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Black Creek Crossing
Witchcraft, dark secrets, and a centuries-old curse all converge in Black Creek Crossing, making for one of bestselling author John Saul’s spookiest thrillers yet.
The cycle of abuse is a hard one to break. For thirteen-year-old Angel Sullivan, moving to Black Creek Crossing is an opportunity to escape the bullies who made life miserable at her old school. Little does Angel know, her family’s new home has seen its fair share of darkness. A mother and daughter who lived in the house when it was built in the 1600s were burned as witches, and their malevolent presence has touched all who have stayed there since. Angel connects to this history through a black cat she finds hiding in one of the closets and a book of spells that gives her the key to retaliate against any would-be tormentors. Of course, such gifts come with a price. As Angel finds new power through the witches’ secrets, her alcoholic father becomes further unhinged. The violence that Angel hoped to outrun has now settled under her very own roof, and it’s up to her to figure out how to stop it once and for all.
The cycle of abuse is a hard one to break. For thirteen-year-old Angel Sullivan, moving to Black Creek Crossing is an opportunity to escape the bullies who made life miserable at her old school. Little does Angel know, her family’s new home has seen its fair share of darkness. A mother and daughter who lived in the house when it was built in the 1600s were burned as witches, and their malevolent presence has touched all who have stayed there since. Angel connects to this history through a black cat she finds hiding in one of the closets and a book of spells that gives her the key to retaliate against any would-be tormentors. Of course, such gifts come with a price. As Angel finds new power through the witches’ secrets, her alcoholic father becomes further unhinged. The violence that Angel hoped to outrun has now settled under her very own roof, and it’s up to her to figure out how to stop it once and for all.
380 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2004
272 people are currently reading
2803 people want to read
About the author
John Saul
149 books2,831 followersJohn 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.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 374 reviews
April 4, 2021
Wow, what a great book even for John Saul's standards. A cursed house (great descriptions), witchcraft, two bullied young people (Angel and Seth). Can the parents prevent the evil past from striking again in modern times? What about Houdini the cat (fantastic descriptions here) and the cabin in the woods? This is a brilliant tale of abuse, bullying, distant parents, witchcraft and reckoning. Absolutely enjoyed the nicely crafted story with its references to history and the psychological focus on the different characters. So many outstanding horror motifs in one single volume! The ending is a bit hard but leaves a lasting aftertaste. A real page turner too if there ever was one. What can I say. This is a real five star story and highly recommended. One of my John Saul favorites now. He's the real master of psychological horror.
March 28, 2021
This was a creepy and spooky read!
I read this book a long time ago but didn't remember too much about it except that it had a very spooky vibe to it, so I decided it was time to do a reread of it.
A small backstory:
The house at Black Creek Crossing is known around the town of Roundtree to have been the home of witches back in the days of old and lots of supernatural rituals were performed in the house. The Sullivan family are able to get the house at a cheap price not really understanding why it is so cheap. Angel Sullivan (the daughter) ends up meeting and hanging out with a boy from the school (Seth Baker) as she gets use to living out in the country.
Both teens are constantly bullied at school along with having problems at home with their parents so they both spend more time together away from everyone. When they come across something hidden in Angel's home is when things take a turn for the worse. What they find and what they end up doing with it, changes the whole theme of the book as when they both get fed up with how they are being treated at home and at school is when the crap hits the fan as now they are able to do things that they never thought possible!
What do the teens find? What kind of trouble do they stir up? No spoilers here as you will need to read the book!
Thoughts:
This was a classic revenge type haunting and author, John Saul is always able to grab the reader from the beginning of a book and keep them entranced throughout the whole story. As always with his stories, he is able to draw the reader in and then slowly work his magic on weaving the story around you as he takes you down into the dark recesses of his mind. There were some twists at the end of the book which kept me turning the pages faster!
I am happy that I reread this story as it brought back all the creepy feelings I use to get when I use to read his books years ago. Giving this one five "heebie jeebie" stars!
I read this book a long time ago but didn't remember too much about it except that it had a very spooky vibe to it, so I decided it was time to do a reread of it.
A small backstory:
The house at Black Creek Crossing is known around the town of Roundtree to have been the home of witches back in the days of old and lots of supernatural rituals were performed in the house. The Sullivan family are able to get the house at a cheap price not really understanding why it is so cheap. Angel Sullivan (the daughter) ends up meeting and hanging out with a boy from the school (Seth Baker) as she gets use to living out in the country.
Both teens are constantly bullied at school along with having problems at home with their parents so they both spend more time together away from everyone. When they come across something hidden in Angel's home is when things take a turn for the worse. What they find and what they end up doing with it, changes the whole theme of the book as when they both get fed up with how they are being treated at home and at school is when the crap hits the fan as now they are able to do things that they never thought possible!
What do the teens find? What kind of trouble do they stir up? No spoilers here as you will need to read the book!
Thoughts:
This was a classic revenge type haunting and author, John Saul is always able to grab the reader from the beginning of a book and keep them entranced throughout the whole story. As always with his stories, he is able to draw the reader in and then slowly work his magic on weaving the story around you as he takes you down into the dark recesses of his mind. There were some twists at the end of the book which kept me turning the pages faster!
I am happy that I reread this story as it brought back all the creepy feelings I use to get when I use to read his books years ago. Giving this one five "heebie jeebie" stars!
October 19, 2022
Note, Oct. 19, 2022: I've just lowered my review of this book to one star (down from three). That's a fairer reflection of my actual reaction, since I didn't ultimately like the complete work (it was ruined by its ending).
This haunted house novel, set in the fictional contemporary small town of Roundtree in western Massachusetts, whose history stretches back to the days of 17th-century witch hunting, was a recent common read in the Supernatural Fiction Readers group. I'd actually suggested it myself, since I'd read promising-sounding reviews of it in the library trade journals when it was first published, the BC library has a copy, and the author is a big name in the "Horror" genre, with some 30+ best sellers under his belt; I'd thought his work might be worth exploring. "Horror" (a term I don't really like as a genre designation), in modern book-trade parlance, can simply designate a book with supernatural elements --which this one certainly has. It often, though, seems to denote --and this seems to be what hard-core self-described "horror" fans crave-- writing or cinema that just conjures unrelieved horror in the gut meaning of the term, evocative of moral and physical repulsion, with a maximized grisly-gory quality. That turns out to be the meaning here; and if this is typical of Saul's work, it would suggest that he delivers what that particular market wants (hence my recommendation of the book to "horror" fans). I'm not myself part of that market --I like the fiction of the supernatural, but I respond more congenially to a different kind of envisioning of it.
