Product Description

For more than three decades John Saul has haunted the New York Times bestseller list–and readers’ imaginations–with his chilling tales of psychological suspense and supernatural horror. His instinct for striking the deepest chords of fear in our hearts and minds is unerring, and his gift for steering a tale from the light of day into the darkest depths of nightmare is at its harrowing best in House of Reckoning.

After the untimely death of her mother, fourteen-year-old Sarah Crane is forced to grow up quickly in order to help tend her family’s Vermont farm and look after her grieving father, who’s drowning his sorrow in alcohol. But their quiet life together is shattered when her father is jailed for killing another man in a barroom brawl and injuring Sarah in a drunken car crash. Left in the cold care of a loveless foster family and alienated at school, Sarah finds a kindred spirit in classmate Nick Dunnigan, a former mental patient still plagued by voices and visions. And in eccentric art instructor Bettina Phillips, Sarah finds a mentor eager to nurture her talent for painting.

But within the walls of Bettina’s ancestral home, the mansion called Shutters, Sarah finds something altogether different and disturbing. Monstrous images from the house’s dark history seem to flow unbidden from Sarah’s paintbrush–images echoed by Nick’s chilling hallucinations. Trapped for ages in the shadowy rooms of Shutters, the violence and fury of long-dead generations have finally found a gateway from the grave into the world of the living. And Sarah and Nick have found a power they never had: to take control, and take revenge.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11852 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-13
• Released on: 2009-10-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780345514240
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Set in Vermont, this supernatural thriller from bestseller Saul (Faces of Fear) updates but adds nothing new to a traditional story. Six months after 14-year-old Sarah Crane's mother dies from cancer, Sarah's father, Ed, accidentally kills a man in a fight. On top of that, a drunken Ed hits Sarah with his truck while he's behind the wheel. After Ed goes to prison for manslaughter, Sarah, whose leg was badly injured in the truck accident, is placed with a foster family. Mitch and Angie Garvey and their two teenage children treat Sarah like Cinderella, expecting her to serve meals and do all the chores. Meanwhile, word of Sarah's circumstances makes her an outcast at her new school. Only two people reach out to her: Bettina Philips, an art teacher labeled a witch, and fellow student Nick Dunnigan, who's also isolated by his peers and prone to scary visions. Needless to say, the mystical abilities Sarah discovers she possesses come in handy in turning the tables. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author
House of Reckoning is John Saul’s thirty-sixth novel. His first novel, Suffer the Children, published in 1977, was an immediate million-copy bestseller. His other bestselling suspense novels include Faces of Fear, In the Dark of the Night, Perfect Nightmare, Black Creek Crossing, Midnight Voices, The Manhattan Hunt Club, Nightshade, The Right Hand of Evil, The Presence, Black Lightning, The Homing, and Guardian. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling serial thriller The Blackstone Chronicles, initially published in six installments but now available in one complete volume. Saul divides his time between Seattle, Washington, and Hawaii.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter One


Sarah Crane breathed deeply of the Vermont air as she quickly counted the chickens to make certain they were all safe in the coop before she closed the door for the night. Twelve. Perfect. She secured the door against any raccoons or weasels that might be out looking for an easy midnight snack, and with a last backward glance at the barn to make certain she had locked the door, she carried the egg basket up to the house, just as her mother had done every night for the past fifteen years. Fall was Sarah's favorite season; there was something about the light—maybe the way it filtered through the golden leaves of the maples surrounding the small farmhouse, or just the angle from which the sun shone down on her. Whatever it was, it always made her skin tingle and filled her with a sense of pure exuberance. Or at least it had until her mother got sick almost a year ago, and then died six months later. Since then even the fall twilight couldn't quite fill her with the joy of earlier years.

Nor did it help that there were only six eggs in the basket, and with the late September chill in the air, Sarah knew that the hens were about to stop laying until next spring. That, though, was nothing compared to the other thing worrying her tonight: how were she and the animals and the farm going to survive the winter with her father going into what her mother used to call "his cycle," without any preparation at all for the cold months ahead. He hadn't chopped any wood, he hadn't hunted deer, he hadn't even sold the calves, and now they were too old to bring the best price.

