Customer Reviews (3)

have to read
A friend of mine read these two out of the three books (suffer the children and cry for the strangers)and then she lent them to me to read, she told me that I would love them so I read them and she was
right they are great. Now I am buying them so I can read them againI don't often find books by the same author that I like, but John Saul's novels are great and I am looking forward to reading Punish the Sinners.

New fan of John Saul
I borrowed this book from a friend to read at work (which is a very boring job).Not with this book!It has kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.I can't wait to get back to work to finish reading it!Now, that is terrifying!

Still the Best!
Being a John Saul fan since Suffer The Children, I'm glad to see these offered in a set. These three, along with Comes the Blind Fury are still my favorites. Each has its own unique spine-tinglingness. Even after I'vefinished his newest one, these still remain in my fondest memories. If youlike his work and haven't read these, you're missing the best! ... Read more

Book Description
"All the right scares in all the right places." The Seattle Times
A telephone rings in the dead of night with shocking news for single mother MaryAnne Carpenter: her friends the Wilkensons are suddenly, inexplicably dead, their only child, Joey, a sad and silent adolescent and MaryAnne's godchild, abruptly orphaned. But as MaryAnne rushes with her family to the Wilkenson's ranch to embrace her young charge, disturbing questions mount. Was it an accident that killed her friends? Or murder?
Now, as winter transforms the ranch into a place of blinding, dangerous storms, a series of horrific murders, killings that suggest a raging animal and defy solution by the local police, draw ever closer to MaryAnne and her young family. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (23)

what a marvellous piece of entertainment!
well,here is an interesting piece of work.I was a bit hesitant at first to write a review,because most of the reviews that have already been written by readers are quite well done.But,however,I have notice that there are gaps and pieces of this hugely chilling book that were not mentioned.So,writing this review now,I am going to explain what I could about the story,but from a different angle to that taken by the other reviewers.
But I must warn you,however,that all my points on the story may not be in order,that is simply because the story takes a while to unravel,and some things happen in the ending of the story which,in fact,shoud have been at the beginning!But nevertheless it is a great read and not too long to bore anybody out.And I definitely recommend it.It is a guarantee.

So,here goes the plot:
(like I said,I would attempt to explain this story from an angle that most of the reviews have chosen to ignore).

Some people in a penitentary were given a choice:if they volunteered for a highly classified experiment,they would get a chance to be released from prison,the ones that volunteered,signed an agreement.(this part of the story was mentioned in the ending!)
Now,the good part.The purpose of the experiment was to make the human body stronger and more resistant to diseases.So,genetic material from an animal(wolf)was taken and used to do this...
Now,a prisoner named Shane Slater,volunteered.He was taken to a hospital where the experiment was being conducted.Everything went quite nicely until he miraculously escaped.(most of the infromation about how he exactly escaped was not mentioned in the book,apparently the author kept it away to keep the story short,but it kept me guessing!).
Then as a result the experiment on Shane began a change to his body,sort of like a mutation,if you will.
He developed a craving for raw meat,his senses were more keen,he grew alot of hair on his body and his body size was even bigger!But all these things began to happen over a period of time...
He ran away from the hospital to a town where he fell in love with a woman.But when the FBI suddenly showed up in the town,looking for him,he disappeared into the hills and was not seen until about thirteen years later.
Meanwhile this woman got married to a man and had a son named Joey.A very rich man,that is.But it later turned out(very far in the story,that is)thatJoey is Shane's son.
So,listen carefully.If Shane had mutated genes which gave his certain characteristics.Then,Joey,obviously would have this as well...
Now,the few killings that happened in the story was basically by an accident.Because when the "urge" came over Shane(hidden in the hills,still) he ended up killing people at a campsite.But he was fully aware that he had a son because his instincts told him that.And Joey also had the same feeling although he was unable to explain it.
So,the story is circled around the fact that Shane wanted to find his son and Kill him.And also to warn Joey's mother and stepfather about Joey's condition
But in the very beginning of story,what happens is that:while Joey's stepfather is taking care of his horse,Shane suddenly shows up,not wanting to hurt anyone but only to talk to the stepfather,but the horse was suddenly nervous and trampled over the stepfather,killing him...
That same day,Joey's mother was on top on a cliff,highly distressed by what happenend and she was also looking for Joey who was in the bush somewhere.But Shane appeared suddenly,and she got scared of the strange dark scary figure that was coming towards here,and she fell of the cliff,dying.(now,it is not known if any of the victims clearly saw Shane)...
So,here is where "the Guardian" comes in,hence the name of the story.Marianne,Joey's god mother legally became his guardian after Joey was left without his mother of stepfather to look after him.

Now,what happens from here is important but not as important as what I have already written.And most of what I haven't written are already done by other reviews.I just wanted to write what they left out...

So,I would just write a little more...While taking care of Joey,Suzanne and her kids noticed that something was unusual about he boy...Joey,poor boy,literally put Suzanne through hell.
And Suzanne was recently getting over the shock that her husband had been cheating on her...She surely went through alot...And now she has to deal with the terror of Joey and his development into a so called "werewolf".

Now,I guess I have said alot,and I hope that It gives you the general idea of this magnificently written book...enjoy...Nigel

You'll Lose Sleep Over This One!
GUARDIAN was the first novel by John Saul that I read. I don't remember who recommended this author to me, but I'm very grateful for that advice, even though it cost me a few nights of sleep!

GUARDIAN is the story of Mary Anne Carpenter who moves to Idaho with her two children to become the guardian of her teenage godson who has recently become orphaned (hence the book title). The people in the small town where they now reside don't seem to like her godson, while Mary Anne is trying to understand why they have an aversion to him, she learns about a series of brutal murders in the nearby area. Could they all be connected?

Picturesque Idaho is the backdrop and a teenager that has just lost his parents is one of the main characters, what's so scary about that? You'd think moving to a ranch in Idaho is a dream come true, even if the circumstances are not perfect in the beginning, but this is far from the ideal situation.

Believe me, this is one of the most frightening books I've ever read. It wasn't scary so much for the content and the exact story line, but my imagination went into over-drive because of this book. "What if" became the beginning to many of my ideas and I didn't sleep well for several nights because the premise of this "villain" was so diabolical and present in all of our lives. Could this work of fiction actually come true, not exactly as written, but in an offshoot? You bet it could and that fact is what scared me the most.

I've recommended this book to several friends, all of whom have loved it. Those who never read anything written by John Saul also became avid fans. If you don't mind losing a few nights sleep (first by wanting to finish the book, then because of nightmares) and if you want to be intrigued from the first page until the last, then this is the book for you.

Easy read, but the story lacks substance.
I've read quite a few of John Saul's novels and I have to say I think I'm growing tired of him. This book just doesn't do it for me. His storytelling skills are remarkable but the plot of this book lacks intensity, interest, and believability. I know Saul can do better than this. If you are looking for a better JS book try God Project or Nathaniel. I give this 2.5 stars.

Good Biogenetic Werewolf Book
"Guardian" is one of the least memorable books that I've read by John Saul. I had to flip back through it before I started to remember what it was all about.

It starts off in Canaan, New Jersey, where MaryAnne Carpenter lives with her two kids: 13-year-old Alison and 10-year-old Logan--but quickly moves on to Sugarloaf, Idaho, where MaryAnne's 13-year-old godchild (Joey Wilkenson) is suddenly orphaned when his parents die in separate, but suspicious, accidents. Being the godmother, MaryAnne is deemed his guardian, though it's the mysterious man living in the woods with a wolf that the title is referring to, a man Joey unknowingly has a lot in common with.

