Punish the Sinners
by John Saul
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Book Summary Information
Author: John SaulEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1978-06-01
ISBN: 0440170842
Number of pages: 416
Publisher: Dell Book
Book Reviews of Punish the Sinners
Book Review: Shocking and yet... slow.
Summary: 3 Stars
I have kind of been on a John Saul kick as of late, and decided to give one of his older novels a try. So picked up a used copy of Punish the Sinners. I found the book to be... slow. There are shocking moments, and some very grizzly violence towards the end of the novel, but none of that really picks up until 3/4 of the way through. The rest of the novel is one character's inconsistent struggle with his faith. I say inconsistent because his motivations and feelings really don't flow from chapter to chapter, but instead seem to jump randomly to fit the story. With the exception of one very shocking and wonderfully tasteless revelation and sex scene, the book is almost boring and repetitious. The characters never seem to fully develop, with most of the teen girls being interchangeable, and our lead character seeming like a different person from chapter to chapter, and sometimes from page to page. While it's not a total train wreck, it basically becomes a very mediocre small town soap opera.
So based on the first third of the book I would only give this book 2 1/2 stars. Then the last third begins and the whole book changes. Characters begin to kill themselves, and the stakes are raised, and suddenly the book becomes very entertaining. The "supernatural" aspect of the novel takes over and at this point I couldn't put the book down. I won't give anything away, but I will say that ending shows that Saul is capable of creating some almost stunning, and yet violent imagery as the body count begins to rise. In the last hundred or so pages John Saul's talent begins to shine through. It's just a pity that it takes so long for the book to get going. So long in fact that I'm guessing most readers will have already given up.
Then there is the ending. I will just say that I was surprised at the choice John Saul made, and looking back at it now, the final pages seem to give the book a much welcomed nasty edge.
Do I recommend this book? No, not really. There are so many better books, including ones by John Saul, that I just can't tell anyone to spend money on this one. If you can get a cheap used copy, then maybe, but otherwise skip Punish the Sinners and find something better. If you are looking for a John Saul novel try Faces of Fear or The Manhattan Hunt Club. John Saul has done better, and you the readers can do better as well.
Summary of Punish the Sinners
Italy 1252. Inquisition. Accusation. Fear. Torture. The guilty and the innocent dying for sins real and imagined in the flames of the burning stake. Neilsville, 1978. Peter Blasam has come to this sleepy desert town to teach its youth, and finds a mystery of mounting horror. Something is happening to the young girls of St. Francis Xavier High School -- something evil. In bloodlet and terror a suicide contagion has swept the two... while a dark order of its holy men enacts a secret medieval ritual. Is hysteria manipulating these innocent children into violent self-destruction? Or has supernatural force, a thirteenth-century madness, returned to... Punish The Sinners.Horror Books
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