Customer Reviews

House of Reckoning

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2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

John Saul has had success as a writer of popular horror fiction for over four decades. He has maintained his popularity by continuously applying the elements of horror and conflicted characterization that signifies this genre. With HOUSE OF RECKONING, his latest effort, Saul returns to this familiar landscape and once again features his signature element: the teenaged protagonist.

High school student Sarah Crane is lamenting the loss of her mother to cancer six months earlier. This tragedy has crippled her father, Ed, and has forced him to seek solace at the bottom of the bottle. And as if things weren't bad enough, his alcohol abuse serves as the catalyst for two horrific events: the manslaughter of a fellow bar patron during a drunken brawl, and the injuring of Sarah in a drunk driving accident. The former deed places Ed in prison and Sarah in foster care.

Sarah eventually is taken in by the Garvey family. Ironically, her foster father Mitch happens to be a prison guard where Ed is being held. The Garveys are staunchly (if not hypocritically) religious, and Sarah does not fit in well there. Furthermore, she must face the constant taunts of her new high school classmates, who mock both her permanent limp and her murderer father. The only student with whom she is able to connect is another outcast, Nick Dunnigan, a delusional schizophrenic.

Sarah also finds comfort in an art class, taught by a unique character named Miss Bettina Phillips. Bettina resides alone with several dogs and cats in Shutters Mansion, a place that once served as an insane asylum. In eerie fashion, she is able to channel feelings from Bettina's home, and she begins to paint images of Shutters and some of its less-than-friendly past inhabitants. Additionally, while Sarah is painting these unfamiliar images, Nick is having visions of his own that involve acts of violence and terror stemming from the dark heart of the old asylum.

As these events begin to unfold, the Garvey family prohibits Sarah from speaking with Bettina outside of class and labels her a "witch." In similar fashion, Nick's father won't allow Nick to maintain a friendship with his new classmate and forbids his mentioning of Shutters or Bettina. Why do these adults and other members of the town seem to fear Bettina and Shutters so fiercely? What sordid secrets are they trying so desperately to hide?

At the heart of the novel is the answer to these questions, as Shutters contains more than just Bettina and her animal comrades. It also houses the history of Warwick, and the town's secrets and sins. The time for "reckoning" is now upon them as Sarah and Nick become the keys to unlocking the strange doors found inside Shutters and learning that not all past memories are benevolent.

Although HOUSE OF RECKONING wraps itself up a little too quickly, the journey to the conflicted climax is worth the trip. John Saul is at his best when he gets inside the heart and mind of his teenaged characters, and the team of Sarah Crane and Nick Dunnigan firmly represents teen angst at its darkest and most dangerous. This is a perfectly eerie tale presented just in time for the Halloween season.

--- Reviewed by Ray Palen

House of Reckoning is John Saul's 36th novel and he doesn't veer too far off the plot track of his previous 35, with spooky kids, a haunted house and a laundry list of baddies just begging to be punished.

The basic plot: Sarah Crane has led a pretty cruddy 14 years. Her mother died, and her father, drowning in his own grief, gets drunk and kills a man - and then driving home drunk, hits Sarah on her bike, breaking her hip and leg and setting into motion the remainder of the book.

Now in an abusive foster home, Sarah is an outcast, a "crip" because of her limp. Nick Dunnigan is equally shunned by his classmates; he suffers from apparent schizophrenia, hearing voices in his head. That is, until he meets Sarah. I won't spoil the second half of the book very much, but will say that Sarah, Nick and art teacher Bettina Philips have a sort of unholy connection to a former mental institution that Bettina has inherited and is living in. Anyone who's read previous John Saul novels (especially his earliest work) knows what follows; ghostly voices, a sort of psychic connection between Sarah and Nick, a house that comes alive with a vengeance (literally).

