Злото, което не спи

by John Saul, Джон Сол

Лятната почивка, която толкова дълго са чакали, става кошмар за трима младежи и семействата им, неволно предизвикали появата на нещо невидимо, коварно и ненаситно - зло, което никога не спи.
То е чакало някой да се върне в къщата край езерото, останала необитаема след мистериозното изчезване на собственика й доктор Хектор Дарби.

Всичко започва, след като Ерик, Тад и Кент откриват тайно помещение, пълно със странни предмети - триони, лампи без абажури, дръжка от брадва... Но защо някой си е направил труда да впише безполезните реликви в закодиран дневник? И какво по-голямо предизвикателство от това да се разкрие загадката на тайното досие? Само че докато тримата младежи се опитват да сглобят пъзела, любопитството им се превръща в мания. Денем чуват странни гласове, нощем сънуват кошмари. Кошмари, които скоро се превръщат в действителност. После едно страховито разкритие изважда на бял свят смразяващата истина за събития, разиграли се преди седем години, и за нещо злокобно, изпитващо ненаситен глад за нови жертви.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Mystery, Thriller, Paranormal, Suspense, Supernatural

352 pages, Paperback

First published July 18, 2006

About the author

John Saul is an American author best known for his bestselling suspense and horror novels, many of which have appeared on The New York Times Best Seller list. Born in Pasadena and raised in Whittier, California, Saul attended several universities without earning a degree. He spent years honing his craft, writing under pen names before finding mainstream success. His breakout novel, Suffer the Children (1977), launched a prolific career, with over 60 million copies of his books in print. Saul’s work includes Cry for the Strangers, later adapted into a TV movie, and The Blackstone Chronicles series. He is also a playwright, with one-act plays produced in Los Angeles and Seattle. In 2023, he received the Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement. Openly gay, he has lived with his partner—also his creative collaborator—for nearly 50 years. Saul divides his time between Seattle, the San Juan Islands, and Hawaii, and frequently speaks at writers’ conferences, including the Maui Writers' Conference. His enduring popularity in the horror genre stems from a blend of psychological tension, supernatural elements, and deep emotional undercurrents that have resonated with readers for decades.

Reviews

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Brewster family decides to have summer vacation this year at a lakeside mansion called Pinecrest. Sixteen-year-old Eric is happy because he will be able to spend time with his friends, Tad and Kent, who are vacationing at nearby houses with their parents. Soon after they arrive Eric does some exploring and finds an old carriage house on the property. He finds some strange items inside the carriage house and he eventually shows his friends. They also discover a secret room that has been bricked up, which they open up. They feel pulled and drawn to this room that contains some odd items that are all written down in a ledger. They are curious to know why the items are hidden away. The more they investigate, the more they start to act differently. They start having horrible dreams. People begin to turn up dead, or are they murdered? And what ever happened to the previous owner of Pinecrest, who disappeared seven years ago?

This was a really captivating and eerie read. I kept turning the pages, wondering what was going to happen next. The carriage room and its items were totally creepy. I liked the book's setting, a small resort town called Phantom Lake. The characters in the story were interesting. Some I liked, some I didn't.

Another enjoyable, atmospheric read by John Saul.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a pretty creepy read!

Vacation has arrived for the Brewster family and they have decided to stay in the sprawling Pinecrest mansion for the summer. The previous owner of Pinecrest, Dr. Darby, disappeared seven years before. Once they get settled into the house, the son, Eric decides to go exploring the out buildings on the property which includes a carriage house.

The carriage house holds quite a bit of interesting artifacts within its walls so Eric gets his friends involved in checking the place out. When Eric and his friends start to tinker with the different tools and things in the carriage house, time stands still for the friends and voices whisper in their heads.

As time goes on the tools and artifacts that belonged to Dr. Darby take on a life of their own and things start happening in the town around Pinecrest. The haunting of Pinecrest weaves itself into the boys dreams turning them into nightmares where there is no escape.

What is haunting Pinecrest? Is it Dr. Darby? Do the boys find the answers they seek to the haunting? No spoilers here as you will just need to read the book!

Thoughts:

I really don't know how this book had slipped off my radar as I have read quite a few books by this author years ago, but this book just seemed to grab me from the get-go and kept me spooked for most of the story. Lots of haunting atmosphere within these pages and kept my insomnia fueled a couple of nights! Giving this book four "Haunted Nightmare" stars.

