House of Reckoning: A Novel
by John Saul
List Price:
Our Price: $2.66
You Save: $23.34 (90%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: John SaulEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2009-10-13
ISBN: 0345514246
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of House of Reckoning: A Novel
Book Review: Good Author, Bad Book
Summary: 2 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
John Saul, a frequent flyer of the New York Times Best Seller List and author of 36 books, has been writing suspense/horror novels for the public since 1977. A first-time reader of his work would hardly believe those facts if they started with "House of Reckoning". In fact, they would more than likely deduce that the guy was a total amateur judging by his crude narrative, simple lexis and the sheer volume of errors - grammatical, spelling and punctuation all - contained within the book's transitory 295-page length. **Personally, this is the most error-filled advance copy I've ever read through Amazon's Vine program. There are frequent typos, words missing altogether from sentences and misuse/overuse of punctuation (Woah there! Saul really should cut back on his use of exclamation points!).**
Though it is a quick read, it's not a good thing in this case. Saul's book just seems incomplete, as if he was in the middle of writing a rough draft and had to give it up to his editor and publisher without fleshing it out in a way it should've been, not to mention a way that would've made it a more absorbing read. His characters deserved more exploration - a large portion of them are antagonists, one-dimensional glaring archetypes, with little to explain their nefarious motives save for the fact that they are evangelicals who are every bit as malicious as the evil they so often moralize about (the folks of Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, KS would LOVE to recruit these people). Saul makes them so spiteful that he in effect dehumanizes them and gives little reason for the reader to offer them any empathy or consideration - they are mere cogs, tarnished and tiresome, in his rickety plot.
The story has a foundation but little else. Sarah comes to where she is in a series of horrific and tragic circumstances, ending up in a foster home whose occupants are straight out of a Grimm fairy tale. She is an outcast at school and befriends another outcast named Nick Dunnigan. Bettina Phillips, a woman accused of being a witch due to her unorthodox way of living, is introduced and there are some unsubtle hints dropped about her connection to Sarah (some readers will probably predict what it is right away, Saul's expedited storytelling and poor foreshadowing the giveaway). Sarah and Nick share visions - Nick sees them, Sarah draws them. They connect it all to a historical house called Shutters that Bettina lives in. Strange things happen, Sarah, Nick and Bettina are blamed and then the book's key adversaries come marching to Shutters like an angry mob with pitchforks and torches, instigating the book's lackluster and outlandish climax involving the ghosts who occupy its subterranean quarters.
There is much to be desired and too many questions are left unanswered. Why was Bettina raped? Why, despite the atrocities hinted at that occurred at Shutters does the house favor and exact revenge for certain people? Moreover, why does it favor Bettina when she is supposedly an ancestor of the person that committed said atrocities? You'd think the spirits of Shutters would be miserable entities, selfish and murderous in life only to be murdered themselves and caught in a horrid limbo, unable to find peace from their pasts or move to the other side. You'd also think that they hated Bettina the most because of her blood line.
All told, there is little meat to be chewed on from the roast that Saul presents; it's closer to bare bones, much like the skeletons Sarah sketches at one point in the story. When a reader walks away knowing next to nothing about a book's characters, much less their impetuses and the reasons behind why their situations arise and/or resolve, it does not speak well for the writer.
Bottom line: I'm sorry to say that "House of Reckoning" was not an enjoyable read for me. I'm even sorrier to report that it is the worst Vine pick I've ever had the misfortune of making ("The Servant's Quarters" looks like gold next to this). Despite this, I'm willing to give Saul another chance and go on a fellow reviewer's recommendation to read his earlier work. One bad story does not a bad author make, but do skip this one, Saul fan or not - you are in for disappointment no matter what.
