Midnight Voices

Very enjoyable story featuring a mysterious apartment building on Central Park West known as The Rockwell. It’s a pretty strange building with some even stranger residents. Widowed Caroline Evans comes to live there with her two children when she marries Anthony Fleming who is a resident of The Rockwell. The place has a reputation for being haunted and it just might be true. The kids are experiencing voices in the night and having vivid nightmares and it’s hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t. This story really held my attention and there was such a great creepy atmosphere created within The Rockwell. The characters were quite an interesting assortment of people. I thought Caroline’s 10-year-old son Ryan was pretty awesome. show more I never knew what to expect next, and it was perfect for my Halloween reading. show less

Recently widowed Caroline Evans, who has two children, (10-year-old Ryan and 12-year-old Laurie) remarries and moves into new husband’s home, an old apartment building in New York City called The Rockwell. The kids hate it and want to move back to their old home. The Rockwell has a reputation for being a spooky old building. Ryan dislikes his mom’s new husband Anthony. He finds the tenants in the building (who are mostly elderly) strange and creepy. Soon, one of Caroline’s friends, who was checking on a tenant at the Rockwell, is murdered. Ryan and Laurie start hearing strange voices at night. Then Laurie starts having scary dreams… are they dreams? Or are they real?

This was a really captivating and creepy read! I had a hard show more time putting this book down, I had to find out what was going to happen next! The setting of the old building was good and atmospheric. The characters were interesting… some were likable, some were weird and scary. The storyline was compelling.

Another dark and chilling read by John Saul. show less

Midnight Voices is Dark, Dreary and Dreadful Fun!

John Saul’s Midnight Voices is an easy read, with a terrifying twist. When Caroline Evans’ husband was killed during a mugging, she is left with two young children and a demanding job. Struggling to make ends meet, she is ecstatic when she meets the man of her dreams.

After a whirlwind courtship, she marries the handsome, wealthy Anthony Fleming and her life seems perfect. Until they move into an apartment in the Rockwell, a well-known building in New York. There she meets the denizens of the building, an eccentric and strange bunch.

Her daughter Laurie begins to experience unsettling nightmares and her son Ryan exhibits animosity toward Caroline’s new husband. Excusing her show more children’s behavior, she does everything to please her husband, including visit with the neighbors who begin to show an unhealthy interest in her children.

Before long, Caroline realizes she has made a huge mistake. Nothing is as it seems…and there might be no one she can trust. Except maybe the voices in her head—the ones that tell her that her new home hides a terrible secret.

Creepy in a Rosemary’s Baby sort of way. Made me glad I don’t live in an apartment. Kudos, Mr. Saul! I’m a lifelong fan!

Cheryl Kaye Tardif,
suspense author show less

Forced to abandon! I loved John Saul & Dean Koontz as a teen, so when I knew that I'd be stuck in a car for 7 hours with my teen son, I thought a John Saul audiobook may be just the engaging read upon which we could both agree. Well, not only did it DRAG and drag and drag, but it got so gruesome that we had to slam the eject button and pull over. I was too sick to drive for a while after, and my son begged for me to put on some music to drown out the disgusting images forced upon us. We want to find a summary to find out how it ended, but this book is not appropriate for anyone squeamish. Totally gruesome and graphic.

John Saul, the undisputed master of family based terror, pitches this story in the city centre, an unusual urban setting for him. What remains is the same brooding horror, as another family unit is thrust in to circumstances beyond their comprehension. The first half of Midnight Voices is slow, deliberately so, and all the better for it. The tension mounts as the mother, son and daughter face what seems to be a very slight menace. Saul doesn't overdo the plot, it's tight and well constructed, a decent hold-back-what-is-happening approach. When the curtains are pulled back, the machinations revealed, the tempo is upped and the latter half is more predictable, not quite as fun. Midnight Voices, although not essentially original, is in the show more right hands and remains an enjoyable read. show less

Reads like a made-for-tv movie. It's creepy and lightly entertaining, but there's no real depth of character here. Saul has written scarier books.

The first half was a little slow for me. But the second half I found myself very invested in the story and trying to figure out a way for the characters to escape. A cool twist on a haunted house/demonic possession story. I liked the ending, but then the epilogue happened and made things seem too simple. Overall a 4 star book.