Instead he started drinking, and the vague unease Sarah had been feeling for the past few months was blossoming into a gut-churning fear as she scraped the bottom of the feed barrels. Now, with winter quickly approaching, the rats were taking over the barn, the hay was rotting in the field, and the woodpile, which should have been at least four cords by now, was pitifully small.

But she couldn't do it all herself.

The last of her exuberance fading as she stepped back into the warm kitchen, Sarah tried to unwind her worries as she unwound the wool scarf from around her neck. She put the eggs into the refrigerator and began cleaning up after supper, even though her father was still sitting at the kitchen table.

He hadn't eaten any of the corned beef hash she'd made for him; instead he pushed his plate aside and was staring morosely down at a photo album open on the table in front of him.

Sarah quietly cleared the table, careful not to bother him. She scraped the leftover hash into a dish, covered it with plastic, and put it next to the eggs in the refrigerator, then began running hot water into the sink.

"Sarah?"

Her father's voice was hoarse with the grief he'd been carrying for half a year, and the sound of it pulled tears to her eyes. Those tears were never far away, but most of the time she could control them.

Unless her father began to cry.

Then she wouldn't be able to stop them. How many times in the past six months had she and her father held each other on the sofa and just cried together? But when were they going to move away from all that? Her mother had told her—told her over and over again—that she wasn't to spend her life grieving. You keep living, understand? You have a whole life ahead of you, and I don't want you wasting any of it crying about me going and dying on you.

"Yes?" Sarah said, in response to her father, gritting her teeth against the cold fear in her heart.

"Bring me another beer, honey."

She felt a fist close in her belly. Before her mother died, her father never had more than one beer, even on the hottest days. But lately the first beer led to the second, and then on and on. And it did no good to argue with him—he'd just tell her to stop worrying. She pulled a beer from the refrigerator and put it on the table, but couldn't keep herself from at least trying to slow him down. "Do you have to, Daddy?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Just something to take the edge off, sweet pea," Ed Crane said, putting his thick arm around his daughter and drawing her close.

Every part of her father seemed larger and more powerful than other men, which was why everyone except her mother always called him "Big Ed." He was tall, broad-shouldered, had legs nearly as thick and strong as the trunks of the maple trees, and a grip that could have crushed her if he wasn't careful. But he was always careful, at least with her, and now his arm was gentle around her.

"Look at your mama in her wedding dress," he said, pointing to a photograph. "Wasn't she the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?"

Sarah didn't want to look at those pictures again; they only made her miss her mother even more. She wanted her father to put them away and start living again. But night after night, he didn't eat, he didn't sleep.

He just grieved.

And now he wanted another beer.

She knew how this would end. He'd keep drinking most of the night, and in the morning would apologize and swear it would never happen again. And for a while he'd be her father again.

Until the next time he decided to have a beer, and then another, and then ended up going out and drinking all night.

She squirmed uneasily from his grasp. "I have homework I have to do."

Ed let out a massive sigh. "How am I going to raise a daughter?" he said. "Without your mama . . ." His voice trailed off and his entire body seemed to shrink into a shrug of defeat.

You stay sober and tend the farm, Sarah wanted to say. I can raise myself if you just take care of the farm. I'm already fourteen and I can handle it. But she said nothing, and went back to the sink to finish cleaning up.

Just as she was drying the last of the dishes, her father opened the refrigerator and helped himself to yet another of the brown bottles that always sat at the back of the top shelf.

"Please don't, Daddy," Sarah said, unable to bite back the words. "Please don't start." The tears she had struggled to control now slid down her cheeks.

"It's okay, sweet pea," Ed said. "This isn't like last time. Don't you worry now, you go up and do your homework."

"Please?" she begged, a sob escaping her. What if he went off the deep end this time and never came home again? What would she do then?

"Don't nag me," Ed said, twisting the cap off, throwing it at the garbage bag and missing. "Better get to doing all that homework."