For more thoughts on this review, please see my blog:
https://booknookretreat.blogspot.com/...

[Teno Q. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is called In the Dark Of the Night, but really what it should be called is The Cursed Axe.

John Saul's The Cursed Axe In the Dark of the Night is a very specific type of thriller. It's what some people call an "a-dime-a-dozen thriller." Why? Because there's so many of them, all similiar, none employing any special or unique technique. John Saul certainly didn't.

In this book, a family head out to a big, obviously haunted summer home. The hormonal teenage boy, Jack or something, discovers a classic secret-room-with-questionable-contents on the property. He and his friends, John and Bob, find the place mysterious and irresistable, but also start to fear it as strange things occur around town that seem to be connected with their musings in the room.
I've been looking at the other reviews on this book and apparently other people found said contents to be shocking and/or horrifying and/or incredible. Me, I was three-quarters of the way through the book, wondering, Where's that surprise those guys on Goodreads were talking about?
It wasn't to be found. As people start to die in freak murders around town, Jack, Bob and John work to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately they never get the chance; an old guy with the titular Cursed Axe makes an appearance and ties the book up with a pretty bow in their place goes on a killing spree.

I think I'm done with thrillers. Permanantly. I'm going to go read Wuthering Heights; at least Catherine Earnshaw didn't dream of making lampshades out of a dead boy's flesh. (And if she did, she had the grace not to describe her dreams to the reader.)

[Rachel Bea · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun horror thriller.

[Elida · Rating 3 out of 5]

This books makes you wonder about what happenes to the weapons of past murderers and if their spirits remain in their weapons when they pass away.... Things that make you go hmmmmmm. This was a good book, but a bit sick. Where did John Saul get his imagination for this book, hmmmmmm. The reason I gave it 3 stars is because the ending could have been better, needed to be more explanatory of the prior events that happened in the book. It left the reader (myself) wanting to know more. Though a good read, this book was not detailed enough for me. It left me with questions that I looked forward to getting answered at the ending of the book, but was disappointed not to get them :(

[Bryan Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the things that John Saul does so well is make the supernatural seem real by inserting fantastic elements into an utterly believable story and makes it a thrilling ride. In this book, Saul explores teenage angst, summertime romance, class warfare, anxiety, small-town gossip and big-city politics, family dynamics and, oh yeah, the psychology of serial killers and the legacies they leave behind.

In the Dark of the Night is not for the squeamish. The body count ultimately rivals that of Carrie while the creepiness surpasses It. Thomas Harris would see a little of his Lecter in this chilling tale.

After getting a taste of the idyllic summer life at the Pines in previous years with his friends Kent Newell and Tad Sparks, Eric Brewster and his family finally has the opportunity to rent a house on Phantom Lake for the season. But their home is no ordinary cottage--it's a mansion whose previous owner, Dr. Hector Darby mysteriously disappeared ten years ago after the town's only other unspeakable tragedy. Eric begins to explore the unusual property before he and his buddies make some unreal discoveries. Macabre nightmares follow.

What makes In the Dark of the Night work so well is the way how effectively Saul captures each character through dialogue and actions. Other books I have recently read have been bereft of such details, but Saul scatters the seeds of suspense inside a seemingly ordinary adolescent struggle between Eric and local boy Adam Mosler over the affections of Cherie Stevens.

I highly recommend this book for those who like dark thrillers about serial killers.

[Becky · Rating 1 out of 5]

Such a disappointment. Probably the book that proves I've outgrown this author.

[David Veith · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I did enjoy parts of this book, I was mostly disappointed. The pace is rather slow for me, takes a bit to get going. It feels like they were trying to build suspense maybe, but if you read the back of the book, you already get the gist of it. I mean only a cat is killed in the 1st half of the book. I did like that it was based in Wisconsin (I live there lol), and that it was a real lake used too. However, calling it up north was a stretch. I guess if you don't live in WI the southern part of the state is north, but not what would be called up north, or the far north. I guess that bit is a tad picky, but like I said, I live in WI lol. I was hoping for more of the mothers' fears, that were made very clear to start, would take a bigger roll. But, also here, feels like they were just trying to build suspense. Then only brought it up a bit here and there. Also did not like that almost every time a name was used; it was 1st and last name. It makes you feel like there are going to be more characters, but no, just some quirk of the author, I guess. I did like that they used serial killers' items and that they seemed to be still attached to them after death. However, this never really gets sorted out. All the voices they hear and the time that goes missing for them when they are in a room never gets explained at all. I feel like there could be a good book in here somewhere, but to me it fell short.