This is definitely a much darker read than any of the older reviews in the library professional media prepared me for; and for many readers, it might need to come with "trigger warnings" galore: for teenage bullying, spousal and child abuse (including sexual abuse, though there are no overt acts), and animal abuse. (I was a bullied kid myself, from grade school on into high school, and like Seth here I was disciplined with a leather belt --not, in hindsight, unjustly, and not with the same kind of sadism his father displays; but it still left a psychological impression, so that for me this was not a particularly pleasant trip down memory lane, and for some readers it would probably be worse.) Readers also need a high tolerance for gruesome, bloody violence, since a few scenes are basically splatter-punk. The book could be said to have thematic affinities with both The Turn of the Screw and the Haunting of Hill House; but Saul's literary gifts aren't in the same league with either Henry James' or Shirley Jackson's. We could also fairly say that the novel might be characterized as Exhibit A for the general thematic criticisms of contemporary "horror" expressed by pundits like Paul Leggett ("Of Heroes and Devils: The Supernatural on Film," Christianity Today, Nov. 18. 1977) and Lint Hatcher ("The X-Files and the Return of Metaphysical Horror," Rutherford, Oct. 1995).
That said, the writing style here is effective, the plotting taut and page-turning, and the characterizations, IMO, realistic; I formed a bond with both Angel and Seth early on. The prologue is undeniably attention-grabbing, and the author brings the spooky atmosphere, and the supernatural occurrences that invade our mundane world (a motif I like) to life very well. There's no sexual content, except for the pedophilia manifested (but not consummated, at least not anywhere in the text) in certain quarters; and while there's a fair amount of bad language, including profanity and obscenity, it comes from the kind of characters who could realistically be expected to talk that way, rather than being dragged into every character's speaking style. Saul's own attitude towards religion, as declared in an online interview at the Writer's Write site (https://www.writerswrite.com/journal/... ) is pretty much one of prejudiced hostility, which by his own statement hasn't been changed since his childhood; but the story-line here doesn't demonize Christians --Angel's mother tends to mistake Christian love for being a doormat for abuse, but Father Mike is one of the more sympathetic characters here. For much of the read, I was actually liking the book relatively well; but without resorting to spoilers, it was completely ruined by the denouement. (To give credit where it's due, Saul does achieve his obvious aim of creating a gut-punching surprise ending that doesn't violate the internal logic of the story.)
One other note is demanded by the history major in me. Saul makes reference here to witches being burned in Roundtree in 1693. I'm sure he would assert that, "Yeah, sure, everybody knows that the Puritans burned witches in the old days, duh!" The problem with that is, as I once told one of my college history classes, that what "everybody knows" is often simply a bunch of handed-down hooey; and that's the case here. "Witches" were burned on the European mainland, and in Scotland, but in England and its American colonies, the law prescribed hanging as the form of execution. Anybody with any familiarity with New England history knows that the accused witches at Salem and elsewhere were hanged --you don't even have to be a student of history to know that; you just need to have read or watched a performance of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (or even seen Hocus Pocus!). So, memo to writers: if you're going to use historical backgrounds, at least do enough minimal research about them to avoid ludicrous inaccuracies!
This was a hard book to rate fairly. I don't think it lived up to its potential, and I'm not motivated to seek out any more of Saul's work.
This haunted house novel, set in the fictional contemporary small town of Roundtree in western Massachusetts, whose history stretches back to the days of 17th-century witch hunting, was a recent common read in the Supernatural Fiction Readers group. I'd actually suggested it myself, since I'd read promising-sounding reviews of it in the library trade journals when it was first published, the BC library has a copy, and the author is a big name in the "Horror" genre, with some 30+ best sellers under his belt; I'd thought his work might be worth exploring. "Horror" (a term I don't really like as a genre designation), in modern book-trade parlance, can simply designate a book with supernatural elements --which this one certainly has. It often, though, seems to denote --and this seems to be what hard-core self-described "horror" fans crave-- writing or cinema that just conjures unrelieved horror in the gut meaning of the term, evocative of moral and physical repulsion, with a maximized grisly-gory quality. That turns out to be the meaning here; and if this is typical of Saul's work, it would suggest that he delivers what that particular market wants (hence my recommendation of the book to "horror" fans). I'm not myself part of that market --I like the fiction of the supernatural, but I respond more congenially to a different kind of envisioning of it.
This is definitely a much darker read than any of the older reviews in the library professional media prepared me for; and for many readers, it might need to come with "trigger warnings" galore: for teenage bullying, spousal and child abuse (including sexual abuse, though there are no overt acts), and animal abuse. (I was a bullied kid myself, from grade school on into high school, and like Seth here I was disciplined with a leather belt --not, in hindsight, unjustly, and not with the same kind of sadism his father displays; but it still left a psychological impression, so that for me this was not a particularly pleasant trip down memory lane, and for some readers it would probably be worse.) Readers also need a high tolerance for gruesome, bloody violence, since a few scenes are basically splatter-punk. The book could be said to have thematic affinities with both The Turn of the Screw and the Haunting of Hill House; but Saul's literary gifts aren't in the same league with either Henry James' or Shirley Jackson's. We could also fairly say that the novel might be characterized as Exhibit A for the general thematic criticisms of contemporary "horror" expressed by pundits like Paul Leggett ("Of Heroes and Devils: The Supernatural on Film," Christianity Today, Nov. 18. 1977) and Lint Hatcher ("The X-Files and the Return of Metaphysical Horror," Rutherford, Oct. 1995).
That said, the writing style here is effective, the plotting taut and page-turning, and the characterizations, IMO, realistic; I formed a bond with both Angel and Seth early on. The prologue is undeniably attention-grabbing, and the author brings the spooky atmosphere, and the supernatural occurrences that invade our mundane world (a motif I like) to life very well. There's no sexual content, except for the pedophilia manifested (but not consummated, at least not anywhere in the text) in certain quarters; and while there's a fair amount of bad language, including profanity and obscenity, it comes from the kind of characters who could realistically be expected to talk that way, rather than being dragged into every character's speaking style. Saul's own attitude towards religion, as declared in an online interview at the Writer's Write site (https://www.writerswrite.com/journal/... ) is pretty much one of prejudiced hostility, which by his own statement hasn't been changed since his childhood; but the story-line here doesn't demonize Christians --Angel's mother tends to mistake Christian love for being a doormat for abuse, but Father Mike is one of the more sympathetic characters here. For much of the read, I was actually liking the book relatively well; but without resorting to spoilers, it was completely ruined by the denouement. (To give credit where it's due, Saul does achieve his obvious aim of creating a gut-punching surprise ending that doesn't violate the internal logic of the story.)
One other note is demanded by the history major in me. Saul makes reference here to witches being burned in Roundtree in 1693. I'm sure he would assert that, "Yeah, sure, everybody knows that the Puritans burned witches in the old days, duh!" The problem with that is, as I once told one of my college history classes, that what "everybody knows" is often simply a bunch of handed-down hooey; and that's the case here. "Witches" were burned on the European mainland, and in Scotland, but in England and its American colonies, the law prescribed hanging as the form of execution. Anybody with any familiarity with New England history knows that the accused witches at Salem and elsewhere were hanged --you don't even have to be a student of history to know that; you just need to have read or watched a performance of Arthur Miller's play The Crucible (or even seen Hocus Pocus!). So, memo to writers: if you're going to use historical backgrounds, at least do enough minimal research about them to avoid ludicrous inaccuracies!
This was a hard book to rate fairly. I don't think it lived up to its potential, and I'm not motivated to seek out any more of Saul's work.