Pros for House of Reckoning: there are some interesting plot points that tie the three lead characters together, and towards the end of the book, Saul does live up to his reputation for turning on the chills. I also liked his filling out of all of the characters. Given the short-ish length of the book, it takes great skill to get into the heads of the number of characters playing key roles in the story. Saul's writing is generally crisp; there wasn't a time when I was tempted to skip ahead, even for the first half of the book, which was actually rather boring.

Cons: it took roughly 200 pages in for the real action to start. I kept expecting something, some more chilling foreshadowing or supernatural signs of where the book was heading. There was a small bit of both, between Sarah's artwork, Nick's voices and Bettina's pets going all Cujo-ish, but it just wasn't something that would make me turn all the lights on, something I actually remember doing when I read Saul's first few books, which I highly recommend for their scary quotient. The ending handful of pages, wrapping up the book were a little too..something. Pat? I can't believe I'm complaining that the storyline became unbelievable at the end, given what went on for the previous hundred pages, but it just left me thinking, "Really? So that's it?"

All in all, I would recommend this book to fans of Saul's obviously - there's nothing here that would be surprising in terms of his style, but it's still a good example of the genre and a very quick read once you get past the first couple of slow background-filling chapters. There's a bit of gore (not much), some scary endings for some characters and some overall spookiness; I would put this more on the side of paranormal suspense than a horror story.

This wouldn't be a book I'd read more than once, but it's not a bad way to spend a handful of chilly autumn hours.

While I do like John Saul's work, this book just isn't the best thing he's put out. The book promises a lot of stuff, some of which is typical Saul fare: children in peril, human & supernatural evils run amok, & twisty plot turns. Unfortunately the book just couldn't live up to those promises, at least not entirely.

The plotline follows the character of Sarah, a young girl whose mother died when she was about 14. When her father is incarcerated for a barroom brawl gone murderous, not to mention accidentally running her over, it seems as if Sarah will never be happy again. These fears only grow stronger when her new foster family is barely hospitable to her & grows even less so by each passing day. Only her art class & a strange boy lifts Sarah's spirits, even as mysteries spring up around her & evils from the past mingle with the evils of the present.

Where do I begin with the critique of this book? While I did enjoy reading this book, I just felt as if the book took the easy way out of everything. The plotline was interesting, but it felt sort of... mechanical. Everything seemed to be a little rushed & none of the book's characters or plot progression seemed to be organic. It felt more like "plot point A leads to plot point B which leads to...". Don't get me wrong- this is an enjoyable read for a few hours, but I've read far better from John Saul in the past. This just came across as sort of a first draft of sorts. It just needed to be fleshed out more & have the rough edges smoothed out. The ending especially needs to be slowed down a bit- it just seems to go a little too fast for everything that has happened. (Maybe if some of the ending happened earlier in the book?)

But overall this book was ok. (Even when he's not at his peak, Saul's still a pretty entertaining read.) Die-hard collectors of Saul will undoubtedly get this to keep their hardback collections up to date & die-hard fans will rush out to get this as well. But for the average John Saul fan, I suggest waiting for the paperback or getting it from the library. And if you haven't read Saul at all, I recommend reading some of his earlier stuff first. This book isn't bad, but it's not his best.

In a genre of implausible plots this one takes the prize. I don't think the author could decide what he wanted this book to accomplish. for me this book was all sub-plots with a weak central theme. It was almost as if the author started out with a Stephen king Carrie approach and then decided that was too obvious so he threw in a bad/evil house thing and changed Carrie to a boy....
anyway,,
there were evil Christian foster parents
the good earth mother who wasn't a witch
a father that got drunk murdered a man and ran over his daughter but who is really a good guy inside
a whole gaggle of dysfunctional church goers
and toward the end a haunted house (anyway I think its a haunted house) that sort of loosely ties everything together and does its own home maintenance.

and if you think my review cant find a center you get an idea about this book.