[Nikoya · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was pretty disappointed in this book and at first I wasn't sure why but now I think I know.
First off, he spent so much time building up the characters and their relationships with others to only drop it off at the speedy ending of the book. High Body Count does not = Scary. There were so many holes in the story and bouncing around that I had a hard time really putting the pieces together. I am still not sure if I have it all worked out. I do not expect stories to be neatly wrapped up for me but do not spend so much time with side stories and half ass explanations to only drop it in the end.

I hope John Saul's other books are better than this one since I am willing to give another one a chance.

[Jeff McIntosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Saul is not a terribly sophisticated writer..more the equivalent of Cliff's Notes....

I could see where the story would end during the first 1/4 of the book.

Plot concerns the opening of Pinecrest, and the dark secrets it contains, and the pull of evil over time.

Not a bad read, a nice way to spend a few hours.


Jeff McIntosh

[Alice · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the dark of the night is an enjoyable read. It gets more gruesome as the story goes along.

[Х. И. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Три приятелски семейства заминават заедно на почивка през лятото в малкото градче Фентъм Лейк. Синовете им Ерик, Кент и Тад са най-добри приятели. Семейството на Ерик се настанява в огромната вила Пайнкрест на брега на езерото, чийто предишен собственик – Доктор Дарби е изчезнал мистериозно преди години. Ерик е щастлив, защото ще може да прекарва много време с приятелите си Ерик и Тад, за да ловят риба и да задяват местните момичета(‘щото видиш ли, в големият град момичета няма..?!?!).
Плановете на момчетата малко се променят, когато откриват тайно помещение пълно със зловещи предмети, от което и тримата са силно п��ивлечени. С всяко следващо влизане притегателната сила на тайната стая става по-силна, а когато приятелите започват да сглобяват предметите, започват да се случват странни и ужасяващи неща.
Ще за��очна с нещата, които ми харесаха, защото не са много. Хареса ми мястото на действие - малък курортен град и донякъде мистерията около зловещата вила Пайнкрест. Атмосфера определено имаше, макар да не беше нищо особено, кошмарите, които момчетата сънуваха бяха зловещи, но и за тях обяснение нямаше. В историята около изчезването на Доктор Дарби имаше хляб, но и тук авторът само загатна за случилото се. Ако например имаше две времеви линии - преди и сега, щеше да е къде-къде по-интересно! Образът на бездомникът Логан беше интересен, но авторът успя и него да опорочи..
Толкова с положителните неща, нека премина към това, което не ми хареса. Първите двеста страници бяха изключително скучни и не се случи абсолютно нищо интересно. Многократно заспивах, след като се опитвах да прочета поне десетина страници на сядане..Джон Сол беше отделил страшно много страници на отношенията на Ерик, Кент и Тад с местните момчета, които не харесваха летовниците. Местните, които нито ги превъзхождаха на брой, нито на нищо, тормозеха тримата приятели, които в очите на читателя заприличаха на абсолютни мухльовци. Темпото беше доста бавно за мен и първите двеста страници най-спокойно можеха да се поберат в петдесет, като скуката можеше да стане поносима поне донякъде…
Към края нещата се пораздвижиха, но финалът беше колкото дразнещ, толкова и нереалистичен. Опитът за отворен финал си остана направо смешен. Образите на героите бяха плоски и повърхностни, мистерията, доколкото я имаше, беше на ниво за осмокласници. Произходът на злото си остана неясен, а се надявах на някакво обяснение как и защо духовете на серийните убийци са се вселили в зловещите предмети. Например някакво проклятие или друга свръхестествена причина..
Сравненията на автора с Леймън, Кунц и Кинг, които за разлика от Джон Сол имат някаква оригиналност в хорър жанра, са направо смехотворни. Кунц и Кинг са просто от друга планета спрямо Джон Сол, а един Леймън например, щеше да запълни скучните моменти с много безсмислен секс и реки от кръв, и книгата пак нямаше да е шедьовър, но поне щеше да е четима. Макар стилът на автора да наподобява малко този на Леймън, що се отнася до изграждане на образи и сюжет - плоски, като в стар хорър филм от средата на 80-те и началото на 90-те години. Разликата е, че Сол залога на мистерията, за сметка на чисто натуралистични сцени на секс и брутално насилие от страна на Леймън. Е, резултатът е чиста скука, която може и да се хареса на деца до максимум 14-15 години.
За съжаление първата ми среща с Джон Сол се оказа разочарование. Реалната ми оценка е около 2,5 звезди, но 3 са твърде много, така че свалям на 2 звезди!