May 16, 2021
Sometimes I get in the mood for a good haunted/cursed/creepy house type of story and Black Creek Crossing was a good example, grabbing my attention right from the start. 👻
Troubled teens Angel and Seth find each other when Angel moves to town and into the creepy, old house that Seth is so fascinated by. He doesn’t understand why anybody would want to live there, due to its grizzly history.
They share a lot of similarities, an unfortunate one being that they both have the most horrible fathers. The small gang of high school bullies also seem to have taken a dislike to them both, for no reason at all.
Angel also adopts a stray cat that she aptly names Houdini because it keeps appearing and disappearing seemingly at random. Then it seems to appear when either Angel or Seth are distressed or in times of need... But what exactly is going on with this cat and why does it always appear at the right time? 🐈⬛
The teen/high school drama feel, mixed in with the supernatural horror elements, made it appeal to me. Some of the more difficult, emotional scenes were quite hard for me to get through. But overall the story really did grab me right until the end.
tw:// abuse, and animal death (mild spoiler: the animal does get some revenge though).
Troubled teens Angel and Seth find each other when Angel moves to town and into the creepy, old house that Seth is so fascinated by. He doesn’t understand why anybody would want to live there, due to its grizzly history.
They share a lot of similarities, an unfortunate one being that they both have the most horrible fathers. The small gang of high school bullies also seem to have taken a dislike to them both, for no reason at all.
Angel also adopts a stray cat that she aptly names Houdini because it keeps appearing and disappearing seemingly at random. Then it seems to appear when either Angel or Seth are distressed or in times of need... But what exactly is going on with this cat and why does it always appear at the right time? 🐈⬛
The teen/high school drama feel, mixed in with the supernatural horror elements, made it appeal to me. Some of the more difficult, emotional scenes were quite hard for me to get through. But overall the story really did grab me right until the end.
tw:// abuse, and animal death (mild spoiler: the animal does get some revenge though).
July 3, 2018
As some of you may know, I’m a bit of a horror aficionado. Anything creepy & dark, sign. me. up. So John Saul? Right up my alley. In a post-college reading binge (because who has the time to read while they’re in school), I devoured John Saul’s entire collection. Of course, that was [redacted] years ago and sadly I don’t quite recall every plot detail (or any). So I thought it time for a re-read. I started with Black Creek Crossing because haunted houses are my jam and boy, have I been entertained.
Premise: When Angel Sullivan, a teenaged bullying victim, learns that her family is moving to Roundtree, MA., she’s excited for a blank slate. At a very reasonable $80,000.00 the house at Black Creek Crossing is a steal. But as they say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Angel’s new house has a dark history. Murder, witchcraft, and terror--oh my! Angel, with the help of her new friend Seth, sets out to investigate the house’s history. Soon, Angel and Seth discover a mysterious book of spells that belonged to the house’s original owners. And what do two bullied teens do with a book of spells? Revenge for $200, Alex. Unfortunately, the house’s malevolent forces have something far more sinister in mind……
Look, John Saul ain’t Shakespeare. If you’re looking for eloquence, you’re in the wrong place. However, if you’re seeking a cheap thrill, Saul is your guy. His writing is serviceable, not groundbreaking, but it accomplishes the story’s point: to scare the tuna salad out of you. Black Creek Crossing is slow to start. Most of the big scares don’t happen until the last quarter of the book. I was entertained anyway, others may not be.
Beyond pacing issues, Black Creek Crossing is standard horror fare. Basically, chick lit for fright fans. It’s creepy and the ending packs a punch. Good stuff for a dark night and a hot cup of cocoa.
Summary: Read this if you’re a hardcore horror fan looking for a fix.
Premise: When Angel Sullivan, a teenaged bullying victim, learns that her family is moving to Roundtree, MA., she’s excited for a blank slate. At a very reasonable $80,000.00 the house at Black Creek Crossing is a steal. But as they say, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Angel’s new house has a dark history. Murder, witchcraft, and terror--oh my! Angel, with the help of her new friend Seth, sets out to investigate the house’s history. Soon, Angel and Seth discover a mysterious book of spells that belonged to the house’s original owners. And what do two bullied teens do with a book of spells? Revenge for $200, Alex. Unfortunately, the house’s malevolent forces have something far more sinister in mind……
Look, John Saul ain’t Shakespeare. If you’re looking for eloquence, you’re in the wrong place. However, if you’re seeking a cheap thrill, Saul is your guy. His writing is serviceable, not groundbreaking, but it accomplishes the story’s point: to scare the tuna salad out of you. Black Creek Crossing is slow to start. Most of the big scares don’t happen until the last quarter of the book. I was entertained anyway, others may not be.
Beyond pacing issues, Black Creek Crossing is standard horror fare. Basically, chick lit for fright fans. It’s creepy and the ending packs a punch. Good stuff for a dark night and a hot cup of cocoa.
Summary: Read this if you’re a hardcore horror fan looking for a fix.
July 3, 2020
“What it would be like to simply disappear into the blackness, to float forever in silence and nothingness.”
― John Saul, Black Creek Crossing
Trigger warnings: Animal torture and death. Bullying.
OK. First off..this is not like most of my reviews. I will be discussing the ending so right away I'd say..
SPOILERSl
If you have any intention of reading this, you should not read my review.
So. John Saul is on my list of people who have made significant contributions to my life. He was the very first author I followed on a regular basis. I started reading him in Elementary school an d was a huge fan.
I heard about him from my lovely MamaCita from whom I inherited my love of reading. For years, I'd read Saul. His books always succeeded in scaring the heck out of me. Punish the Sinners, The God project, When the wind blows, Comes the Blind Fury. The list goes on.
As I got older, his books became bloodier and more bizarre. Also, my tastes changed.
But I still love him. I reread occasionally a book of his..this one or that one. And it is always enjoyable. But I have not read anything NEW from him in ions.
Until yesterday. I was CRAVING him..well..a book by him. So I chose Black Creek crossing.
An eerie horror that swept me along and for a good bit, I thought it would get four stars..or at least three.
Then it fell apart. Because of the ending.
John Saul seems incapable of ending his books any other way except killing off every good person in the book. I have witnessed this time and again and it really has become a turn off.
I thought this one would be different. All through the book. it seemed it was building towards the kids settling in the cabin with Houdini. I was down with that. I fell in love with Houdini. It is rare when a cat can be center stage in a book but with Black Creek Crossing, the cat is our unsung hero. I loved this cat!
So it would seem..to me..almost like Saul had a change of heart. The ending was sloppy, heart breaking, crazy and made no sense. WHY would the kids hang themselves? They did not kill their parents. And WHY would the cat not stop them? He was able to control golf balls for crying out loud! Somehow I doubt, their staunch protector would have let this happen.
And what ever happened to Chad? Never mentioned again.
I was so turned off and so let down. Listen..if you are a Saul fan and are reading this and know of ANY of his books that end on at least a hopeful note, please post here. I just do not get it.
When starting a book..if you already know the ending, there is less and less incentive to read the book. That is another thing I never liked about his books.