Sarah looked toward the ceiling. "Help me, Mama," she whispered. "Please help me. I don't know what to do."

Taking a deep breath, she wiped the tears from her face with the dishcloth, hung it carefully and neatly on its hook, then went upstairs to her room, leaving her father to his personal demons.

Lily Dunnigan was about to cover her husband's dinner plate with a sheet of aluminum foil and put it in the warming oven when she heard a loud crash from upstairs.

"Nick?" she called out, then listened for a moment, heart pounding, for his voice to come floating down the stairs, telling her everything was okay.

Instead she heard another loud bang. And another. Grabbing a bottle of his pills from the cabinet above the refrigerator, she ran upstairs, praying all the way.

By the time she got up to Nick's room, he was yelling, his voice rising by the second. "Stop! Stop it! Stop it now!"

Lily pushed the door open without bothering to knock, knowing that right now Nick wouldn't even hear her voice, let alone a rap at his door. Sure enough, his face was contorted into a grimace that hovered somewhere between pain and anger as he smashed the keyboard of his computer on the back of his desk chair. "Stop it!" he howled again, his voice cracking. "Stop saying those things to me!"

"Nick!" Lily cried, then repeated his name even louder: "Nick!"

Startled, he looked up at her, but for a moment his eyes didn't seem to focus. A second later, though, he stared down at the broken keyboard in his hands and a look of confusion spread over his features.

Lily's heart sank.

She wrapped her arms around her son, and he carefully set the keyboard back onto his desk, then clung to her, sobbing.

"They won't leave me alone," he said, his voice breaking.

"What is it, darling?" she asked. "What are they saying to you this time?" She gently guided him across the room and they sat on his bed. She smoothed his hair and rocked him back and forth, even though his fourteen-year-old frame was far too large for the easy cuddling that had calmed him in years gone by.

Nick shook his head as if trying to rid himself of some terrible memory. "Awful things," he said. "They talk about horrible things." His gaze fixed on the ruined keyboard on his desk. "I thought they were coming out of my keyboard," he sobbed, pressing his head into her bosom. "But they weren't. They were inside my head." He paused. "I don't even know what they keep saying to me. But it was—"

"Hush," Lily soothed. "Just relax. It's all right—it's not real . . . none of it's real."

Nick's sobs slowed as the two of them rocked on the mattress. When he finally spoke again, Lily could hear the fear in his voice. "You won't tell Dad, will you?"

She pulled a tissue from her pocket and handed it to him. He blew his nose.

"I won't tell him," she promised. "Assuming he comes home at all," she went on, then wished she could reclaim the words when Nick suddenly looked even more frightened. "From work, honey," she added. "He's just really late, that's all," she went on, and couldn't resist adding one more word: "Again."

But why shouldn't she say it? It was true—Shep had been working late every night for months, ever since his promotion. And lately he was always in some kind of negotiations over prison expansion plans, as well as trying to keep up with all his regular duties as deputy warden at Lakeside State Penitentiary. And for what? Did he really think t...

Customer Reviews

House of RECKONING - still under construction
As a regular reader of John Saul, I have found his books to be hit or miss. House of Reckoning falls in the middle, but it so could have been a "hit" except that it read more like an advanced outline than a complete novel. I wanted to know more about all of the primary characters; they all come off as sketchy to some degree with none completely developed. For the most part, there is just enough information to provide some understanding of character motivation, but a few are glaringly in need of a more in-depth study before the action starts. In particular, more adult character development is needed to avoid contradictions and outright confusion. Sarah, the protagonist, considers Kate the social worker to be her friend, but only the briefest of an explanation is provided. Without more back story, the feelings between the two do not come off as real. Angie, the foster mom, is presented as a women that we are to believe has deep religious convictions. Yet, her actions are cruel and money oriented with no regard for her young, disabled, charge. Where's the back story that helps us understand how she can be both deeply religious and indifferent to a child's pain. The male adults suffer even more from being little more than character shells. With the exception of Sarah's dad, we learn little about any of the males except that they are obtuse and/or evil. Barely alluded to is the huge back story of the house referenced in the title. We know little more than the house was once part of a larger complex that included a hospital for the criminally insane. In again what seems to be little more than outline form, references are made to a history of misdeeds and cruelties that occurred in both the house and prison/asylum. It is as if the author outlined a story but then ran out of time or incentive to develop more than a few of the individual components. Was the mortgage due? Perhaps the purchase of a big ticket item was dependent on calling this novel complete. Maybe the author just got lazy. Whatever the case, this is a book I would buy only in paperback with the intent to pass it on to another person in need of a quick poolside read. It's not a book for your collection to be read and enjoyed multiple times in years to come.

