I have read two other John Saul books. He has fabulous writing. One book I did not like due to it being very scary and giving me nightmares while the other I simply enjoyed. Since October is coming up and I am starting into my horror/thriller stage of the year I decided to read another book by him. I went to the library, searched his section, and come out with this book.
This book has two parts. They all start with a nightmare.
The first nightmare! The first part. We meet all of the characters in this one. Caroline and Tony seem to be what the story is going to evolve around. Caroline just lost her husband who was robbed in Central Park West. She has two children a girl, Laurie and a boy, Ryan. She is scared to let them go and be by themselves. Tony lives in the Rockwell building among a few other characters as well. Tony lost his wife and children but doesn’t say how in the first part. Caroline and Tony meet because of Irene (who also lives in the Rockwell). This part is short
The second nightmare! This part starts six months after Tony and Caroline meet. They are getting married. Ryan highly disapproves of Tony. Andrea, who is one of Caroline’s friends, is weary of Tony. She gets the creeps from the Rockwell for some reason she doesn’t know. She is also a social worker who happens to have one of her “kids” at the Rockwell. One of her co-workers, Nathan, looked up Tony for her. He found that Tony had an investment firm and was a golden boy. No debt no trouble, but he didn’t find anything on wife or kids. On record he didn’t have any wife or child. (Weird.) Alicia, who is Rebecca’s (Andrea’s foster kid) foster-mother, starts raising my what is going on flag. She is really strange. She doesn’t like Rebecca being out of her sight for to long. Rebecca seems to be sick, but with what? Tony starts showing a different side. It is with Ryan due to the fact Ryan states his dislike of Tony and or the place they are living in.
Something is different about the neighbors. They are all very old. Laurie starts having nightmares of the neighbors. She starts to feel creep-ed out by them. Ryan doesn’t like any of them. He just wants to go back to the old apartment they had when his dad was alive. Tony is now different. He seems to be the same as he was in the beginning but when he is around Ryan he changes. Ryan is getting in fights at school.
Ryan and Laurie are starting to be affected by the Rockwell and it’s residents. The elderly neighbors are seeming to change. Laurie seems to be getting weaker. Rebecca has disappeared. Ryan seems to be scared of all the residents. Laurie’s nightmares keep getting worse.
Saul takes on a terrifying journey through the creepy Rockwell. I did figure out what was going on half way through but the end was still a surprise to me. I wouldn’t have been able to guess it. The one thing I did not like was Chloe the dog. Why Chloe? What has the dog ever did to you?
Rating 4 creepy old people touches stars out of 5
The Kansan Reader 