I'd hoped to rate this a five. No such luck. Note and shout out to Saul: please write at least one ending where someone..anyone..is not killed violently? We fans really deserve it.
Aside from the ending, the book is actually good. But..animal brutality. Even if he comes back to life!
2.5 stars from this reader.
― John Saul, Black Creek Crossing
Trigger warnings: Animal torture and death. Bullying.
OK. First off..this is not like most of my reviews. I will be discussing the ending so right away I'd say..
SPOILERSl
If you have any intention of reading this, you should not read my review.
So. John Saul is on my list of people who have made significant contributions to my life. He was the very first author I followed on a regular basis. I started reading him in Elementary school an d was a huge fan.
I heard about him from my lovely MamaCita from whom I inherited my love of reading. For years, I'd read Saul. His books always succeeded in scaring the heck out of me. Punish the Sinners, The God project, When the wind blows, Comes the Blind Fury. The list goes on.
As I got older, his books became bloodier and more bizarre. Also, my tastes changed.
But I still love him. I reread occasionally a book of his..this one or that one. And it is always enjoyable. But I have not read anything NEW from him in ions.
Until yesterday. I was CRAVING him..well..a book by him. So I chose Black Creek crossing.
An eerie horror that swept me along and for a good bit, I thought it would get four stars..or at least three.
Then it fell apart. Because of the ending.
John Saul seems incapable of ending his books any other way except killing off every good person in the book. I have witnessed this time and again and it really has become a turn off.
I thought this one would be different. All through the book. it seemed it was building towards the kids settling in the cabin with Houdini. I was down with that. I fell in love with Houdini. It is rare when a cat can be center stage in a book but with Black Creek Crossing, the cat is our unsung hero. I loved this cat!
So it would seem..to me..almost like Saul had a change of heart. The ending was sloppy, heart breaking, crazy and made no sense. WHY would the kids hang themselves? They did not kill their parents. And WHY would the cat not stop them? He was able to control golf balls for crying out loud! Somehow I doubt, their staunch protector would have let this happen.
And what ever happened to Chad? Never mentioned again.
I was so turned off and so let down. Listen..if you are a Saul fan and are reading this and know of ANY of his books that end on at least a hopeful note, please post here. I just do not get it.
When starting a book..if you already know the ending, there is less and less incentive to read the book. That is another thing I never liked about his books.
I'd hoped to rate this a five. No such luck. Note and shout out to Saul: please write at least one ending where someone..anyone..is not killed violently? We fans really deserve it.
Aside from the ending, the book is actually good. But..animal brutality. Even if he comes back to life!
2.5 stars from this reader.
October 14, 2021
Excellent tale of creepy haunted locations and witchcraft and curses. A slow burn build up to a frightening conclusion when a young girl and her parents move into the local “haunted” house and strange happenings begin to plague the family.
March 2, 2015
Well, John Saul certainly beats the issue of bullying into the ground in this one and milks it for all it’s worth.
Apparently, the mere fact that someone is ugly will get them teased and tortured to the point of cruelty. What a very shallow reason for such an act. And f.y.i., I have met quite a few people (both old and young) who are incredibly popular despite the fact that they do not look like the proverbial movie star.
The one topic that interested me in this one—the haunting—barely got any attention because the author was so busy slapping us in the face with every single possible way two teenagers could have their lives destroyed by, apparently, everyone around them for the stupidest of reasons.
Not a good one. Moving on.
Apparently, the mere fact that someone is ugly will get them teased and tortured to the point of cruelty. What a very shallow reason for such an act. And f.y.i., I have met quite a few people (both old and young) who are incredibly popular despite the fact that they do not look like the proverbial movie star.
The one topic that interested me in this one—the haunting—barely got any attention because the author was so busy slapping us in the face with every single possible way two teenagers could have their lives destroyed by, apparently, everyone around them for the stupidest of reasons.
Not a good one. Moving on.
November 8, 2020
If you like a little Hocus Pocus, a black cat, witchcraft and home remedies, this is the book for you :-) I have enjoyed this story four times. The books brings to mind another favorite of mine, The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane.
Black Creek Crossing focuses on extremism: father figures, religion, outcasts, over reaction. Featuring history and tradition linked to witchcraft, Black Creek Crossing is a variation on the typical haunted house tale.
I started reading John Saul as a teenager, the writing could be better but the horror storytelling is hard to match. Saul hasn't released anything new in over a decade, yet fans continue to hold onto the possibility of future novels. In an October 2020 email to fans, John Saul writes openly about his political views and hints at a future story:
So, to avoid living the horror rather than just reading it, I would like to encourage you to make sure you vote. Obviously, I encourage you to vote the Biden/Harris ticket. If they win the election and Biden is inaugurated in January, I will endeavor to send each of you a dark story you will be able to read rather than live.
As Halloween drew near in 2020, I got the craving for John Saul Horror. I hadn't read one of his books in a while. I used this title for the Dare to Dream Group Fall Reading Challenge. Black Creek Crossing met two of the seasonal tasks: a book that is "unsettling" and an author named John.
Favorite Passages from Black Creek Crossing:
It was the cold that awakened her, a cold that crept first into her sleep, curling its fingers around her subconscious, making her feel as if she were walking through the woods on a winter night. Snow crunched beneath her feet, and all around her the bare limbs of trees glistened in the mo0nlight, every branch and twig encased in ice that sparkled with a brilliance that seemed to mirror the millions of stars that twinkled in the clear night sky. The path would though a stand of birches, and she was striding along with the careless exhilaration of a spring afternoon rather than the sense of purposeful urgency that winter nights always brought.
Then, as the cold tightened its grip, the dream began to change.
A cloud scudded across the moon, and the stars began to fade.
________
Too late. Everything was closing in on her - the cold was reaching into her bones, the snow was sucking at her feet, the blackness of the night was all but complete. And the trees themselves were reaching out, searching at her skin, lashing at her arms, her back, her thighs, her breasts.
________
Angel froze as Nicole's taunting words poured over her, and for a moment she wanted to grab Nicole's long blond hair and jerk her head right off her neck.
________
The church seemed to huddle beneath the heavy gray sky as if it weren't certain how much long it could continue even to stand. And then, as the clouds suddenly parted to let the sun shine through, Myra gasped as the stark silhouette of a cross slashed across the church's front doors like some mighty sword cleaving the very foundation of her faith.
________
This was a different feeling, as if an unseen being were hovering just beyond the fringes of her senses. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling - not like the creepy feeling when someone was watching her, when the hair on the back of her neck stood up, and she could almost hear people whispering about her. No, this new feeling was almost like having an unseen companion who was there to watch over her.
_________
"You're claiming you recognize a black cat at night?"
_________
A cat!
A black cat, with a single white blaze in the middle of its chest.
Angel's cat!
Claws that felt like acid-tipped scalpel blades suddenly slashed deep into the bare flesh of his shoulders, and teeth sank into his neck.
________
The black cat slipped through the night like a wraith, moving silently in the darkness, no sound at all betraying its presence. Rather, it was the silence itself that signaled every living thing within its reach that something was wrong.