I have been a fan of Saul since I was barely a teenage girl. Now that I'm older, I still enjoy most of his books, even though he is not a fantastic writer. This book reads like all his other books. Meaning his style of writing has not changed. He never creates really deep characters or places. He manages to get away with this by coming up with an unusual & engaging story. An exception to that is The Manhattan Club. Pretty impressive for Saul. Written a bit better than most of his books.
I consider most of his books four star books & figured this would be the same (though I hoped it would be a five)! I had to give it three. The problem is the story doesn't make sense. I will try to explain without ruining the book for you:
There are "characters" who are very very bad. Evil in fact. A main character becomes rather afraid of them. Two other main characters are having strange dreams & it is related to the very evil "characters." Suddenly these evil "characters" are protecting all three of the main characters!?! When prior to that they seemed to be threatening one of the main characters to the point that this characters pets tried to protect them. It just didn't flow and left me baffled. The evil "characters" are in fact evil! Very evil! It just doesn't make sense. This ruined the book. If they were either good OR bad it would have made a four star book.
If you or your teens are big Saul fans then, sure thing - get the book. It's good enough to read & it is entertaining. If you have never read Saul or aren't too sure then just check it out at the library first.

I really don't know what has happened to John Saul. I have read every single book of his since the first SUFFER THE CHILDREN in 1977. I was 16 then. I look at the list of all his titles and have fond memories of some great suspense and scares provided by Mr. Saul. His basic theme was to have the main character be an innocent child in a very dangerous situation. He managed to write of teens in a way that adults could enjoy. His books were never about huge character development but moreso about atmosphere, story and scares. His children chararacters were always a liitle unrealistic but it worked for the stories purpose. I loved NATHANIEL, BRAINCHILD, CREATURE, DARKNESS and SHADOWS. Seemed that after this novel many of his main characters were adults and he couldn't handle them very well. He followed Stephen King in the serial novel style with THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES which was pretty succesful but after this his books have been hit or miss and there is no continuity of being guaranteed a great read with John Saul.

HOUSE OF RECKONING to me has absolutely no cohesiveness and there are way too many separate parts that the writer must force together at the end. Sarah looses her mother and her father ends up in prison thus Sarah gets placed in foster care. Surprise, surprise the family is cruel to her and abusive. This could have been a good basis for a story but suddenly the Garveys, the family with whom she was placed, aren't such central characters. We also have Nick who seems to have serious mental problems. He has been hospitalized and hears voices, etc. He befriends Sarah ( who is also crippled.) There is also a teacher who befriends her but this is where the problems truly start. All the adults consider her to truly be a witch and the Garveys tell Sarah she cannot socialize with her. All these story lines do fall together but in the most bizarre unrealistic fashion.

All the adults truly consider the teacher a witch. It is not just town lore but a fact. Also, not only the teens but also the adults including the chief of police pick on Sarah and Nick for their disabilities - his mental problems and her being crippled. On top of this we add in what could be a whole other novel. Bettina Philips, the teacher, also lives in an old house SHUTTERS which used to be a prison. Even though this takes up as much of the book as Sarah and her foster family it makes no sense. The house itself conveniently becomes a huge character in this book. Not a scary one though. Just one that will make you wonder what Mr. Saul will add to the mix next.

So many problems. Characters that are in no way relatable or developed enough to truly care about, plot lines and actions that pop up merely to carry the story line. I must admit that during the supposed suspenseful ending of this book I was actually laughing by how unbelievable and poorly written it truly was. John Saul used to be considered the everyman's Stephen King. You knew what you would get from him and it was good. I did like his last book FACES OF FEAR and find this such a drop in quality. I look at what I finished reading and can't help but question who is his editor? his friends? Didn't he have any unbiased person to read this and warn him how bad it truly was. Poorly written and poorly conceived. Wait for paperback on this one or make it a library read. I used to get so excited over a new John Saul but must admit I fear a time may come I don't even pick up his new books.