Shortly after MaryAnne and her two kids arrive on the Wilkenson's ranch, several brutal attacks occur which lead everyone to believe a wild animal is loose nearby--though MaryAnne begins to suspect something else from her moody young charge.

I'm a sucker for werewolf books, so I enjoyed "Guardian." The biogenetic twist on the mutations was a refreshing take, but a lot of the other twists weren't too surprising. The ending is left open for a possible sequel; but, so far, one hasn't been put out, though I prefer it just the way it is. If you're a Saul fan, then you'll probably enjoy this one.

Quite good
I'd love reading this book, the story keeps you interested all the time, at first the plot of the book makes you think that is a monster on the mountain, but at the end when you see why he was a monster you will think if that could be possible.
It has two ro three things that you wouldn't do if you were MaryAnne Carpenter, but maybe that is part of the book to keep you interested in the story, apart of that is a very well written book. ... Read more

Amazon.com
There's no such thing as a happy family in John Saul's dark imagination. He made this chillingly clear in Suffer the Children and The Right Hand of Evil, and he deepens this impression in Nightshade, a perfectly macabre tale of a household ripped apart by malevolent forces.

Meet New Hampshire couple Bill and Joan Hapgood and their teenage son, Matt. They have a huge home, many friends, and the glow of Matt's glory as a high school football star. Life couldn't be sweeter, right? Wrong!

Trouble begins when Joan's mother, Emily, accidentally burns down her own house and moves in with the Hapgoods. Matt is terrified of his foul-tempered grandmother, who refers to him as "Joan's bastard." Emily's odd behavior reaches a fever pitch when she insists that the bedroom of her long-dead (and much-favored) elder daughter, Cynthia, be recreated, prom dress, dolls, and all. The household's normal warmth vanishes, "the sense of welcome and comfort was gone." Matt complains of strange, perverted dreams in which the staggeringly beautiful Cynthia visits him, leaving behind the pungent scent of her Nightshade perfume. Joan also feels the presence of her dead sister, and has painful flashbacks to a childhood best left forgotten. A murder and three disappearances befall the small town, Matt spirals into depression, and Joan loses her mind. Throw in child abuse, torture, and a wickedly irritable ghost, and we have one whopper of a nightmare. Nightshade contains gobs of gore, melodramatic (and occasionally bumbling) prose, and a deviant, twisted ending--John Saul's famous recipe for family disaster and reader delight. --Naomi Gesinger Book Description
A master of horror and psychological suspense, John Saul taps into our darkest, most deeply guarded fears. Now the New York Times bestselling author of The Blackstone Chronicles and The Right Hand of Evil has created his most gripping novel yet, the terrifying story of an innocent teenager who must confront the sins of the past and a corrupting evil that threatens to consume his entire world. . . .

Fifteen-year-old Matthew Moore seems to have it all: a loving mother, Joan; a caring stepfather, Bill, who treats Matt like his own son; residence at a sprawling estate in Connecticut; and a growing relationship with the most beautiful girl at school. All signs point to a bright future. Until fate intervenes.

A sudden fire leaves Matt's ailing grandmother homeless. After moving in with the family, the caustic Emily insists on recreating the bedroom of her deceased daughter, the favored child who died tragically more than a decade ago. Joan and her older sister had always shared an uneasy bond and a shameful secret that would forever join them . . . even from beyond the grave.

Then Matt's life insidiously begins to change. He starts to smell his aunt?s pungent perfume, so strong and immediate that it is as if she has returned from the dead. At night, he finds himself haunted by nightmares of unimaginable terror. While his grandmother drives a wedge between his once devoted parents, Matt transforms from a gregarious teenager to a hostile loner, tortured by chilling memories and prone to fits of rage.

Then a shocking tragedy shatters the family beyond repair, propelling Joan and Emily into a final, explosive confrontation . . . a showdown in which old wounds will be viciously torn open?and a horrific shadow from the past will spring an implacable life of its own, clawing toward Matt with the ferocious inevitability of death itself.


From the Hardcover edition.Download Description
The master of terror and psychological suspense, John Saul taps into our darkest, most deeply guarded fears in his most gripping novel yet, the terrifying story of an innocent teenager who must confront the cursed sins of the past -- and an evil so corrupting that it threatens to consume his entire world ....

Nightmares become reality... and from the fire emerges a malevolent presence.

Fifteen-year-old Matt Moore has a loving mother and a caring stepfather, a host of friends, and a growing relationship with the most beautiful girl at school. All signs point to a bright future, until fate intervenes. A sudden fire leaves Matt's senile and troubled grandmother homeless. When she moves in with the family, her ceaseless demands cause unrelieved tension -- and with her comes a shameful secret between her daughters that traps young Matt between a dead aunt who haunts him and his own mother, who seeks redemption for her sister's sins -- and her own.

A horrific shadow from the past... and a shocking tragedy in the present.

To save himself and those he loves, Matt must eventually face the forces of evil and destruction -- alone. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (83)

Classic Saul
Joan Hapgood has a pretty good life - a handsome, successful husband, a beautiful east coast home in a picturesque town, and a high school golden boy in their teenage son Matt.Things are good until Joan's crabby old mother, Emily, burns down her own house and has to move in with Joan and her family.From the first, the idea is a disaster.Emily is foul-tempered and seems to despise her own daughter, making it clear instead how much she adores and misses Joan's elder sister, Cynthia, who died years before, and wishes it were Joan who had died instead.Joan's happy life begins to quickly slide downhill as living once again with her mother brings back painful memories and turns her into a timid, fearful girl again.

Even more affected than Joan is her son Matt, whom the grandmother seems to loathe even more than she loathes her daughter.She calls him "the bastard" when she pays him any attention at all, and while he feels he can ignore her rudeness, what he can't deal with are the strange, erotic dreams he begins to have of his Aunt Cynthia.Matt's and Joan's lives are both spiraling downwards for reasons they don't understand, and when several murders and the disappearance of the old woman begin to shake things up even more, many forces seem to converge at once to one nightmarish end.

One review here said it like this: " ...gobs of gore, melodramatic (and occasionally bumbling) prose, and a deviant, twisted ending -- John Saul's famous recipe for family disaster and reader delight."That's pretty apt.It's classic John Saul, for better or worse!

TinaM
This was the first time reading a John Saul book.I had read a few reviews and it sounded like it would be spooky which I like, however, he did not scare me at all and I kept waiting for it to happen.Did not care much for the characters in this book either.The main female character just kind of drove me crazy, did not like her.Anyway, as I said it was my first time reading Mr. Saul so I probably should not judge too harshly, but I was not impressed or scared.