Summary of House of Reckoning: A Novel
For more than three decades John Saul has haunted the New York Times bestseller list?and readers? imaginations?with his chilling tales of psychological suspense and supernatural horror. His instinct for striking the deepest chords of fear in our hearts and minds is unerring, and his gift for steering a tale from the light of day into the darkest depths of nightmare is at its harrowing best in House of Reckoning.After the untimely death of her mother, fourteen-year-old Sarah Crane is forced to grow up quickly in order to help tend her family?s Vermont farm and look after her grieving father, who?s drowning his sorrow in alcohol. But their quiet life together is shattered when her father is jailed for killing another man in a barroom brawl and injuring Sarah in a drunken car crash. Left in the cold care of a loveless foster family and alienated at school, Sarah finds a kindred spirit in classmate Nick Dunnigan, a former mental patient still plagued by voices and visions. And in eccentric art instructor Bettina Phillips, Sarah finds a mentor eager to nurture her talent for painting.
But within the walls of Bettina?s ancestral home, the mansion called Shutters, Sarah finds something altogether different and disturbing. Monstrous images from the house?s dark history seem to flow unbidden from Sarah?s paintbrush?images echoed by Nick?s chilling hallucinations. Trapped for ages in the shadowy rooms of Shutters, the violence and fury of long-dead generations have finally found a gateway from the grave into the world of the living. And Sarah and Nick have found a power they never had: to take control, and take revenge.
Horror Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Horror Books
Let the Right One In: A Novelby John Ajvide Lindqvist
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2008-10-28; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus: The 1818 Textby Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
University Of Chicago Press; Published: 1982-03-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.00
Price in other shops:
Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (Oxford Bookworms S, Stage 4)by Robert Louis Stevenson
Oxford Univ Pr (Sd); Published: 1991-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.79
Price in other shops:
The Oxford Book of Gothic Tales (Oxford Books of Prose)Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2001-11-19; Paperback; Book
Best price: $50.00
The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)by Stephen King
Penguin Audio; Published: 2003-08-26; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $149.99
![Thinner [UNABRIDGED] Image](/images/Thinner-UNABRIDGED-0140862668-X.jpg){kind=small}
Thinner [UNABRIDGED]by Stephen King
Penguin Audio; Published: 1996-09-01; Audio Cassette; Book
Best price: $8.00
Price in other shops:
The Crow: Temple of Nightby S P. Somtow
Harper Paperbacks; Published: 1999-11-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.99
Price in other shops:
Brains: A Zombie Memoirby Robin Becker
Eos; Published: 2010-05-25; Paperback; Book
Best price: $0.23
Price in other shops:
The Strain LP: Book One of The Strain Trilogyby Guillermo Del Toro, Chuck Hogan
HarperLuxe; Published: 2009-06-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.45
Price in other shops:
Prince of Darknessby Barbara Michaels
HarperTorch; Published: 2005-04-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.58
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Full Dark, No Starsby Stephen King
Scribner; Published: 2010-11-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
John Saul: Three Terrifying Bestselling Novels: Suffer the Children; Punish the Sinners; Cry for the Strangersby John Saul
Wings; Published: 1996-11-20; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $28.97
The Presenceby John Saul
Ballantine Books; Published: 1998-04-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.97
Price in other shops:
In the Dark of the Night: A Novelby John Saul
Ballantine Books; Published: 2007-06-26; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.68
Price in other shops:
Black Creek Crossing: A Novelby John Saul
Ballantine Books; Published: 2005-05-31; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Faces of Fear: A Novelby John Saul
Ballantine Books; Published: 2008-08-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.70
Price in other shops:
The Devil's Labyrinth: A Novelby John Saul
Ballantine Books; Published: 2008-07-29; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.33
Price in other shops:
The Devil's Labyrinth: A Novelby John Saul
Ballantine Books; Published: 2007-07-17; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $1.20
Price in other shops:
What the Night Knows: A Novelby Dean Koontz
Bantam; Published: 2010-12-28; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $6.96
Price in other shops:
Perfect Nightmare: A Novelby John Saul
Ballantine Books; Published: 2006-04-25; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.18
Price in other shops: