In The Dark Of The Night

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. show more 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/2021/10/in-dark-of-night-by-john-saul.html show less

In the Dark of the Night by John Saul
4.5★'s

From The Book:
Summer vacation becomes a season in hell for an ordinary family who unwittingly stir something invisible, insidious, and insatiable from its secret slumber–unleashing a wave of horror only the darkest evil could create, that only a master of spine-tingling terror like John Saul could orchestrate. For deep in the shadows in the dark of the night lurks something as big as life . . . and as real as death.

It has waited seven years for someone to come back to the rambling lakeside house called Pinecrest, which has stood empty since its last owner went missing. For upscale Chicago couple Dan and Merrill Brewster, the old midwestern manse is an ideal retreat, and for their kids, Eric show more and Marci, it’s the perfect place to spend a lazy summer exploring. Which is how Eric and his teenage friends discover the curious cache of discarded objects stowed in a hidden room of Pinecrest’s carriage house. The bladeless hacksaws, shadeless lamps, tables with missing legs, headless axe handle, and other unremarkable items add up to a pile of junk. Yet someone took the trouble to inventory each worthless relic in a cryptic ledger. It has all the makings of a great mystery–whispering, coaxing, demanding to be solved.

But the more the boys devote themselves to restoring the forgotten possessions and piecing together the puzzle behind them, the more their fascination deepens into obsession. Soon their days are consumed with tending the strange, secret collection–while their nights become plagued by ever more ghastly dreams, nightmares that soon seep into reality. And when a horrifying discovery surfaces, so does the chilling truth–about the terrifying events that rocked the town seven years before, the mysterious disappearance of Pinecrest’s last resident, and a twisted legacy with a malevolent life of its own . . . and a bottomless hunger for new victims.

My Thoughts:
This is a reread for me but several years have past since I read it the first time. I discovered John Saul's books almost forty years ago and eagerly read every book he wrote from that time on. It's more than just a horror story. It's seemingly impossible things happening to real families that could be your next door neighbors...your friends... or Heaven forbid...even your own family.

The plot is not especially unique...at least not to ghost story and horror story regulars but there are plenty of twists and turns. Overall just good creepy fun along the way as John Saul is famous for his creepy things happening to ordinary people type of writing. If you like that type of book then this authors writings will never disappoint. show less

I loved the story taking place in my home state of WI with the Up North small town coming to life during the summer. Concept – teen boys find parts from the killing instruments used by brutal serial killers. People start to die in ways that reflect the original killers – i.e. Jack the Ripper slitting throats, recalls WI killers Jeffrey Dahmer and Ed Gein methods. The boys get nightmares that make them wonder if they had a part in the murders since they put the items back together. A lot of the story involved a neurotic mother fears of change, teen age love and rivalries.

John Saul is one of those authors I grew up reading. My mother had a closet full of horror novels, and a great number of them were Saul's books. Though this is not my favorite book of his, it comes damn close.

The Lizzy Borden murders is one of those mysteries I've always been obsessed with. Something about a lady with a hatchet drives me crazy. I keed, I keed. As demented as that sounds, you should also know that I love her history for the same reason I dig Amelia Earhart's. It's the unanswered questions, the what ifs. IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT is centered in the Lizzy Borden mythos. Saul does a good job of answering real life questions with fictitious happenings. Though the story takes place in modern day, we're thrust headlong into show more the murky waters surrounding the deaths of Borden's mother and father. Did Lizzy actually do it? Nobody but Lizzy knew, of course, but John Saul takes us a bit further, theorizing that Lizzy did it, but not of her own accord.

In this novel, the city and citizens of Pinecrest are well realized. So much so that the town kind of stole the potlight for me. I looked forward to the families trips into town, and couldn't wait for the celebration that is the focal point of this novel's climactic ending. This book is, at times, seriously creepy. Especially where inner thoughts are concerned. I wish I could say more, but I risk giving away a vital plot point and I refuse to do so, mainly because this book is one of those that is much better the least you know about it.

I highly recommend this outing for fans of psychological horror as well as fans of fiction that builds on life's true mysteries. I'm also a bit biased because I love just about anything John Saul writes, so take that into consideration before rushing into IN THE DARK OF THE NIGHT. show less

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 show more 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. show less

This was absolutely an eventful novel. A great suspense thriller and gripping paranormal murder mystery all rolled into one. The characters are all interesting, though I'll admit not overly complicated, and even the ones you like will annoy you at times. But, I feel like that's a good thing.

I disliked the way Merrill's husband and friends treated her the most, I think. They were all super dismissive of her and while some of it made sense, I thought they were rather patronizing about it. At other times, they seemed devoid of common sense when assuring her that she had no reason to be worked up, to the point where it almost bordered on gaslighting. Wasn't fond of that, but you can definitely feel her frustration through it, that's for show more sure.

This plot had me guessing all the way to the end and while it wrapped everything up neatly, there are still things left over to think about. In fact, by the time you finish the epilogue, you'll feel a genuine sense that not just the book but the story is finished and yet a satisfying sense of foreboding still permeates.

While this book is obviously meant to be horror, and therefore scary, however, there were very few parts that I found to actually be scary. Just once or twice did I feel a tingle slip up my spine and even then only for a moment. Still, it's a great book and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone who is interested in this genre or just likes murder mysteries and doesn't mind if there's a paranormal twist to them. It definitely gives you more than enough to think about and wonder about as the book progresses, that's for sure. show less

I found the idea behind this book to be very interesting. Unfortunately you don't get to know that idea until at least 100 pages into the book. It's very slow going.

After you finally do get into the story though, it does have a way of capturing you. It can quickly become a page-turner throughout most of the middle. The plot is very creepy, and some of the things that happen to these 3 kids are quite horrifying. You do keep getting pestered in the middle of it with an annoying subplot between the 3 main characters and another group of kids. You know how it is, pretty typical of any book based around teenagers. I found it to be more annoying than anything else.

Then you get to the end, and you run into another problem. There are just so show more many holes left unfilled. I had so many questions at the end that I felt very dissatisfied. I felt like there should have been more, there should have been another 50 pages to go, but nope. It just ends. The fact that I was eager for more book speaks well the middle of the story, but with the slow start and the abrupt ending, overall it was just a bit of a disappointment. At some times an enjoyable disappointment, but disappointing nonetheless. I think this could have been a tremendous book, but unfortunately it appears Saul was too hasty in completing it. show less