As a number of distraught parents of children either missing or dead come together, hints of a terrible conspiracy begin to emerge. All of the children have been secretly studied by a mysterious entity called CHILD, and Sally uses her computer knowledge to dig up some troubling data from the kids' medical files. Suspicion turns on the doctor who delivered all of the children in question, and the action and suspense builds steadily throughout the novel. The reader gets a good idea about what is going on well before the main characters figure everything out, but Saul makes sure the ending is not anticlimactic. There are several twists at the end, one of them masterfully disguised and thus unexpected.

I believe this is one of John Saul's very best novels, but my inability to know the answer to a few questions in my mind keeps me from giving it a perfect rating. There was one element to the story that seemed important and quite fishy, but the story never went down the road I was looking for in that regard. The epilogue, while compelling, is a little rushed, and that is another tiny flaw that I take into account in designating my personal rating. Still, Saul caught be quite off-guard with one gotcha event toward the end, which really impressed me. Just like the children involved in the God Project, this novel is almost perfect. Anyone wanting to read Saul for the first time would do well to select this novel as his/her means of introduction.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars INCREDIBLE, March 2, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The God Project (Paperback)

If you like edge-of-your-seat thrillers, then this is the book for you! I've read almost all of John Saul's books, but this is the one that will haunt me forever! It's been probably 10 years since I first read it and I still get chills. Hardly any book has ever made me afraid to move when I'm finished, not to mention sleeping with the light on! This one did!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars geat idea, lousy execution, September 26, 2002

By 

Kimberley Wilson (VA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The God Project (Paperback)

You either love John Saul's work or you hate it. The God Project has an incredible plot. Really, it's a brilliant, and original idea. The problem is that Saul's writing is a heavy as lead. His characters never really come to life and his female characters are just jokes. The pace is snail slow and I was even bored for a couple of chapters. The 3 stars are strictly for the sake of the plot.