The danger was nearby.
And sensing the danger - the presence of the wraithlike creature - every living thing took on a stillness that lay over the night like a cloak so dense that even the light breeze of the autumn night died away.
But event the cloak of silence wasn't enough to slow the cat as it moved toward its prey, for there was nothing in the night the cat could not hear.
Nothing it could not see.
Nothing it could not sense.
After it had passed, the silence slowly lifted.
Crickets concealed beneath the bark of trees once more rubbed their wing covers together.
Tree frogs in the gardens began to puff out their throats once more. Birds in their nests and on their perches twittered softly in their sleep.
Even the leaves dying on the trees began to rustle as the breeze in the air came back to life.
_________
"It wasn't a nightmare!" Jared cried. "It was a cat!"
_________
Instead of a cat, she saw a figure clad in an old-fashioned black dress and a bonnet. The figure's back was toward her, and its arm was raised as a moment ago Marty Sullivan's own arm had been raised.
But instead of a beer bottle, the black-clad figure held a knife with a stiletto-sharp blade that glinted even in the shadowed light of the living room.
The blade was stained red, and over the figure's shoulder Myra could see a bloody slash across Marty's cheek.
The figure turned, and for an instant Myra got a glimpse of a young girl - perhaps a little younger than Angel - with a cameo brooch pinned to the breast of her black dress.
As Myra gazed at the vision - for surely that was what it had to be - the face changed. Its flesh began to dissolve, skin and muscle falling away to leave nothing but a skull.
A skull with sharply pointed teeth jutting from its jaws, and golden embers glowing deep in the empty eye sockets.
_________
"Jeez, Chad," Jared breathed. "All that blood - I thought we were just going to scare him!"
_________
__________
Black Creek Crossing focuses on extremism: father figures, religion, outcasts, over reaction. Featuring history and tradition linked to witchcraft, Black Creek Crossing is a variation on the typical haunted house tale.
I started reading John Saul as a teenager, the writing could be better but the horror storytelling is hard to match. Saul hasn't released anything new in over a decade, yet fans continue to hold onto the possibility of future novels. In an October 2020 email to fans, John Saul writes openly about his political views and hints at a future story:
So, to avoid living the horror rather than just reading it, I would like to encourage you to make sure you vote. Obviously, I encourage you to vote the Biden/Harris ticket. If they win the election and Biden is inaugurated in January, I will endeavor to send each of you a dark story you will be able to read rather than live.
As Halloween drew near in 2020, I got the craving for John Saul Horror. I hadn't read one of his books in a while. I used this title for the Dare to Dream Group Fall Reading Challenge. Black Creek Crossing met two of the seasonal tasks: a book that is "unsettling" and an author named John.
Favorite Passages from Black Creek Crossing:
It was the cold that awakened her, a cold that crept first into her sleep, curling its fingers around her subconscious, making her feel as if she were walking through the woods on a winter night. Snow crunched beneath her feet, and all around her the bare limbs of trees glistened in the mo0nlight, every branch and twig encased in ice that sparkled with a brilliance that seemed to mirror the millions of stars that twinkled in the clear night sky. The path would though a stand of birches, and she was striding along with the careless exhilaration of a spring afternoon rather than the sense of purposeful urgency that winter nights always brought.
Then, as the cold tightened its grip, the dream began to change.
A cloud scudded across the moon, and the stars began to fade.
________
Too late. Everything was closing in on her - the cold was reaching into her bones, the snow was sucking at her feet, the blackness of the night was all but complete. And the trees themselves were reaching out, searching at her skin, lashing at her arms, her back, her thighs, her breasts.
________
Angel froze as Nicole's taunting words poured over her, and for a moment she wanted to grab Nicole's long blond hair and jerk her head right off her neck.
________
The church seemed to huddle beneath the heavy gray sky as if it weren't certain how much long it could continue even to stand. And then, as the clouds suddenly parted to let the sun shine through, Myra gasped as the stark silhouette of a cross slashed across the church's front doors like some mighty sword cleaving the very foundation of her faith.
________
This was a different feeling, as if an unseen being were hovering just beyond the fringes of her senses. It wasn't an unpleasant feeling - not like the creepy feeling when someone was watching her, when the hair on the back of her neck stood up, and she could almost hear people whispering about her. No, this new feeling was almost like having an unseen companion who was there to watch over her.
_________
"You're claiming you recognize a black cat at night?"
_________
A cat!
A black cat, with a single white blaze in the middle of its chest.
Angel's cat!
Claws that felt like acid-tipped scalpel blades suddenly slashed deep into the bare flesh of his shoulders, and teeth sank into his neck.
________
The black cat slipped through the night like a wraith, moving silently in the darkness, no sound at all betraying its presence. Rather, it was the silence itself that signaled every living thing within its reach that something was wrong.
The danger was nearby.
And sensing the danger - the presence of the wraithlike creature - every living thing took on a stillness that lay over the night like a cloak so dense that even the light breeze of the autumn night died away.
But event the cloak of silence wasn't enough to slow the cat as it moved toward its prey, for there was nothing in the night the cat could not hear.
Nothing it could not see.
Nothing it could not sense.
After it had passed, the silence slowly lifted.
Crickets concealed beneath the bark of trees once more rubbed their wing covers together.
Tree frogs in the gardens began to puff out their throats once more. Birds in their nests and on their perches twittered softly in their sleep.
Even the leaves dying on the trees began to rustle as the breeze in the air came back to life.
_________
"It wasn't a nightmare!" Jared cried. "It was a cat!"
_________
Instead of a cat, she saw a figure clad in an old-fashioned black dress and a bonnet. The figure's back was toward her, and its arm was raised as a moment ago Marty Sullivan's own arm had been raised.
But instead of a beer bottle, the black-clad figure held a knife with a stiletto-sharp blade that glinted even in the shadowed light of the living room.
The blade was stained red, and over the figure's shoulder Myra could see a bloody slash across Marty's cheek.
The figure turned, and for an instant Myra got a glimpse of a young girl - perhaps a little younger than Angel - with a cameo brooch pinned to the breast of her black dress.
As Myra gazed at the vision - for surely that was what it had to be - the face changed. Its flesh began to dissolve, skin and muscle falling away to leave nothing but a skull.
A skull with sharply pointed teeth jutting from its jaws, and golden embers glowing deep in the empty eye sockets.
_________
"Jeez, Chad," Jared breathed. "All that blood - I thought we were just going to scare him!"
_________
__________
October 18, 2025
O carte fără pretenții, dar care abordează subiecte care vor rămâne mereu actuale. Stilul și atmosfera create de autor sunt mereu pe placul meu iar finalul chiar e unul pe care nu prea poți sa îl ghicești cu ușurință.
October 3, 2009
Fifteen year old Angel Sullivan is ready for a fresh start when she and her family move to the charming town of Roundtree. After being teased for years by classmates, Angel is hoping to find some friends in her new school. Although she is once again picked on by most of the other kids, she does find one new friend, a fellow misfit named Seth.
