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3.61 AVERAGE
3.61 AVERAGE
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Meh. It started out good and kinda creepy and then it got weird.
I'm a completionist, so I usually start new authors with their first works. Some come out swinging then worsen over time like Patterson, and others are awful and then warm up with practice. I'm hoping Saul is the latter, since it is hard to find good horror writers and he has quite a bit out. His first attempt makes me nervous though. A few moments of thrill on a background of bore.
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Minor: Child abuse, Incest
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
This is my second John Saul book, and the second John Saul book where I've been pleasantly surprised by the fact that they're not as bad as I thought they'd be. This book opens with the murder and SA of an 11 year old child, which made me very nervous about the content of the rest of the book, but it luckily comes up very little in the book itself and it's never treated voyeuristically, which occasionally happens with this.
I did side-eye, however, the man who beat his daughter so badly that she then suffered from life-long mental health issues and trauma so strong that it caused her to become mute, who was let off with a "oh you were drunk so it's okay ndb really the real victim here is you" sort of attitude.
Anyway, the book was fine. It was entertaining, though occasionally veered sharply in directions I was less than thrilled about. Overall, it was okay-ish.
I did side-eye, however, the man who beat his daughter so badly that she then suffered from life-long mental health issues and trauma so strong that it caused her to become mute, who was let off with a "oh you were drunk so it's okay ndb really the real victim here is you" sort of attitude.
Anyway, the book was fine. It was entertaining, though occasionally veered sharply in directions I was less than thrilled about. Overall, it was okay-ish.
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Loved it!
Wish the ending hadn't been so abrupt
Poor Sarah :(
Also, hard to believe how everyone kind of let go, """forgive""", the fact that Jack beat his daughter to the point that she was in hospital for 3 months, and also wanted to rape her. People were too nice to Jack
Also fuck Sylvia. What a pick me. Imagine still having an affair with Jack after knowing the horrific things he done
Wish the ending hadn't been so abrupt
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Child death
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Incest, Pedophilia, Sexual violence, Vomit
Minor: Confinement, Infidelity, Panic attacks/disorders, Suicide, Grief, Death of parent
John Saul is clearly a talented writer and knows how to spin a yarn. This book starts super atmospheric and engaging, luring you along a path that is riddled with dead children, family curses, and dark secrets. But I will say that after the first half of the book it lost its appeal a bit for me. I think perhaps because I'm someone reading this in the 2020s and this is a book written in the 70s? Or that I am just a sensitive person to these things? But this book got gratuitously gross and intense and almost exploitative. I know with books in the 70s of this nature that may be par for the course, but when it regards children (as the title suggests) and it is handled in a tactless way, seeking to titilate and shock the viewer, I want to put the book down and not return. It's what Stephen King would call a "gross out" horror novel, filled with gore and violence portrayed in exploitatively descriptive ways. Though the writing was initially so beautiful, it veered into a rushed hack-job towards the end (and not in the fun "hack-job" way these books usually go for). I would say if you want an atmospheric and deeply upsetting book about child abuse and murder and don't care about the problematic aspects, here you go. If not I think you should read something that handles the topic in a tactful way.
dark
tense