When reality starts to fade
A macabre tale of nightmares that delivers on all levels.Poor Matt Hapgood's life takes a turn for the worse when his ailing grandmother moves in with them.Soon, he is having erotic dreams, and hearing things in his bedroom.His mother is slowly going insane and after his stepfather is killed in a hunting mishap Matt himself thinks he is going mad as well.
I found the book to be rather riveting although I cheated a little and read the Amazon reviews half way through the book so the ending wasn't entirely surprising.Yes its been done before but the story was good and gripped me which is the highest praise one can give a book of this type.Still I have a few minor quibbles.The first being the sexual abuse taking place.I'm not sure if we are meant to believe that all the sexual activity taking place in Matt's room was spiritual in nature or more of the physical variety.If the ladder is true then I just find it hard to believe someone could be fondling him and he would simply not wake up and realize who it was.Sleep or no sleep he would know for a fact who was in the room with him.After all, he was brought to the height of sexual pleasure and there was evidence of that in the morning; I've herd of sleep walking but never of sleep fornicating.Another minor point is the amount of verbal abuse Joan received from her mother.It was all too clear that Joan was ill equip to take care of her mother and that it was surprising that she kept insisting she could.Apart from those two points the book was good with a satisfying ending and if Saul so chose could write a sequel to it.I listened to the MP3 CD version which was read well though at times the reader held back a little in articulating emotions.B+

Good, but sometimes a little repetitive
This is my first time reading John Saul, and I must say I really enjoyed this book. The characters were very well drawn out and were given great personalities. It was a very well written book, but the only thing that got me at a time was that it seemed repetitive. First it would show Joan being crazy, Matt getting [...] at school, and then Kelly's dad being a psycho a little too much...seemed somewhat repetitive but other than that, a great read.

A littel different from his earlier books
This is a bit different from his earlier books. Not quite as much supernatural and more psycology is involved. But still a very good book and thrilling read. Even if you get a bit "irritated" by some of the characters, you do get the answer in the end. It also makes you think about how important earlier events in a persons life, can cause trouble for later generations. So even if you are not into ghosts, goblins and evil forces, this is one book by this author that you still can enjoy a lot. I recommend this book, even if I liked his early ones, like "Cry for the strangers" and "When the wind blows" better. ... Read more

catalog copy and individual title synopsis
This collection contains terrific tales of terror and suspense from a million-copy-plus national bestseller. Brainchild: Alex Lonsdale was one of the most popular kids in La Paloma, California. Until a brilliant doctor's medical miracle brought him back from the brink of death. Now, Alex seems the same. But in his eyes there is a blankness. In his heart there is coldness. If his parents, his friends, his girlfriend could see inside his brain, inside his dreams, they would be terrified. One hundred years ago in La Paloma, a terrible deed was done. A cry for vengeance pierced the night. That evil still lives. That vengeance still waits. Waits for Alex Lonsdale. Waits for the...Brainchild.Nathaniel: For a hundred years, the people of Prairie Bend have whispered Nathaniel's name in wonder and fear. Some say he is a folktale, created to frighten children on cold winter nights. Some swear he is a terrifying spirit returned to avenge the past. But soon ... very soon ... some will learn that Nathaniel lives still--that he is darkly, horrifyingly real. Nathaniel--he is the voice that calls to young Michael Hall across the prairie night ... the voice that draws the boy into the shadowy depths of the old, crumbling, forbidden barn ... that changing, compelling voice he will follow faithfully beyond the edge of terror. The God Project: Something is happening to the children of Eastbury, Massachusetts. Something that causes healthy babies to turn cold in their cribs. Something that strikes at the heart of every parent's darkest fears. Something is taking the children one by one. Now, an entire town waits on the edge of panic for the next nightmare. There must be a reason for the terror. They all know it. But no one ever suspected... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

three great book is one
I have read all three of these books. I wish they would have had them inone complete novel when I was looking for them. These books show John Saulsamazing ability to write books. ... Read more

Product Description
438 pages. ... Read more

Book Description
A century ago, a gentle blind girl walked the cliffs of Paradise Point. Then the children came -- taunting, teasing -- until she lost her footing and fell, shrieking her rage to the drowning sea... Now Michelle has come from Boston to live in the big house on Paradise Point. She is excited about her new life, ready to make new friends... until a hand reaches out of the swirling mists -- the hand of blind child. She is asking for friendship... seeking revenge... whispering her name... ... Read more

Customer Reviews (25)

Suspenseful, Creepy Ghost Story
This book captivated my attention even though it was very creepy and spooky. It's the only ghost story I ever read so don't really have anything to compare it to. I can't really say I liked it, because I don't like being creeped out and scared, but if you do, then this books for you. It's about a girl, Amanda, who was blind and was forced off a cliff, died and now haunts other 12-yr. old girls. Michelle, an adopted girl, moved from Boston to Paradise Point and found an old doll in her house the she named "Amanda." The ghost girl came to visit her and they became friends. When someone teased Michelle, the ghost would come and arrange some sort of "accident" so they would die. This happens over and over to build up the suspense and excitement. I'm not going to tell the ending though, because I don't want to spoil it for you.

--Karen Arlettaz Zemek, Author of "My Funny Dad, Harry"

My favorite from Saul
'Comes the Blind Fury' is by far my favorite book from John Saul.I found many of his others to be formulaic.

Kind of interesting at first, but disappointing ending.
I have to say that the beginning of the book was riveting: How Michelle started to "change" little by little without knowing it, still retaining her innocence, but becoming more and more suceptible to the voice that she hears. I have to say it did not sound like I had heard it before.
Then there was the middle: It started to get predictable. I don't mind predictable if the plot begins to unravel and the mysteries unfold. But in this book the only "plot twist" about the fate of the nude woman I had already guessed the first few minutes into the book. I kept thinking that there was going to be a plot twist in the end. What a disappointment! I got to the end of the book and not only was it boring "gee another kid bites the dust", but you never learn the story of how this "possession" occurs or what mystical power enables such. You never learn where Amanda goes. It just has a "dumb" plot as effortless as that adjective may appear. Unfortunately this book does not even deserve a better written review!!!

Of course it is bad.Of course.
I finished "Cry for Strangers" and felt the story silly.Now I am half way into "Comes the Blind Furry" and decided that this is going to be the last John Saul book I will ever read.

The main problem with John Saul is that there is no strength in his stories.The main characters are either too stupid to fugure out things or too weak to act on things.The supporting characters shair the same problem with added indeference.

Stories don't have to have happy endings.Main characters don't have to be perfect.But they have to have something different about them to attaract the readers.John Saul's characters are too bland, too mediocre to carry a story.And it is just painful to read.

holy wow!
Oh, goodness,one of the best books I've ever read. People say it doesn't make sense but think about it! After she falls off the bluff running away from the mocking children on the beach her life takes a giant leap for the worse.Amanda ,the ghost, uses Michelle to see what she wants and Michelle is blamed for everyone she killed. I felt so bad for Michelle and angry towards her father who practically dis-owned her because of what had happened in the past. her new sister didn't help Michelle feel anymore important either.It was so sad that it actually made me cry.I was really disappointed with the ending but the whole book in general was fantastic! ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Vague notions hiding behind vague, incomprehensible writing
I stopped reading this book after the chapter on 'Common Sense'.. in it Saul argues that there is a common body of knowledge in the world that cannot be transcribed by language and that transcends reasoning. He bemoans the increasing specialization of knowledge away from "common sense" and the worship of reason. I can't help but think of all the times when what was 'common knowledge' has been disproved or changed by what he derides as 'pure reasoning'.. e.g., the flat-earth idea, racial hierarchy, the planet being less than 5000 years old, etc. I also fail to see how knowledge is 'common', seeing as how it is tainted by our own views and prejudices. To be fair to him, he does try to differentiate his idea of 'common sense' from superstition, but doesn't specify where the line is drawn.. is it common sense that women are bad drivers or is it just superstition.. or is it a prejudiced world view that can be disproved by objective reasoning?