Angel and Seth soon start to realize there is something very strange about Angel's house. A black cat mysteriously appears and starts to follow Angel around; faces are seen in her bedroom window. A smell of smoke sometimes lingers in the closet. For years, rumors have gone around town that the house is cursed. When Angel and Seth find a book of what appears to be magical spells, they realize that history is coming back to life in the old house on Black Creek Crossing.
October is the month I dedicate to horror and paranormal reads. John Saul was one of my favorite horror authors years ago, and I still remember vividly nightmare-inducing scenes from Suffer the Children. Well, apparently my tastes have changed over the years because I felt I was slogging through this book. Flat, predictable characters: you have your snobby teens in the cool clique, your misfits, the country club Moms and golf playing business Dads. The plot itself isn't too bad, but it's not remotely scary. Because of the writing style, I felt like this book was geared towards the young teen crowd, but the goriness would probably be too much for most of them to handle. So you have a book meant for adults written at the level of fifth or sixth graders.
I did like the history surrounding the house and the Wynton family. I wish Saul had done more with that aspect of the book, than dealing so much with the teens and their issues. Another plus, this is a really quick read, and it doesn't require much in the way of thought processes. I guess one way to look at it as the chick lit of the horror genre--light, fluffy, good if you are looking for a quick read.
Angel and Seth soon start to realize there is something very strange about Angel's house. A black cat mysteriously appears and starts to follow Angel around; faces are seen in her bedroom window. A smell of smoke sometimes lingers in the closet. For years, rumors have gone around town that the house is cursed. When Angel and Seth find a book of what appears to be magical spells, they realize that history is coming back to life in the old house on Black Creek Crossing.
October is the month I dedicate to horror and paranormal reads. John Saul was one of my favorite horror authors years ago, and I still remember vividly nightmare-inducing scenes from Suffer the Children. Well, apparently my tastes have changed over the years because I felt I was slogging through this book. Flat, predictable characters: you have your snobby teens in the cool clique, your misfits, the country club Moms and golf playing business Dads. The plot itself isn't too bad, but it's not remotely scary. Because of the writing style, I felt like this book was geared towards the young teen crowd, but the goriness would probably be too much for most of them to handle. So you have a book meant for adults written at the level of fifth or sixth graders.
I did like the history surrounding the house and the Wynton family. I wish Saul had done more with that aspect of the book, than dealing so much with the teens and their issues. Another plus, this is a really quick read, and it doesn't require much in the way of thought processes. I guess one way to look at it as the chick lit of the horror genre--light, fluffy, good if you are looking for a quick read.
July 4, 2024
3.5
I spent half the time thinking that this novel was too silly and juvenile for my taste, but I really appreciated the absolute clusterfuck path that this took. Having the story develop so horrifically from what seemed like a Young Adult 80’s spooky book was definitely the right choice!
I spent half the time thinking that this novel was too silly and juvenile for my taste, but I really appreciated the absolute clusterfuck path that this took. Having the story develop so horrifically from what seemed like a Young Adult 80’s spooky book was definitely the right choice!
August 28, 2021
Review coming soon! Come back to 'Black Creek Crossing'
Enjoy!
Richard
Enjoy!
Richard
October 22, 2022
3.5/5
Certainly not without flaws, but I had a blast reading this book, despite the issues. Full review tomorrow
Certainly not without flaws, but I had a blast reading this book, despite the issues. Full review tomorrow
June 13, 2025
What an amazing book, God! Why aren’t horror books like this still being written today?
February 27, 2025
Witchy ghosts. This was an unexpectedly good time.
September 15, 2009
All right. I started out with the intent to read this one carefully, taking my time and all that good stuff-enjoying the spookiness of it...However, once I got about 3/4 of the way through, I lost my patience. I do this frequently with the "scary books". I thought it would be more spooky. Instead (here come the spoilers), I got a book about 2 teenaged outcasts w/ abusive parents who find an old book, encounter a cat who is also the spirit of a dead person, and then they cast spells on their tormentors.
Here's my main problem: NO ONE is likeable, not even the two pseudo-witches who are tormented by other kids. These two kids are absolutely DESPISED by an ENTIRE school. They are sexually harassed, physically abused, and verbally abused on a daily basis. By the whole school, but the only reason given is that the one guy doesn't like sports, and the girl isn't pretty.
The plot was verrry slow in the beginning, picked up some steam, got stupid w/ the whole witch-thing, and ended terribly.
I know that Saul is a best-seller, so perhaps my critique is a bit harsh. I'd pick out something ELSE though....
Here's my main problem: NO ONE is likeable, not even the two pseudo-witches who are tormented by other kids. These two kids are absolutely DESPISED by an ENTIRE school. They are sexually harassed, physically abused, and verbally abused on a daily basis. By the whole school, but the only reason given is that the one guy doesn't like sports, and the girl isn't pretty.
The plot was verrry slow in the beginning, picked up some steam, got stupid w/ the whole witch-thing, and ended terribly.
I know that Saul is a best-seller, so perhaps my critique is a bit harsh. I'd pick out something ELSE though....
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 15, 2010
Definetly a good book. I think the ending needed a bit more development and needed to tie up some of the loose ends a bit more. I think that some of the questions didn't seemed fully answered, but nonetheless it was a very entertaining read. Some of the characters did seem a bit cliche though - a drunken and abusive dad, teenage bullies, helpless loner main characters, etc. The overall effect was a very good one though. I quite enjoyed the book.
March 7, 2020
Saul has a well worn set of themes he utilizes over and over, and sometimes to great effect. Black Creek Crossing has his (by now) standard alienated teenagers abused by their parents along with a what seems to be a haunted house story. The teens in this one, however, discover witchcraft and all hell is about to break loose.
October 19, 2011
Picked this up from the library to get me in the Halloween spirit. It was good. A bit derivative. A mix of "The Shining" and "The Craft"...with a liberal sprinkling of "The Amityville Horror".
Angel Sullivan is an outcast. A teenage girl twenty pounds too heavy, features a little too large. She has never been accepted. Meet Seth Baker, outcast. A teenage boy twenty pounds too light, personality a little too effeminate. When Angel and her family move into the strange house in the middle of nowhere in the little town of Roundtree, she hopes to find a new beginning. A life separate from the taunts, torments and teasing she experienced in her former life. Unfortunately, on her first day of high school, she learns that new town does not necessarily equal new rules. Enter Seth, a kindred spirit, and the target for the brutality before Angel entered the picture. The two of them begin to lean on eachother for comfort and a sympathetic ear. They both desperately want the bullying to end, but how?
It seems that there is more to Angel's new house than really cool oak finishings. Oh yes, could it be that the strange dreams she have been having since her first night are a message from the other side? Could the black cat Angel discovered in her bedroom closet her first night there be a dead witch from the past eternally linked to the house? Could an unseen entity bent on destroying said entity be attempting to control Angel's father? Yes, yes, and painfully yes.