A Perfectly Eerie Tale Presented Just in Time for the Halloween Season
John Saul has had success as a writer of popular horror fiction for over four decades. He has maintained his popularity by continuously applying the elements of horror and conflicted characterization that signifies this genre. With HOUSE OF RECKONING, his latest effort, Saul returns to this familiar landscape and once again features his signature element: the teenaged protagonist.

High school student Sarah Crane is lamenting the loss of her mother to cancer six months earlier. This tragedy has crippled her father, Ed, and has forced him to seek solace at the bottom of the bottle. And as if things weren't bad enough, his alcohol abuse serves as the catalyst for two horrific events: the manslaughter of a fellow bar patron during a drunken brawl, and the injuring of Sarah in a drunk driving accident. The former deed places Ed in prison and Sarah in foster care.

Sarah eventually is taken in by the Garvey family. Ironically, her foster father Mitch happens to be a prison guard where Ed is being held. The Garveys are staunchly (if not hypocritically) religious, and Sarah does not fit in well there. Furthermore, she must face the constant taunts of her new high school classmates, who mock both her permanent limp and her murderer father. The only student with whom she is able to connect is another outcast, Nick Dunnigan, a delusional schizophrenic.

Sarah also finds comfort in an art class, taught by a unique character named Miss Bettina Phillips. Bettina resides alone with several dogs and cats in Shutters Mansion, a place that once served as an insane asylum. In eerie fashion, she is able to channel feelings from Bettina's home, and she begins to paint images of Shutters and some of its less-than-friendly past inhabitants. Additionally, while Sarah is painting these unfamiliar images, Nick is having visions of his own that involve acts of violence and terror stemming from the dark heart of the old asylum.

As these events begin to unfold, the Garvey family prohibits Sarah from speaking with Bettina outside of class and labels her a "witch." In similar fashion, Nick's father won't allow Nick to maintain a friendship with his new classmate and forbids his mentioning of Shutters or Bettina. Why do these adults and other members of the town seem to fear Bettina and Shutters so fiercely? What sordid secrets are they trying so desperately to hide?

At the heart of the novel is the answer to these questions, as Shutters contains more than just Bettina and her animal comrades. It also houses the history of Warwick, and the town's secrets and sins. The time for "reckoning" is now upon them as Sarah and Nick become the keys to unlocking the strange doors found inside Shutters and learning that not all past memories are benevolent.

Although HOUSE OF RECKONING wraps itself up a little too quickly, the journey to the conflicted climax is worth the trip. John Saul is at his best when he gets inside the heart and mind of his teenaged characters, and the team of Sarah Crane and Nick Dunnigan firmly represents teen angst at its darkest and most dangerous. This is a perfectly eerie tale presented just in time for the Halloween season.

--- Reviewed by Ray Palen

a fan of sauls but not a fan of this book
In a genre of implausible plots this one takes the prize. I don't think the author could decide what he wanted this book to accomplish. for me this book was all sub-plots with a weak central theme. It was almost as if the author started out with a Stephen king Carrie approach and then decided that was too obvious so he threw in a bad/evil house thing and changed Carrie to a boy....
anyway,,
there were evil Christian foster parents
the good earth mother who wasn't a witch
a father that got drunk murdered a man and ran over his daughter but who is really a good guy inside
a whole gaggle of dysfunctional church goers
and toward the end a haunted house (anyway I think its a haunted house) that sort of loosely ties everything together and does its own home maintenance.

and if you think my review cant find a center you get an idea about this book.