He fails to take into account the fact that as our body of knowledge has increased (through understanding and objective reasoning), we have come to rely on it more than on gut instinct and perceived common sense. There is a lot that we know but we don't understand but we rely on the fact that someone, somewhere has understood it. I know that human beings evolved from single celled organisms - I don't claim to understand it completely, but I know that someone, somewhere does and if I wanted to I could look it up. If I claim that it is common knowledge that the world is ruled by invisible purple monkeys, who is going to be the arbitrator of that claim? Science by majority voting?

In all the writing doesn't flow smoothly and I decided that it wasn't worth deciphering his ideas - it's just another case of "I don't understand it so it must be wrong".

Challenging and Mind-Expanding
I really enjoyed this book.Saul's writing is somewhat challenging, but with effort it becomes rhythmic.I valued his perpectives on human orientations and how they balance each other.The notion of "equilibrium" in human activities is a sound one, especially in these times, in which we face so many imbalances in the environment, wealth, power, justice, and opportunity.

Vague, wandering and self-indulgent
John Ralston Saul does not like rationalism. For him reality is too complex to be captured within any rational scheme. Instead he says that we should embrace the complexity and be guided by our common sense (shared knowledge), ethics, intuition etc. We must keep all of these qualities in equilibrium since by embracing one we will be captured by ideology.

Does this sound vague and ultimately self-justifying? Does the maintenance of an equilibrium between vaguely defined qualities and the rejection of rational analysis seem to be a means of justifying one's own favorite beliefs? This book certainly seems to answer these questions in the affirmative. Ralston Saul begins with general questions but the answers that he comes up with always justifyhis social democratic positions on the political issues that were current at the time that this book was published in 2001. Who knew that the anti-globalization movement found its justification in common sense? Who knew that there need be no debate on anthropogenic global warming since it is common sense.

This book is vague, wandering and self-indulgent. There is no philosophical or political insight here that could not be found in a coffee shop conversation.

This book is not worth buying.

It's true; we need each other
Saul's main idea is that there are six qualities - common sense, ethics, imagination, intuition, memory, reason - we need to keep in appropriate balance ("equilibrium") if we are to live in prosperity and peace.What this comes down to in overly simple terms is that we need to be aware that other people have points of view that are not identical to ours, but are not all that distant, either.In other words, we should pay attention to, and take seriously, what others have to say.Saul believes that when we make wealth our primary goal, we ignore the differences presented by others and force the world into our vision of it.This makes for dullness.He has a great point; we don't reach the good life by marching to our own beat.We get their by sharing shoes with others.The book can be frustrating at times, since he digresses every now and then.But there are many gems.

Unnecessarily obscure
Saul presents some intriguing and pertinent ideas in Equilibrium. Moreover, they are understandable ideas. At least they would have been understandable if he had taken the time to write a book that didn't have to be deciphered. ... Read more

Amazon.com
John Saul has been giving readers the jitters since the publication of Suffer the Children in 1977. His 22nd twisted tale, The Right Hand of Evil is another nerve shaker.

The Conway family is in deep financial trouble. Ted Conway would rather knock back bourbon than support his family, and Janet Conway's career as an artist is going nowhere. Happily, the three Conway children--toddler Molly and 15-year-old twins Jared and Kimberley--seem well adjusted. Of course happy children to not make for good horror material, so dark times are just around the corner.

Ted receives an unexpected call from a Louisiana sanatorium, where his aged Aunt Cora is dying. Cora wants to convey a final message to her only surviving family members. She rasps out the ominous words, "I can see it. Stay away! Stay away from here!" Her words are futile--the financially strapped Ted moves his family into Cora's old house, a house deeded to them in a family trust.

Young Kimberley instantly feels a dark presence in the dilapidated Victorian house: "Suddenly her skin was crawling, as if a large insect were creeping across her neck." Tragedy upon tragedy strikes the family. Kim's beloved cat disappears and is sacrificed in a black-magic ceremony; an evil presence takes over Jared's mind--transforming him into the most rotten of bad seeds; the wails of a dead infant fill Kim's head, driving her to the edge of insanity. The family has fallen victim to a centuries-old curse--a curse that threatens to wipe out the Conway name.

Although there is nothing particularly original or earth shattering about this haunted-house story, The Right Hand of Evil is still a welcome piece of escapism. Read it at your peril. --Naomi GesingerBook Description
When the Conways move into their ancestral home in Louisiana after the death of an estranged aunt, it is with the promise of a new beginning. But the house has a life of its own. Abandoned for the last forty years, surrounded by thick trees and a stifling sense of melancholy, the sprawling Victorian house seems to swallow up the sunlight. Deep within the cold cellar and etched into the very walls is a long, dark history of the Conway name--a grim bloodline poisoned by suicide, strange disappearances, voodoo rituals, and rumors of murder. But the family knows nothing of the soul-shattering secrets that snake through generations of their past. They do not know that terror awaits them. For with each generation of the Conways comes a hellish day of reckoning. . . .Download Description
When the Conways move into their ancestral home in Louisiana after the death of an estranged aunt, it is with the promise of a new beginning. But the house has a life of its own. Deep within the cold cellar and etched into the very walls is a long, dark history of the Conway name -- a grim bloodline poisoned by suicide, strange disappearances, voodoo rituals, and rumors of murder. But the family knows nothing of the soul-shattering secrets that snake through generations of their past. They do not know that terror awaits them. For with each generation of the Conways comes a hellish day of reckoning. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (116)

From J. Kaye's Book Blog
Let me begin with I am a fan of Saul's - have been forever and ever. So if you are a fan, don't throw stones at me when I say - this wasn't his best work. I've read some killer books and this just wasn't one. And no, it wasn't as bad as it could have been either and at least it had an ending - unlike King's Cell.

The plot was good and the characters were okay. I guess in the end, the book felt a bit beneath his usual professional style.

The Limp Hand of Evil


Oh the horror!A big old house, with a mysterious past, a sudden change in personalities; satanic sacrifices and a small town gripped by the force of evil; does it all sound thrilling?Well, this book contains all that but it somehow manages to reduce it all to the most tripe story possible.The Conways have inherited a house from a long lost dying Aunt and as they start to move in strange things begin to occur.I love a good horror story and like some I don't get tired of using familiar plotlines as long as a refreshing twist is added or it is well written."Right Hand" seldom delivers on the former and does a fair job on the ladder.The beginning was great and the middle build up the suspense but the ending was a complete let down.After reading it, I scratched my head and said, "Was that all that had to be done to set things right?"We have this evil presents taking over a family and causing the son and father to do nasty things but in the end it can't even put up a good fight.At least in the "Exorcist" there was a royal battle taking place here the battle between good and evil is over before it even begins.I think Mr. Saul grew tired and decided to ended with the first thing he thought of; sorry but the ending is just plain lazy and spoils the entire story.Another disappointment for me personally was how mute the horror really was.Sure there are animal sacrifices but a human one would have added to the gore factor.The sex was also quite tame as if Saul wasn't sure he really wanted to go there or not.I kept waiting to see if Jared and Luke would go at it or if Jared and his sister would get closer but alas nothing more then dream like sequences took place.Saul hinted at a possible nasty outcome regarding the union between Luke and Sandra but the dumb ending took care of that.All and all, while the story kept you interested there weren't many surprises or terrifying moments to be had and some chapters were just plain filler.Saul did pay homage to "The Exorcist "by naming one of the priests McNeil (anybody else catch that?"Still, the priests were underused and could have played a more significant role.I would have even welcomed more scenes at school but that didn't' happen either.No, I'm afraid I can't truly recommend this offering by Saul.I have purchased Nightshade though and will read that next; I hope the story is much better displayed with a more gripping ending.The audio recording for this book was fine and the reader did a good job in narrating the story.There are a few minor sound effects primarily when the demon speaks but for the most part it is a straight reading.C-

GOOD BUT NOT GREAT
This reminded me of Saul's Blackcreek Crossing.I found myself confusing the two stories since they both involve a drunk dad, a tolerant mom, and teens as victims.This story was at least a little more mature for its intended audience.It wasn't the best but it wasn't a complete waste of time either.