While all of these plot points are thrown about in the most obtuse and blaise fashion the reader must willfully shut down the logical part of his/her brain. It is recommended that to enjoy this novel we must each tap into that uncharted region of our adolescence when all we wanted was super-powers to hurt our tormentors. At the heart of this book this is all that matters: Bullies suck, parental or peer-based, and the day will come when I get my hand on a witch-book and make all of your sorry butts' pay.
August 19, 2024
📖RECENZIE:
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
~
"Casa de la răscruce", cel mai bun horror citit în ultima vreme?!
~
Probabil majoritatea dintre voi știți că, împreună cu prietena mea @books.are.from.heaven căutăm și citim deseori cărți nepopulare destul de interesante. Anul trecut v-am zăpăcit amândouă în căutarea unei cărți bune cu fantome. Și uite cum, câteva luni mai târziu, Andreea îmi zice de această carte.
~
Am mai citit John Saul în trecut dar, din păcate, "Labirintul diavolului" s-a dovedit puțin cam "inspirată" din altă carte așa că experiența mi-a lăsat un gust ușor amar fapt pentru care, atunci când am auzit iar de Saul am fost destul de sceptică. Nu sunt nici un fan al finalurilor scrise de el...sau, nu eram până acum.
Ce contează e că în cele din urmă am decis să facem un buddyread la ea, și bine că l-am făcut!!
~
Cartea ne prezintă o familie ciudată și ușor disfuncțională, care în urma unei întâmplări nefericite, au nevoie de o locuință. Exact ca într-un film clasic cu fantome "Casa de la răscruce" se dovedește a fi exact casa perfectă pentru mica noastră familie, în ciuda reputației negative pe care locuința o are. Înconjurată de mister, zvonuri subre și la pachet cu o pisică neagră, casa își deschide ușile și te lasă să îi descoperi magia.
~
Cartea este scrisă foarte bine! E plină de mister și suspans, cu personaje pe care le iubești din tot sufletul și personaje la care le dorești moartea lent; cu scene care te revoltă și scene pe care le adori, nu are cum să nu te atingă.
~
Da, tipic lui Saul, multe lucruri rămân neexplicate la final (as always) dar, chiar și așa, sunt pe deplin mulțumită cu finalul poveștii ( mai puțin un detaliu minor).
~
Saul are puterea de a-mi da o poveste de 300+ pag și să nu-mi fie de ajuns, să îmi doresc să văd ce se poate întâmpla mai departe. Recomand cu tot dragul! Mult mai bună decât "Labirintul diavolului" (părere subiectivă, evident).
Atenție! Descrierile de aici vă pot afecta emoțional! Citiți pe proprie răspundere 🤭
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
~
"Casa de la răscruce", cel mai bun horror citit în ultima vreme?!
~
Probabil majoritatea dintre voi știți că, împreună cu prietena mea @books.are.from.heaven căutăm și citim deseori cărți nepopulare destul de interesante. Anul trecut v-am zăpăcit amândouă în căutarea unei cărți bune cu fantome. Și uite cum, câteva luni mai târziu, Andreea îmi zice de această carte.
~
Am mai citit John Saul în trecut dar, din păcate, "Labirintul diavolului" s-a dovedit puțin cam "inspirată" din altă carte așa că experiența mi-a lăsat un gust ușor amar fapt pentru care, atunci când am auzit iar de Saul am fost destul de sceptică. Nu sunt nici un fan al finalurilor scrise de el...sau, nu eram până acum.
Ce contează e că în cele din urmă am decis să facem un buddyread la ea, și bine că l-am făcut!!
~
Cartea ne prezintă o familie ciudată și ușor disfuncțională, care în urma unei întâmplări nefericite, au nevoie de o locuință. Exact ca într-un film clasic cu fantome "Casa de la răscruce" se dovedește a fi exact casa perfectă pentru mica noastră familie, în ciuda reputației negative pe care locuința o are. Înconjurată de mister, zvonuri subre și la pachet cu o pisică neagră, casa își deschide ușile și te lasă să îi descoperi magia.
~
Cartea este scrisă foarte bine! E plină de mister și suspans, cu personaje pe care le iubești din tot sufletul și personaje la care le dorești moartea lent; cu scene care te revoltă și scene pe care le adori, nu are cum să nu te atingă.
~
Da, tipic lui Saul, multe lucruri rămân neexplicate la final (as always) dar, chiar și așa, sunt pe deplin mulțumită cu finalul poveștii ( mai puțin un detaliu minor).
~
Saul are puterea de a-mi da o poveste de 300+ pag și să nu-mi fie de ajuns, să îmi doresc să văd ce se poate întâmpla mai departe. Recomand cu tot dragul! Mult mai bună decât "Labirintul diavolului" (părere subiectivă, evident).
Atenție! Descrierile de aici vă pot afecta emoțional! Citiți pe proprie răspundere 🤭
September 21, 2020
My second John Saul book since he released Guardian, over 20 years ago. That book scared me so much I avoided books by him; until a couple years ago. 26 years of life experience gives you a different perspective. This was a great start to my Halloween reading and a great reintroduction to John Saul.
The story centers around a house and the secrets it passes to each family that occupies it. The priest, the town, the realtors know the horrors that befall each family that lives there, yet, one realtor still encourages her sister to purchase the house. The events that unfold will make any survivor of childhood bullying and/or an abusive family member to identify with Angel and Seth.
The narration was interesting in a Vincent Price sort of way. His cadence, volume and inflections got as excitable as the storyline. It wasn’t bad, it definitely added to the heart pounding factor.
The story centers around a house and the secrets it passes to each family that occupies it. The priest, the town, the realtors know the horrors that befall each family that lives there, yet, one realtor still encourages her sister to purchase the house. The events that unfold will make any survivor of childhood bullying and/or an abusive family member to identify with Angel and Seth.
The narration was interesting in a Vincent Price sort of way. His cadence, volume and inflections got as excitable as the storyline. It wasn’t bad, it definitely added to the heart pounding factor.
April 13, 2015
I thought this book was ok. It was a quick read.. And was spooky and creepy which of course, I love!
Those boys were horrible!! And the scene with the cat was sickening!
What's with the fathers in this book being so awful??? And the mothers being so... I don't know.. How could they accept their husbands behaviour???
I'm glad Angel and Seth found each other though.. Although... What's up with the ending???
Those boys were horrible!! And the scene with the cat was sickening!
What's with the fathers in this book being so awful??? And the mothers being so... I don't know.. How could they accept their husbands behaviour???
I'm glad Angel and Seth found each other though.. Although... What's up with the ending???
September 10, 2008
Used to read John Saul when I was a teenager and decided to give him another try a few years ago to see if he had matured/improved any. Nope. Weak writing, weak plot, poorly executed. The next time I read another John Saul novel is when there is a gun pointed at my head.
October 16, 2008
"Black cats, witches, ghosts, and a haunted house it's Halloween bitches! Woot! *Does the awkward cabbage patch*"
January 25, 2016
Meh, cool cover though.
Oddly enough I bought this because I wanted to get Flavia de Luce books at that time. Haha. Weird, huh ?