As a regular reader of John Saul, I have found his books to be hit or miss. House of Reckoning falls in the middle, but it so could have been a "hit" except that it read more like an advanced outline than a complete novel. I wanted to know more about all of the primary characters; they all come off as sketchy to some degree with none completely developed. For the most part, there is just enough information to provide some understanding of character motivation, but a few are glaringly in need of a more in-depth study before the action starts. In particular, more adult character development is needed to avoid contradictions and outright confusion. Sarah, the protagonist, considers Kate the social worker to be her friend, but only the briefest of an explanation is provided. Without more back story, the feelings between the two do not come off as real. Angie, the foster mom, is presented as a women that we are to believe has deep religious convictions. Yet, her actions are cruel and money oriented with no regard for her young, disabled, charge. Where's the back story that helps us understand how she can be both deeply religious and indifferent to a child's pain. The male adults suffer even more from being little more than character shells. With the exception of Sarah's dad, we learn little about any of the males except that they are obtuse and/or evil. Barely alluded to is the huge back story of the house referenced in the title. We know little more than the house was once part of a larger complex that included a hospital for the criminally insane. In again what seems to be little more than outline form, references are made to a history of misdeeds and cruelties that occurred in both the house and prison/asylum. It is as if the author outlined a story but then ran out of time or incentive to develop more than a few of the individual components. Was the mortgage due? Perhaps the purchase of a big ticket item was dependent on calling this novel complete. Maybe the author just got lazy. Whatever the case, this is a book I would buy only in paperback with the intent to pass it on to another person in need of a quick poolside read. It's not a book for your collection to be read and enjoyed multiple times in years to come.

House of Reckoning starts off with a father and daughter at a nice farm in Vermont on a lovely fall day.Ed Crane and daughter Sarah are alone because the wife and mother died 6 months earlier. Ed has started drinking and Sarah is trying to keep the farm going. She is only 14 years old. That night Ed gets into a bar fight and kills a man, on his way home he strikes Sarah with his truck( she was on a bike out looking for him) breaking her leg and hip. Ed goes to prison and Sarah goes into foster care with a perfectly horrible family. The school kids make fun of her and her only friend is Nick Dunnigan who has hallucinations. Sarah is outstanding in Art and her Art teacher is the only adult who shows her any kindness. Then the horror starts, I won't be a spoiler, only say that it is really scary and keeps you reading. I read it on a gloomy rainy day and that helped with that scary mood.

Not to say other titles haven't fit a book well, but never has a better title been penned. This book was fascinating; the twists and turns the story took kept me turning, page after page. Although seeing this on the big screen would intrigue me--and unquestionably countless others--I'm sure; this book is the perfect example of why movies aren't always as good as their literary namesakes. Sarah Crane is a strong, determined, brave young lady who faces countless obstacles in overcoming the raw deal she received in her life. With a much-loved, deceased mother and a father who will spend the rest of his life in prison, she embarks on a journey of self-discovery that even she didn't know would happen given the way she was hurled into the "system", injured hip and leg first.

"Shutters"--the house--has a personality all its own. The story is so well done; it actually becomes one of the characters in the book. You are on pins and needles waiting to see what it will do next, as if it was a living, breathing human being. The things it "does" and the "changes" that take place are spellbinding and I was riveted.

Nick--the other kids' favorite outcast until she came along--is the best thing that happens to her. I don't want to give anything away, but their relationship is not your average "two kids meet and find common ground" pairing. They are truly tied on a much deeper, more profound level. Read this book, I actually got goosebumps--something that never happens to me when I'm reading. John Saul writes so well--no shock there--that the pictures he paints with his words leap from the pages and you will be captivated from the first word to the last.

I liked The House of Reckoning by John Saul because it was so strange and gripping. It made me want to keep reading to see what would happen and drew me in right from the start. I immediately liked the main character, Sarah, a 14-yr. old who was plowed into by her drunk father on her way to the bar to bring him home and was put into foster care when her father was taken to prison for killing the man he fought with at the bar. She was befriended by a boy at school who was an outcast because he hallucinated so was viewed as a nut case. That's when spooky things began happening. The ending was just so far out that I felt it pushed the book into the fantasy or science fiction category. When the house actually became alive, it was even beyond creepy and eerie. This isn't the type of book I normally read but it made for a great change of pace.