Good book
I read this book a few years back and can't remember details. But I do recall that I liked it and it kept me interested.

Didn't live up to its potential
This book was just 'ok'. It seemed a little flat at times, and I pretty much kept reading it just to finish it and be done with it, not because the book was wonderful and I couldn't put it down. Plus, the 'surprising' revelations weren't all that surprising to me, and any attempts to hide certain aspects of the story were transparent and easy to figure out.

The story revolves around Ted Conway and his family. Ted is an alcoholic who can't hold down a steady job. He works in the hotel business, and usually ends up spending most of his work day in the bar getting hammered. Then, when he feels like going home, he does. Needless to say, his alcoholism has put a strain on the family, both emotionally and financially.

Just as Ted loses his latest job, the family receives news that Ted's estranged Aunt Cora is on her deathbed and is asking to see her relatives. Cora has been in a sanatarium for the last 40 years under somewhat shadowy circumstances, which you get a hint of in the prologue, and learn more about later on.

Ted, however, has no interest in driving to St Alban's, Louisiana to see her before she dies. His wife, Janet, manages to make him see reason and so the family drives from their home in Shreveport to see Cora.

Cora only wants to see Kim, Janet and Ted's daughter, and gives her 2 gold cross necklaces, one for her, and one for Molly, her toddler sister, with the instruction to never take the necklace off because it will protect her.

Upon Cora's death, the family learns that they have inherited the family's ancestral home, which has remained vacant since Cora left it 40 years prior. Ted moves his reluctant family from Shreveport to St Alban's to start a new life in their new home, with the intention of remodeling it and turning it into an inn.

Their reception in town is not a very warm one, and it turns out that the Conway name is hated and feared by their new community. There are a lot of rumors circulating about the family's dark history, which include murder, suicide, and infanticide, as well as Voo doo. Despite all of the opposition, the family remains in town and begins the process of starting a new life, while working to restore the crumbling ruin which is their new abode.

After they begin to get settled, a change comes over Ted and he immediately stops drinking and becomes a new man. On the other hand, his son, Jared, who was until then a very nice, well adjusted boy, now becomes very mean and withdrawn and dark. Instead of taking pains to correct his son's behavior, Ted makes excuses for him and attributes it to the boy being 15, and it being normal for kids his age to act that way.

As the story progresses, you realize it is not in fact normal, and Jared is into some very nasty things, such as animal sacrifice. Furthermore, you learn snippets of the family's history, via town gossip and via an old Bible that Cora had given to her confessor and friend not long before she died.

There is a very obvious clash of good and evil in the story, as well as a clash between the clergy and the Conway family itself. The book really picked up speed around the last 40 pages, and was somewhat more interesting. At the same time, it just felt like Saul was in a hurry to finish the book. As someone else noted in the title of their review, this book is a combination of The Exorcist and The Shining. I'd add Amityville Horror to that as well. Whichever way you look at it, it could have been better than it was. ... Read more

Book Description
Clark's Harbor was the perfect coastal haven,  jealously guarded against outsiders. But now  strangers have come to settle there. And a small boy is  suddenly free of a frenzy that had gripped him since  birth... His sister is haunted by fearful  visions... And one by one, in violent, mysterious ways the  strangers are dying. Never the townspeople. Only  the strangers. Has a dark bargain been struck  between the people of Clark's Harbor and some  supernatural force? Or is it the sea itself calling out for  a human sacrifice? A howling, deadly...  Cry For The Strangers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Saul
I enjoyed the book it was a good story but it is a little odd that these people don't move with all the murders and the killer we know who it is it just takes a while for the story to unfold you just want to scream at the Randals for not packing up and going home but the story is good and different but could of been better.

Another John Saul Great
As always, John Saul transports you to a different place in a different time. His description of places and events is so real that you can actually feel yourself there. I love all his books.

Great Read!
It starts off with a young boy who witnesses his grandparents being murdered and though the boy runs away, he never forgets... Harney Whalen is the police cheif of the small town of Clarks Harbor.He loves his village, but has a strong hate for strangers... The Shellings have been in Clarks Harbor for 15 years.Then one day Pete, who is a fisherman, goes off on his boat, Sea Spray, and never returns... The Palmers are the new people in Clarks Harbor.They too, like the Shellings, are strangers.But their 9 year old son, Robbie, afflicted since birth with hyperkenisis, has been mysteriously cured since they moved to Clarks Harbor, they stay even though they feel the icy chill emanating from the town. Their daughter has terrifying visions about the beach where they live... Is Robbie cured?Or is something else happening?

This is a pretty damned good book.It has suspense, supernatural twists, and plots all over the place.But the ending leaves peoples imagination working overtime.It gives you the ending, but you keep wondering.In any case, I HIGHLY recommend this book!

FISHING FOR FEAR
Clark's Harbor is a small fishing village in Washington State.The Palmer family moves there, believing the rural/fishing tranquility is just the answer for them.Their older child, 9-year-old Rob suffers from some hyperkinetic disorder and has never known a calm moment.Restless and full of angry activity, Rob has never been able to concentrate on any activity.His younger sister Missy, 7 is his opposite number.Bright, verbal and very calm, she provides the stability Rob lacks.

Once at Clark's Harbor, Rob is able to play calmly and interact normally with peers for the first time.Rebecca and Glen Palmer naturally want to promote this, so they move to the fishing community.Once there, the town's shadowy history emerges from the sea and the sand; the forces that have unleashed fearsome powers appear to have had the opposite effect on Rob.The questions are what agents, if any cause these changes?Are these natural phenomena or something supernatural?And what frees Rob from his inner turmoil once in Clark's Harbor?What does the town's history have to do with Rob?

This is a very compelling work that will pull readers into a vortex of swirling emotions and questions.

Bonechilling
This John Saul novel takes place in Clark's Harbor, a picturesque town on the East Coast. It's about a family with a young boy who before they moved to Clark's Harbor had severe emotional problems and is now calm and good.The boy's psychiatrist and his wife decide to move there also, as newcomersboth families are subjected to ridicule and false accusations. To makematters worse the boy becomes obsessed with the sea and the real terrorbegins ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Got it in one
Having spent years living in Bangkok, with acquaintances who have been tortured in Laotian jails (yes really!), for me this book captures something of the dark underbelly of the region - displaying a depth of understanding which escapes many who visit briefly - those who stay long enough usually can't write so it remains undocumented.
By the way, I would love to know if his protagonist is based on the previous, aging, famously sexist writer for the Bangkok Post who goes under the pseudonym of the Nite Owl.I guess I'll never know.Hats off to JRS though - you have done what I suspected was not possible.

A must for dedicated Asiafiles!
The main character is a Canadian expat living in Bangkok who has almost, but not quite, "gone native".While the story line is excellent, what I find fascinating is the ancillary cast of characters and sub-plots, which move through Bangkok as the economy is beginning to spiral upwards (the book was written in 1988).Hookers, corruption & a business trip to Laos are all included in plot and dealt with extraordinary expertise on the topical subject matter.

