So here's another author that I've read before, but it's been a real long time since I've more of his books, and tonight I've to finish another of his novels, "Guardian".
MaryAnne Carpenter receives a phone in the middle of the night where she gets the horrible news of the sudden deaths of her friends the Wilkensons, with their son, MaryAnnes godson, is now an orphan. When she comes to embrace her charge some very disturbing questions begin to come about. Was it all a chance tragedy that took her friends, or was it really murder?
She then begins to suspect that a much more sinister is at work, as the sad and silent Joey might be harboring secrets that go beyond her own nightmares. And as the Wilkenson ranch is turned into a forbidding place by winter storms and darkness, horrific murders, that may suggest the work of a beast or something far worse, defying any solution made by a very desperate police force, comes closer to her family.
Now alone in the whiteness of winter, MaryAnne must protect her children from a killer that remains unseen and insatiable, and one that may be closer than she thinks.
The first ever John Saul novel I've read was "Creature", "Guardian" makes it as the second one. So what do I think of it and Saul's writing? Well, overall I think it's pretty decent. Saul's writing isn't all that complex, just simple, fast and sharp. Leans in into Dean Koontz territory mostly. But it is good though.
"Guardian" veers into thriller/horror territory with maybe a hint of SF ("Creature" leans very much into SF). Nothing really profound honestly, but never a boring read, just a simple horror that makes think of the kind that would be found in horror pulp, and all the while very enjoyable! Still have a few more that I haven't read just yet, but soon will!
by i-the-muso-1968