From Library JournalOliver Metcalf is the editor of the Blackstone Chronicle in Blackstone, NH. His father had been the director of the Blackstone Asylum before his death. Oliver had grown up in a cottage on the asylum's grounds. A sense of evil and darkness pervades the now empty asylum. The Chronicle reports that the asylum is to be torn down and replaced with an upscale mall. About the time the wrecking ball makes its first swing, the funding for the project falls through. Residents of the town begin to receive mysterious gifts that seem to have the power to visit evil on the recipients. An accidental fall, a suicide, a kidnapping, and an explosion leave the town reeling. Metcalf knows he must remember something key to understanding the mystery and halting the terrible chain of accidents. This abridgment causes the "accidents" to appear with very little plot or character development. This, in turn, causes the terror to become somewhat tedious. The story is read with feeling and skill by Lee Meriwether. Recommended for large library collections.AJoanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., ProvidenceCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.From the Inside FlapNow, for the first time, the New York Times bestselling serial thriller is complete in one terrifying volume. John Saul, the master of supernatural suspense, John Saul, brings to chilling life the small New England town of Blackstone--and the secrets and sins that lay buried there. . . . From atop Blackstone's highest hill, the old Asylum casts its shadow over the village. Built in the 1890s to house the insane, the Asylum has stood vacant for decades. But now, the wrecker's ball is about to strike--and unleash an ominous evil. Strange gifts begin to appear on the doorsteps of Blackstone's finest citizens. Each bears a mysterious history. Each brings a horrifying power to harm. Each reveals another thread in the suspensefully woven web of . . . THE BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES Part I--An Eye for an Eye: The DollPart II--Twist of Fate: The LocketPart III--Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's FlamePart IV--In the Shadow of Evil: The HandkerchiefPart V--Day of Reckoning: The StereoscopePart VI--AsylumFrom the Back Cover"An amazing scary series."--Whoopi Goldberg,Night-Table Reading, Vanity Fair"Highly entertaining, spooky reading."--Romantic Times how do you know if a book has a vague description The Blackstone Chronicles: The Serial Thriller Complete in One Volume
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. If you love suspense, crazy people, weird happenings and deaths....a must readBy TaniaJust finished the Blackstone Chronicles - all the 6 parts. I'm sad that it's over! If you like thrillers that keep you wondering what is going on, what kind of evil is lurking, you will not be able to put it down. John Saul did a wonderful job of developing the different characters you encounter in the book. You don't necessarily know off the bat who is the main character, but eventually you start noticing the one constant character in all the stories.I usually enjoy a good thriller / suspense / horror with an asylum in the backdrop. This is it! You get crazy people, doing weird things, weird deaths, suspenseful moments where every line you read you just want to read faster to find out where the author is taking you. The description of the town, of the streets and houses and the people, you can literally see it all around you, it was so well-written.I loved it, and I loved it even more when I finished and was reading the afterword where John Saul was thanking everyone who helped him, including my beloved Stephen King. As a fan of Mr. King, knowing that he supported Mr. Saul throughout, made it even better for me. After reading this, I now plan on reading as many novels by John Saul as I possibly can.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. How many dead babies can a writer fit into a single novel?By CustomerThe Blackstone Chronicles is really six different stories joined together by a framing narrative rather than a true serialized multi-plot novel. Saul's narrative is not particularly challenging. He relies on a preponderance of what should be sobering and shocking events to sustain the plot (shoveling a new-born baby into an incinerator, for instance), but he handles them in such a matter-of-fact way that he somehow blunts their impact. The Asylum that seems to dominate the town does little more than provide a threatening backdrop for these "evil" events, something that I found more than a little dissapointing given the potential for serious explorations of human psychology such a setting offers. But the most disappointing thing is that the narrative just isn't scary.Nevertheless, there is enough mystery to keep readers engaged, and it is easy to like the characters we are supposed to like and to hate the characters we are supposed to hate. It moves at a brisk pace, and I found myself looking forward to reading it each day because I wanted to see how it turns out.Overall, it is a very safe read that doesn't require much of its audience beyond feeling squeemish everytime some has a miscarriage, an abortion, or commits suicide (for some reason, Saul REALLY likes to kill characters off by disemboweling them). I wouldn't call it creepy or thrilling, but I would say that it is suspensful and maybe even compelling. If you take it for what it is, The Blackstone Chronicles is an easy novel to like, but I wouldn't expect anything in it to make you think; it is just straight-forward suspense to keep you entertained for a few days.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Love the Serial NovelBy K. SchirmerI love that Saul wrote this as a serial novel. I love his other books, but they tend to start out slow. This usually means it takes a while for me to read them. If it doesn't engage me right away, it gets pushed aside. Once they pick up, however, I'm hooked and could spend an entire weekend reading. I'm so glad I came upon Shadows at a book sale by some fluke. After reading that, I had to keep reading more of his books. After reading this one I have been raving to all my friends and family. It is wonderful because each has a story in and of itself within 100 pages, but ties into a much larger plot in the whole book. In one word, phenomenal.