Read this novel first and then follow up with Christopher Moore's "Gods of Darkness." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

"We should all forget everything that happened there."
The first in the six-volume Blackstone Chronicles, An Eye for an Eye: The Doll introduces the major characters, establishes the Gothic setting in a small town in New Hampshire, creates foreboding about the scheduled conversion of the Blackstone Asylum into a shopping mall, and then introducesthe "single dark figure that moves through the ruptured stone wall" into the silent Asylum.There it locates the small cubicle containing the artifacts belonging to long-ago residents.When these artifacts are suddenly introduced mysteriously into the lives of the present occupants of Blackstone, death and destruction result.

(No spoilers.)In this volume an antique doll, once treasured by a child-inmate, arrives in the mail at the home of Elizabeth McGuire, wife of the builder/developer of the proposed mall.Elizabeth is pregnant and is unsure whether the doll is meant for the new baby or for her young daughter, who falls instantly in love with it.As the doll works its spell over the lives of the McGuire family, their perfectly ordered world is plunged into chaos.

Saul's horror writing is significantly different from that of Stephen King, to whom he is often compared.King's approach is usually to create a seemingly benign set of characters in a quiet New England town and then to introduce a destructive force, very gradually creating more and more mystery until the book reaches its climax.Saul, by contrast, tells the reader from the outset that the destruction of the Asylum will change everyone's life, then goes about proving it.The result is to reduce the suspense and force the author to keep reminding the readers that "something didn't feel right," or that "a blinding flash of pain" accompanies a particular action.

With characters who have not been developed before they change from ordinary citizen to demon (at least in this first novel), the reader does not identify with them or see the fine line separating normal life from total chaos.Relying on awkward foreshadowing and many clichés, Saul introduces the setting and all the major characters of Blackstone, some of which will be developed more fully in later novels in the series. n Mary Whipple

great series
the sins of the past are catching up to a small town. for years
innocent people were sent to the blackstone asylum and treated
horribly. now many years later, the evil has come back to haunt
the residents of the town. a gift has been sent to the daughter
of the contractor who is supposed to be tearing down the building. it is a beautiful doll. but it is evil incarnate and
makes chucky look angelic. a very good book that all john saul
fans must read.

Scaryand Good......
This is the first John Saul book I read, so far I did read King's "Green Mile," and this is shorter and it is, very scary well anyways this is John's best keep up the good, work I look foreward to read his future books.

The Chronicles get off to a rocky start
I was expecting much more from this first tale in the Blackstone Chronicles.The plot was entirely too predictable, and the characters (save for a few) were shallow and boring.I honestly did not find thistale terrifying in any way. However, this story does set the stage for thenext installments, and definitely made me want to read the next one.Asdull as it may be, it is essential for the entire scope of the Chronicles.

Well, *I* didn't find this book predictable or not scary...
I read the reviews of this book before I read it, and unfortunately, most of the reviews said it was "not scary", "predictable", and "unoriginal".Well, listen up, ya bunch of pea brains!Ifound this to be pretty scary indeed, very original, and not once did Ihave any idea of what was going to happen.Dolls creep me out, and littlechildren who love them--obsessively--creep me out even more.This book,for me, at least, was very creepy.I am currently reading Part 2 of TheBlackstone Chronicles, Twist of Fate: The Locket.So far, it is somewhatquiet, but then again, this fragile layer of ice could start breaking atany time... ... Read more

Download Description

The dark history and dire secrets of a peaceful small town are summoned from the shadows of the past. Unholy forces are stirred from long slumber to monstrous new life. And two young misfits discover the chilling art of turning persecution into retribution. With these eerie ingredients, bestselling master John Saul once again works his unique brand of sinister magic to conjure an unforgettable tale of unspeakable terror.

For most of her young life, thirteen-year-old Angel Sullivan has been on the outside looking in, enduring the taunts of cruel schoolmates and the angry abuse of a bitter father. Then Angel's family moves to the quaint town of Roundtree, Massachusetts—where a charming home is available, a promising job awaits Angel's unemployed father, and most of all, the chance to make a new start beckons to the shy, hopeful teenager. But when she is shunned by her new classmates, Angel falls deeper into despair. Until she meets Seth Baker, a fellow outcast—and a fateful kinship is forged.

It's Seth who tells Angel the unspoken truth about the legacy of murder that hangs over her family's home—and the whispered rumors that something supernatural still dwells there. Uncertain whether the stories are true, and desperate to escape the torment of their daily lives, Angel and Seth devote themselves to contacting whatever restless soul haunts the dark recesses of Black Creek Crossing. But once they have begun, there is no turning back.

Guided by an anguished and vengeful spirit, they uncover the shocking events and centuries-old horrors that lay buried beneath the placid veneer of Roundtree. And along with the ghastly revelations comes a terrifying power—one that feeds upon the rage of the victimized, turning the basest impulses and most dangerous desires into devastating weapons. Now, the closer Angel and Seth are pushed toward the edge by their tormentors, the deeper they descend into the maelstrom of dark forces they've unleashed... and the more unspeakable the hour of reckoning will be.

Customer Reviews (78)

Maybe a good "B movie" book at most
I would give this 2 1/2 stars if I could.

This is 1 of those bks. I do believe I woulda liked better 20 yrs. ago.... The whole theme of unpopular teens that are tormented by school bullies & have uncaring/abusive parents that finally seek revenge on their tormentors has gotten a bit old.This theme is so similar to Mr. Saul's older books.Maybe Mr. Saul had a really bad childhood & after 40+ yrs. hecan't move on....

Besides the troubled teen theme, there are a lot of similarities to this bk. & others he has written - Old abandoned house w/ dark secrets in a small town & main character is befriended by something "evil."I think he wrote this bk. before w/ a different title.Okay maybe not, but it's similar to others....

The plot is fairly good/spooky - old haunted house w/ legends of witches,ghosts & murders.However, there is all this build up & nothing is ever fully explained/resolved.It's like Mr. Saul just decided to wrap everything up quickly at the end.LOTS of loose ends.

I woulda rather him not gone on about golf (which was totally boring) &/or so much about the kids being tormented by their classmates.Instead I wish he would have given more history about Wynton family or explained other things. For example, there is this big mystery surrounding a tree & it's a big part of the story, however it's never fully explained.The book left me w/ all these unanswered ?'s.Why did people go crazy? Was the house evil or did things happen cuz of the Wynton family?Why did just the daughter & father haunt the house?It's like everything that might have been interesting Mr. Saul skipped over & decided to tell me everything I never wanted to know about golf.

The ending just sucked. I don't care that everyone dies (although, I think Zack & Heather shoulda died too or something should have happened to Heather too). It's just that there were all these loose ends.I'm not even sure why Angel & Seth hung themselves cuz they wouldn't have been found guilty of murder.Not to mention they could have brought everyone back to life if they were so upset....

Besides the whole fizzle of the bk. - Marty's character was so unrealistic.Through out the bk. he was Mr. tough guy, close to being abusive to his wife, but then a couple times his wife yells at him & he does a 360.It just didn't fit.

My advice - get a used copy or go to the library & check this out unless you are a teenager &/or a big fan of John Saul.

Interesting
This was the first John Saul book I read. It was interesting enough to prompt me to read more of his books. Some are better, some are worse.
This was a nice little read, and without any vulgarity, which was nice for a change.