[Justin Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty solid entry in Saul’s catalogue. The thrills and chills were in moderate supply, but I did find there to be enough action to keep my interest.

The characters were well-defined, and the motivations were all believable. The resolution was acceptable, if not entirely spelled out. Over all, this was entertaining, but not the most memorable. It worked nicely as a beach read.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

It took so long for this to become interesting. Usually, a John Saul book grabs me right away and I can't put it down, not the case here. Once I got into it, it did hold my attention and the last 40% flew by, just took a while to get there.

[Balthazarinblue]

DNF @ 100 pages. It didn't grab me at all.

[Juanita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review: In The Dark of The Night by John Saul.

This was a great book. I have read a few books from John Saul and he hasn’t let me down yet. They may be oldies but captivating. The writing was well written and the characters were well-developed. It didn’t take long for the horror and action to begin. The story could have had a more intriguing and creative ending.

School is out and summer has just started. Three families had become close friends over the years and have spent their vacations together at “The Pines” at Phantom Lake, a small resort town with a beach. Two of the families already had vacation places at the lake and the third family only stayed in the company of their friends off and on during the summer. Yet, this year they were looking to rent a place at the lake if they could find something within their range of financing. Well, this year they got lucky and found a place they could afford. The place they were going to rent was right next do to the other two families. It took some coaxing to get Merrill Brewster to agree because she was agoraphobic among other fears but they all new her condition and they all pampered her when needed.

The name of the small old Victorian house was Pinecrest. The place has been empty for seven years since the owner Dr. Darby mysteriously disappeared. Time had been long enough that the realtor could now sell the old home and the proceeds would go to the Dr. Darby’s extended family members. Everyone gets things packed with items they might need for the summer. All three families’ children were ecstatic but the three teenage boys were on cloud nine thinking of meeting some teenage girls. This was their year to explore the next step in coming of age stage….

Once the Brewster family got there and seen the house they were renting was spooky looking. Merrill, the mother and their young daughter, Marci wanted to go home but her son Eric thought it was cool. Eric couldn’t wait to get unpacked and join up with his other two friends, Tad and Kent and have a look around. Both mother and daughter were crying now but Dan the husband got them calmed down to the point of giving the vacation a try. What was going through Merrill’s mind was the fact that the husbands were going back home during the week to work…..Plus, their friends never mentioned the rumors they heard about Dr. Darby and that house….

The story goes on with the three teenage friends exploring the old carriage house most of their time at Pinecrest sorting through a collection of discarded objects stowed away in a hidden room behind a doorway of cemented bricks to keep someone out or in…. Some of the objects were a mystery, like a shade-less lamp, tables with missing legs, bladeless hacksaws, a headless axe handle along with a cryptic ledger that was whispering to them to put the puzzle pieces back together. As they stayed in that room things were starting to happen. All three boys were having the same deadly nightmares at night when they had spent time in that room…..There’s still plenty of scenarios, some creepy and some mischief for them and they haven’t even been to town yet…..or seen the fireworks on the 4th of July….

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was not the target audience for this book, clearly. It's written for rich white men. As per usual. I should know better by now than to read horror by white men but whatever.

WARNINGS: A cat AND a dog die in this book. Gore. Insensitive treatment of mental illness. Rampant misogyny.



Complaints:

- The misogyny. Oh, the misogyny. The whole "women be crazy" routine makes me want to vomit. There are a lot of sub points here. Dan undermining his wife in front of their kids multiple times, dictating to her what will be done and what she can and cannot do, making fun of his wife in front of friends and their children for her (very obvious) anxiety disorder, talking down to his wife like she's a child in every single conversation, the women all being thoroughly domesticated (the cooking, cleaning, shopping, while the men sit on their asses and talk about who knows what inane subject), and I'm sure there's more but I can't think of it. Every single female character in this book was a prop with no personality.

- Revisiting the wife's anxiety disorder, like I didn't look to see when this was written but she obviously has anxiety. Instead of this being treated with any degree of sensitivity, every single character mocks her and patronizes her for it. No one offers any comfort or solutions, they just tell her she's stupid and act exasperated with her. Her own children even do this, because they have observed it from their tyrannical father.