October 27, 2018
Based on the blurb, I was expecting Black Creek Crossing to be ghostlit, but it turned out to be more of a witch novel. Or more precisely, a ghost-witch book. A witch from the days of Colonial times makes her presence known, but she is also a ghost because, well, she died 300 years ago. Unfortunately, also residing in this haunted New England house is an entity of pure, unadulterated evil who encourages men to act on their basest urges.
Up until the end (we'll come to that), the supernatural element seemed an adjunct to this morality tale of human frailty. The problems that afflict this community are more natural than supernatural—child abuse, teen bullying, the specter of incest. The community of Roundtree is aware of the cruelty in its midst. The church knows, the school knows, the parents know, and yet no one intervenes, so one act of cruelty leads to another and to another. This indifference and these inhumane acts fester in a cesspool of insularity—the same insularity that existed in this town and others like it during the Colonial Era. The long ago New England villages of the witch trials promoted intolerance and ignorance, and author John Saul capitalizes on this historical setting to deepen the sense of impending doom.
I read this during the annual Supernatural Fiction Readers group read on Goodreads. One of the other readers in the group observed that Black Creek Crossing felt like a young adult novel. At times I noticed that too, partly because the principal characters, Angel and Seth, are teens. Right away I was reminded of Eleanor & Park as both sets of young adults fall outside of conventional teen molds. For instance, both Eleanor and Angel are overweight and wary of the attentions of their father figures. Later I thought of another YA novel, Thirteen Reasons Why because Thirteen Reasons Why as well as Black Creek Crossing explores the theme that action causes consequences, often unintended. More importantly—and maybe this is true IRL* as well—inaction causes consequences, often unintended and often deadly.
So...deadly consequences. This brings us to the story's conclusion. Some have complained about the violence of the ending (though others have complained that the gore was too slow in coming). Black Creek Crossing did not provide the ending I had hoped for, which is to say the extent of brutality in this book disappointed me. I have seen this escalation of violence in other works of horror like the movie Poltergeist and James Herbert's novel The Ghosts of Sleath, so I guess there is a tradition of this plot device in the horror genre—kind of like that booming, ear-crushing finale you get at the conclusion of fireworks displays as if fireworks were not already sufficiently exciting. The ending of Black Creek Crossing did not scare me (not like Poltergeist; I was so unprepared for that ending I didn't sleep all night). No, the ending of Black Creek Crossing made me very sad.
There's this thing, this idea called intertextuality, and it means that all the books, movies, paintings, newspaper articles, billboards a writer has ever encountered are all bouncing around in his or her head and that all these books and movies and so on influence what that writer writes. I think there's also a reader intertextuality (or at least I have it. Is there a cure?), and my head is stuffed with all the stories I've read and heard and watched (probably why I can't do math; there's just no room in there). For me, the real value—and it's a transformative one—of Black Creek Crossing is that it connected me to other texts and these other texts reinforced author John Saul's study of the rippling pond of action and inaction on the lives of others, and in some way made me want to be even more thoughtful about what I say and do in my life.
As I said, I read this book as part of the Supernatural Fiction Readers group read on Goodreads led by Werner Lind. It's an annual event, so I hope you'll check it out for next year!
*In teen speech, IRL translates to In Real Life.
Up until the end (we'll come to that), the supernatural element seemed an adjunct to this morality tale of human frailty. The problems that afflict this community are more natural than supernatural—child abuse, teen bullying, the specter of incest. The community of Roundtree is aware of the cruelty in its midst. The church knows, the school knows, the parents know, and yet no one intervenes, so one act of cruelty leads to another and to another. This indifference and these inhumane acts fester in a cesspool of insularity—the same insularity that existed in this town and others like it during the Colonial Era. The long ago New England villages of the witch trials promoted intolerance and ignorance, and author John Saul capitalizes on this historical setting to deepen the sense of impending doom.
I read this during the annual Supernatural Fiction Readers group read on Goodreads. One of the other readers in the group observed that Black Creek Crossing felt like a young adult novel. At times I noticed that too, partly because the principal characters, Angel and Seth, are teens. Right away I was reminded of Eleanor & Park as both sets of young adults fall outside of conventional teen molds. For instance, both Eleanor and Angel are overweight and wary of the attentions of their father figures. Later I thought of another YA novel, Thirteen Reasons Why because Thirteen Reasons Why as well as Black Creek Crossing explores the theme that action causes consequences, often unintended. More importantly—and maybe this is true IRL* as well—inaction causes consequences, often unintended and often deadly.
So...deadly consequences. This brings us to the story's conclusion. Some have complained about the violence of the ending (though others have complained that the gore was too slow in coming). Black Creek Crossing did not provide the ending I had hoped for, which is to say the extent of brutality in this book disappointed me. I have seen this escalation of violence in other works of horror like the movie Poltergeist and James Herbert's novel The Ghosts of Sleath, so I guess there is a tradition of this plot device in the horror genre—kind of like that booming, ear-crushing finale you get at the conclusion of fireworks displays as if fireworks were not already sufficiently exciting. The ending of Black Creek Crossing did not scare me (not like Poltergeist; I was so unprepared for that ending I didn't sleep all night). No, the ending of Black Creek Crossing made me very sad.
There's this thing, this idea called intertextuality, and it means that all the books, movies, paintings, newspaper articles, billboards a writer has ever encountered are all bouncing around in his or her head and that all these books and movies and so on influence what that writer writes. I think there's also a reader intertextuality (or at least I have it. Is there a cure?), and my head is stuffed with all the stories I've read and heard and watched (probably why I can't do math; there's just no room in there). For me, the real value—and it's a transformative one—of Black Creek Crossing is that it connected me to other texts and these other texts reinforced author John Saul's study of the rippling pond of action and inaction on the lives of others, and in some way made me want to be even more thoughtful about what I say and do in my life.
As I said, I read this book as part of the Supernatural Fiction Readers group read on Goodreads led by Werner Lind. It's an annual event, so I hope you'll check it out for next year!
*In teen speech, IRL translates to In Real Life.
September 14, 2019
Witchcraft, ghost, haunted house and bullies which got what they've deserved. This is something you can find in this book, and if you love any of the mentioned, this book is for you.
It would be much better if the ending is better explained. There are some details missing, at least for me. I would like to know what happened to Zack, Jared and others.
But overall, I would definitely recommend it and I can't wait to read something else from John Saul.
It would be much better if the ending is better explained. There are some details missing, at least for me. I would like to know what happened to Zack, Jared and others.
But overall, I would definitely recommend it and I can't wait to read something else from John Saul.
October 18, 2021
My first experience with this author and I’m glad it was a positive one. This is a story about a house that has a dark history of murder and witchcraft. A new family has moved in and, well we find out exactly what’s going on. There are two teenagers, Angel and Seth who are outsiders and horribly bullied by other kids. At times, this was a bit heavy handed and the bullies were pretty stereotypical and one dimensional. But overall, I enjoyed this story. It started a bit slow but definitely pulled me in as it went on and we learned more about the history of the house and the things Angel and Seth do to stick up for themselves.
(Content warning for animal torture)
(Content warning for animal torture)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2019
Good book but could have been written 100 pages less.
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