First impression.......alluring!
This book is mostly compelling due to the shocking opening. It starts with an explosive climax followed by the plot which speeds along with unstoppable force. This story is about the Sullivans but mostly revolves around Angel who is the thirteen year old daughter who constantly gets bullied by her peers in school. Their whole family has problems: the father, Marty, is an alcoholic parent. Myra is the clueless wife who is very religious. The house where they moved into, located at Black Creek Crossing, has some history to it. It seems that the last family who lived there, a husband, wife and teenage daughter experienced a bit of a tragedy when the husband went crazy and murdered his wife and daughter. This does not deter the Sullivans. During the book Saul did a fabulous job by covering most of the crescents opened upon the revealing of most of the scenes. Those worked out great because whenever he would introduce something new going wrong at their house he would close it by finishing what he had to say about it, but there were a couple that he forgot to finish, what he had previously started talking about. Those include a tree that always got struck by lightning; I didn't really decipher the purpose that served. He started talking about it for a while but then just transitioned into a new topic.

I enjoyed reading about the black cat with the white streak down its chest because he seems to be the protector of Seth and Angel; he only seemed to like them and would snarl at whoever tried picking on them, and also the guardian of the house. Every time a new family would move in they would always discover him going into and out of the house at his will. People who would be interested in this book would have to patient at first because in some parts it's hard to understand what is going on. I also recommend it to people who like fast-paced reading because once you get reading to an exciting part it's difficult to put the book down. Also, those who are interested in witch craft, legends, will like it because that does have a huge part of the book.

First impression....alluring!
This book is mostly charismatic due to the shocking opening. It starts with an explosive climax followed by the plot which speeds along with unstoppable force. This story is about the Sullivan's but mostly revolvs aroung Angel who is is the thirteen year old daughter who constantly gets bullied by her peers in school. Their whole family has problems, the father, Marty, is the alcoholic parent. Myra is the clueless wife who is very religious. After getting a phone call from an aunt the Sullivan's have a chance to start out fresh in a new town, they jump at it. They move to Roundtree, Massachusetts, and that seems to be the answer to all of their problems. A new school for Angel, a new job for Marty and a new house that they can buy. The house, located at Black Creek Crossing,has some history to it. It seems that the last family who lived there, a husband, wife and teenage daughter experienced a bit of a tragedy when the husband went crazy and murdered his wife and daughter. This does not deter the Sullivans.

Angel is soon befriended by Seth Baker, another social outcast who has much in common with her. Seth does his best to deal with his father, but finds sanctuary in photography, until he meets Angel. As Seth and Angel become better friends, Seth tells her of the deadly legacy surrounding her home and the rumors that still dwell there. While living in the house, Angel comes across a black cat with a white streak down its chest. Towards the end of the book it starts talking about a woman attempting to buy the house at Black Creek Crossing. That same woman finds the black cat inside.

Trying way too hard
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. ... Read more

Book Description
Knowledge, The Enlightenment believed, could protect us from the follies of ideology. But Saul maintains that 'knowing' has not made us "conscious'. Instead we have become increadingly passive, our society increadingly conformist. These are no easy solutions to this problem, Saul say, but change is still possible.

"Winner of the Govenor General's Award" ... Read more

Customer Reviews (20)

* * 1/2Saul has good points, but fails to convince me this is news
While I agree with much if not most of what JRS says in this book, he and I part company when he tries to convince me that the ailments he diagnoses--a manipulation of language of obfuscate, a bureaucracy that alternately uses the image of the Hero and the corporatist technocrat, a disenfranchised society unable to come together on issues--is anything new.Just last night I was reading some essays by the great thinker Montaigne--anyone wanting a glimpse into the past should read his great works, available on Amazon in a beautiful hardback published by Everyman's Press for a song--and he talked about how language was being manipulated by the ruling class.......in the 1500s!Robert Nisbet has often hit upon the theme of the lack of fellowship in history.And technocrats are nothing new--the Court of Louis XVI's France was full of them.While Saul convinces me these are bad for society, where he does not convince me is that anything is different now than it was before--with one exception.

As he points out, our universities, once bastions of learning, have become largely job placement centers for elite, training thousands who can afford the $100,000 tuition these days to become elite cogs in machines.These days it's more shocking for ivy league schools to graduate people ignorant in HTML than in Schopenhauer.The reasons for this are better--and more succinctly--detailed in Anthony Kronman's book Education's End (which I've discussed in detail in another Amazon review).

And that's my problem with this book.Despite its thin size, it ranges all over the place in argument, is sprawling and undisciplined.Saul makes some good points for sure, but they're buried in many paragraphs that are either nothing new or far off topic or both.He sees connections and causalities that are tenuous at best, and seems as unfocused as anyone as to their cause--thus, he draws in every piece of historical knowledge he can get his hands on, attempting to analyze the problem to death without really ever pinning it down succinctly.Whether you agree with him or not, he has to prune and reorganize his subject matter and write with more focus and insight.Thus I can't recommend this fuzzy book too highly, even though I'm at sympathy with a good deal of what it says.Look to Voltaire, Montaigne, Nisbet and other great thinkers intead.

Incredibly lucid depiction of contemporary society by a painfully lucid author
One of the best books I have ever read.
To be admired: thetransgression of the stereotypical, simplistic and delusional split of political discourse into left and right; the rightful denounciation of contemporary universities who are selling their humanist soul to the vacuous structures of mechanistic, self-obssessed, memory-less, profit-obssesed corporate bubbles.
What is important to me, personally, is the impact that this system has on the everyday psyche of individuals and on their ability to form genuine human relations in real, local communities. The author did not touch on these aspects, he stayed mainly at the macro-level of analysis. But anyone with an interest in social-psychology and human relations can figure out quickly what this impact is and what is happening to the average contemporary folk as a result. It's about why workplaces and the inhabiting "managers" are about shuffling empty words in vacuous reports and presentations - and nothing else. Why people (including the so-called "educated" ones at the altars of corporatism)are not capabale of discussing anything of substance, in a common language, on a common ground, with their fellow-humans; why narcissistic western societies (particularly north American) are full of clinically depressed individuals, with lives devoid of any real meaning - despite their historically unique standards of living (which apparently are not enough as they continue to compete for more...and more...and more with no clear purpose in mind other than "success" in and of itself).
Why everyone is always having some personal agenda leading to some sort of "personal, competitive achievement" at the expense of family, small community, close friends and true happiness - as opposed to fake-smiled, commercially-inspired Kodak moments; why everyone is some sort of "volunteer" paying lip service to the idea of community yet so few have truly close friends or local family ties in the name of whom they would refuse to move across the country when the corporation dangles a few extra bucks in front of their materialist, soul-less eyes.
How painful and how real. I used to believe that statements such as "I don't want to bring any children into this kind of world we have today" were just dramatic calls for attention.
Well, after reading this book, such statements acquire a new dimension. We ARE living in an insane, dehumanized system and the goal for any humanist at heart should be to stay lucid and to protect one's children, family and close friends from sliping into vacuity.
The sheep on the cover should be enough to scare anyone conscious human.

A coup d'etat in slow motion?
A key premise of the book is that a life worth living, the so-called examined life, the fully aware life cannot take place without individuals in the society being fully conscious - or without seeking the kind of self-knowledge that readily can be translated into action.