- The plot of this book is as follows: some rich boys get into things that aren't their business, murder a cat, and collapse the economy of an entire town.

- I literally cannot feel pity for rich people. These rich motherfuckers come in to exploit this town and casually stay in houses that the residents could never even hope to afford, harass the residents, and without even a hint of remorse destroy the entire town. Their attitudes are unbearable; when they return in the epilogue, they even have the audacity to make comments about Cherie and Adam and how terribly their lives must have gone because fuck poor people right?

- Adam is not even that bad a character. He's abused by his father, oppressed by the class system, AND is expected to kiss the asses of his oppressors. I'd be angry, too.

- The only good character in this book is Riley Logan, and he dies.

- OH, speaking of which, the police come into Riley's home and murder his dog. His extremely old, dying dog. And then leave the body there in his home. Like they seriously just come in, shoot his dog for no reason, and leave the body for him to find. This guy has literally nothing, is poor as shit and mentally ill, and his dog (and crow) are the only things he has at all, and these people just casually come in and take that from him just because.



So yeah I mean I guess if you like serial killer trivia and you can ignore the misogyny, mental health insensitivity, and upper class perspective on class struggles you might like this book.

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is typical of Saul's writing. John knows the way to a twisting turning gut an ax pick of pages turning as his story slowly grips you while your eyes scan and hold the reader captivated throughout its journey pushing the points of pacified horror jubilant traits of filth deception and a glossy filling of who or what is responsible. He brings you to such heights; a mer finish is undignified. HE IS AN ARTIST. Which means "Read them ALL!!!"

[GeneralTHC · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25-stars
IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT is neither the best nor worst John Saul book I've read, though it's closer to the latter than the former. It just wasn't a story that grabbed me. It strikes me as being pretty representative of the lower quality horror books that populated the best seller lists several years ago. This story is just for fans of that genre, in my opinion.

[Andrew Lennon · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first John Saul novel. I will definitely be reading another. I enjoyed this book all the way from start to finish, constantly wanting to know what is going to happen next. Recommend this for any horror fans.

[Leah Polcar · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. Different take on what initially appeared to be a haunted house story, but still rather silly. Though I have to say, it was sort of entertaining -- perfect sort of beach read (if your taste in beach reads tends more towards horror and less toward chick lit).

[Jenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading this book and until this day during fourth of July fireworks, i still look over my shoulder.

[Latasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

this book was ok. it could've been shorter.

[Kat, lover of bears... · Rating 5 out of 5]

Three families rent houses for the summer. One house, Pinecrest, has secrets that it has been keeping hidden for years. Three friends discover the secret room with secret items holding horrific secrets. Bound together by this discovery and the weird shared occurrences after are what make this book one heart pounding reveal after another. The ending is satisfying with adds to the enjoyment of the book.

Narration: Mel Foster does an excellent general narration with several voices for different characters. Being noise sensitive, I found it jarring every time the narration involved a phone call or the "voices". These narrations were modulated and had a hallow echo sound. I would have enjoyed the narration much more without that modulation.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chiller Thriller - knocked off one star for gruesome gore, but great plot. We join Jack, Ed, Jeff and Liz for a harrowing tale of murder revisited!

Good characters, although I wanted to slap some sense into Merrill. Mr Saul does a great job of portraying teenagers, even though he doesn’t have any. Aside from the obvious, they all seemed like actual everyday people.

If you are a Stephen King fan you’ll like this, too.
Trivia - the Borden Lighthouse In Fall River, MA is named for Lizzie’s family!

[Neal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of schlocky, had to roll my eyes at several obvious twists or stereotypical characters.

[Ежко Таралежко · Rating 3 out of 5]

От една страна Джон Сол има лека ръка, приятно перо и умее да пише завладяващо. От друга, това е възможно най-най-шаблонният хорър който можете да си представите.

Малко курортно градче в щатите. До езеро. Тийнеджъри. Заспало зло, дето уж не спи.

meh...

[Sherri · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long and drawn out and a disappointing story.

[Lauren · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 80-ish pages. It wasn’t scary and it seemed to be going down a path that was boring to me. I expected a ghost story and I don’t think it would have been that kind of story.

[Cass · Rating 2 out of 5]

Don’t get me wrong this is a good read and I liked how things tied into the story. But the ending itself just killed it for me.