I love to read John Saul. I first read his book The Unloved in 1992. I chose this book because that was how I felt when my dad passed away in 1990. I had never read anything by him before but I loved it. Now, every time I find a book by him, I have to read it. This book did not let me down. His book make you have to think about what is going on and the reason behind it. In this story a boy witnesses his parents in bed toghether, he is in the closet. Soon he seese his sister come into the room with a knife. She kills her parents and then hangs herself. Wow. The little boy is sent to a church to live until he is an adult. We don't find out his name until the end. Now a man named Peter Balsam is sent for. He is asked to be a teacher in a religious school. Everyone looks down at him because he is divorced. i thought this was the boy from the beginning. He teaches Latin and phys. He always seems to be at odds with the Monsignor. The monsignor is the one who wanted him to teach there in the first place. I didn't quite understand this. Soon one of the girls in his class tries to commit suicise by cutting her wrists. Everyone focuses on her and Peter tries to help. Then a second girl kills herself in the bathtub. Things are not looking good, both girls were in his class. She can't be buried with honors because sucide is a sin. Peter surches for clues. He is asked to become part of the Society of St. Peter Martyr. This is a society where there is only six priests as members. When he is with the group Peter losses time. He can't figure this out, so he takes a tape recorder (it's 1978) and tapes the session. When he plays it back, he is sickened. They have themselves an orgy, all of those priests. he confronts them with this. They all deny it, as if they were in a trance and don't remember any of it. Then another girl takes her life in the school restroom. She slashed herself. Everyone is blaming Peter. He doesn't understand what is going on. He tries to help but only seems to make it worse. Then after the funeral of the one girl, another tries to hang herself. She is caught by her dad and survives. Peter goes to visit her and finds that she losses time too. She tells him that she doesn't know why she did it. That the voices made her do it. They think she is okay so they send her home. That night he parents go out and leave her in the care of her grandmother. She hangs herself that night. Also that night another girl named Marilyn hears these voices. She fights them all night. In themorning her mother makes her go to school and then she meets Peter in the street. The voices told him to put on his priest robe and go to school. Marilyn sees him as death and she reaches into her purse and grabs a razor. She slices her wristes and goes running toward Peter(Death). The truck doesn't see her and she gets hit. Peter goes to the hospital and sleeps. He thinks he has it all figures out. He goes to the church and finds out the little boy who saw his parents murdered is the monsignor. Now the monsignor confronts Peter and Peter loses. They bury him and the people of the town take out their frustration on Peter's grave. Then once a year a teenage girl will go to Peters grave and slash her wrists and die on his grave. It was a graet book. I still am not sure what happened but I have my ideas. If you get the chance to read this book, take it. You'll love it and it will make you think. I learned a lot about priests.Read full review
I went from reading Dean Koontz to John Saul. John is more to the point and not as wordy as Dean. I really enjoy his books, quick action and not confusing with too many characters.
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Save on Books
Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- You may also like