Saul maintains that we have a "new religion," the blind pursuit of self-interest.It is led byan ideology of "corporatism," which has deformed the American ideal of a life worth living into one devoid of a concept of the common public good.Through it, one of America's most noble ideas, that of "rugged individualism" has been sullied, distorted and transformed into an ideology of selfishness; an ideology that has so manipulated our reality that our the language and knowledge, usually placed in the service of actions and designed to improve our way of life, has become useless.

The corporate compartmentalization of, and distortion of public knowledge, and the accompanying enforced conformity has so confused us and has so muted our voices that knowledge no longer has any effect on our consciousness nor on our actions.Individual selfishness as "modeled" by corporate self-interest has hi-jacked Western civilization as we have come to know it.

The book describes how corporatism has accomplished this feat: It has used its own ideology of self-interest (and the promise of certainty that all ideologies promote) to render us passive and conformist in areas that matter and non-conformist in those that do not.This new pseudo or false individualism has the effect of immobilizing and disarming our civilization intellectually and thus renders it unconscious.

The most important way it does this is by denying and undermining the legitimacy of the individual as the primary unit and defender of, as well as the center of gravity of the public good.The public good becomes deformed by, and subordinate to, and equated with the narrow pursuit of corporate self-interests, as most often defined by the pursuit of profits and associated corporate perks.The hedonistic model of the corporate life is projected on to society writ large as the only life worth living.

The impetus for placing corporate interests (and the corporate model of our humanity) at center stage in the drama of Western Civilization, seems to have come about through the misconception that rugged individualism, democracy and our current understanding of the public good were once defined by, depend on, and proceed directly from, the pursuit of economic interests. This is a misconception because in actual fact exactly the reverse is true:It was notions of the public good as defined by democracy and individualism that gave rise to economic interests, and not the other way around.

Moreover, economic models have been so spectacularly wrong and unsuccessful, that they could not have survived without an ideology that renders the public unconscious.Saul suggests that even the best economic models amount to little more than passive tinkering.The fact that we have come to rely on them -- even though we know they are seriously flawed and have little or no basis in reality -- is compelling evidence of our lack of memory and thus, of our lack of collective consciousness.

According to the author, it is the proper use of knowledge and memory that renders us conscious (and thus by extension, also renders us human).The misuse of knowledge and memory through corporate and technological, manipulation, specialization and compartmentalization is just a deeper form of collective denial.

Said differently, (corporate generated) specialization creates its own illusions.When knowledge actually becomes confused and is sufficiently narrowed, compartmentalization promotes the illusion that knowledge is multiplied when in fact it has shrunken.It leaves the impression that more rather than less knowledge is being created.It promotes the illusion that truth is only what the specialist can measure; that "managing is doing," (and more importantly that a managerial class is important and necessary).Finally, it creates the illusion that the ideology, which promotes corporatism, produces certainty (the main job of any ideology).

These illusions all have facilitated the corporate takeover of what would otherwise be seen as, the public interest.By doing so, the legitimacy of the individual as the center of gravity of the public good is crowded out, undermined and denied.

Thus the management elite, (with their suitcases full of money to buy off our elected representatives) like a cancer, is let loose on society.It lives within its own insulated cocoon creating an artificially interiorized sense of its own importance, wellbeing and its own distorted vision of civilization as a whole.Insulated from within, the management elite is free to grow without bounds, without accountability, and in complete disregard for the reality "out there," and always only to satisfy and service its own selfish needs.Truth is not in the world "out there" but is in what the professionals can measure and whatever is reported to these insulated elites.The deeper the insulated managerial class retreats into its own interiorized illusions of reality, the more confused language becomes and the less likely knowledge can be translated into actions that will effect the wider reality, and thus the public good.

In its pursuit to deny the legitimacy of the public good and to replace it with corporate econometric models of reality, Saul has traced the history of this process and gives many examples of how it works: through media propaganda, films, ads, music, sports and style-and always through insinuations of what is considered proper thought and ways of behaving.

One of the better examples he gives is how unemployment keeps getting redefined downward with no relation to the reality of the labor market but mostly to suit the needs of the neo-cons (the courtiers of the corporate elites).Or how, even as companies are losing money and are laying-off large numbers of ordinary workers, the salaries and incentive packages of the managerial elites continue to rise - often even until the very day the companies actually go bust.

Another example given is how through the process of globalization, that by the year 2020 the U.S. will be fully reduced to a Third World country.We are told that our future standard of living will depend entirely on globalization.Here globalization (like its companion concept, productivity) is a synonym for pegging workers' wage rates to the lowest wages available worldwide.It is never mentioned in such discussions that the salaries and incentive packages of the managerial elites will actually rise significantly as this "mother of all least common denominators economic formulas" is being applied to the lower end of the economic class scale.Taken to its logical conclusion, the salary of U.S. workers will equal those of Chinese peasants by 2020; and the corporate elites all will be filthy rich like Sam Walton.This "Wal-Martization" of America is already well in train.

Why are we so susceptible to being manipulated by corporate generated ideology and power?Saul gives an answer:We have an addictive weakness for large illusions that are tied to power and that can simplify our worldview by promising emotional certainty.The examples he gives are none other than the great religions themselves, and their spin-offs of Marxism, fascism and most of the autocratic governments of the past, including Hitler's Third Reich.

The roads to serfdom, or to fascism or communism (or pick your own ism) all intersect at the same ideology reference points: they begin as enforced social and political orthodoxy and conformity: first fashion and style; then the social enforcement of ways of thinking; and then patriotism is made into a religious-like requirement; after which rights and free speech are suppressed in the name of national security or loyalty to the state.One-by-one laws are suspended and then arbitrary arrests and disappearances begin; and finally the country is rendered completely passive and unconscious - compressed into a pseudo-patriotic religious trance.

In the modern era, this progression is by now all too familiar:It leads directly to the de-legitimatization of the citizen as the primary defender of the public good.This just as inevitably leads to handing over power to those whose self-interests are larger than their dedication to the preservation of the public good or even to the preservation and defense of the state itself.

The citizen then ceases to be able to determine what is, and is not real.He becomes immobilized like a child, unable to judge what is in his own best interests -- let alone what is in the best interest of the public good or the state.He is then forced to sing for his dinner and to dance to the corporate tune for any sense of wellbeing or self-worth.The "public good" becomes completely subordinate to the "corporate good."

What Saul admonishes us about is already imminently clear: that the kind of society we have is determined by where the true source of legitimacy lies.Today legitimacy in America -- that is its power, organization, and influence -- lies not in the vote and in stylized but impotent public citizen participation, but in the hands of the lobbyists, the technocrats, and the anti-democratic and anti-patriotic corporate vampires.

Saul did not need to tell us that all the serious decisions are now made in the back rooms without consulting the people.The best "the people" can hope for (and indeed what they yearn for) is that the decisions made over their heads will at least retain a semblance of emotional ideological purity.

While the corporate robber barons sneak out the back door to their off-shore tax havens (with the nations valuables in tow), the public good has been distorted and transformed into little more than "What I have" or into bumper sticker sized emotionalisms: the advancement of creative design and the right to post the Ten Commandments on the court house steps, abortion and gun rights, anti-Affirmative Action, states rights, etc.Because of its lack of consciousness, Americans have lost the ability to conceptualize a common good larger than their own immediate individual narrowly defined self-interests.

How do we get out of this coup d'etat in slow motion?Saul's answer is that we must change the dynamics of the process but he gives few specifics on how this can be done.This a great and very sobering read.Five stars.

Wake up and Smell the Oil Wal-Mart Shoppers
If the dou