[.ca] Nathaniel (ISBN 0553262645)

Very creepy book with an outstanding setting:
characters were great, setting was especially creepy, and the entire book's body was well put together. I've met John Saul once and he seems as mysterious as his books. This is the best book of his to date for me. I haven't read all of his, but quite a few. I also suggest Black Lightning. Not as scary as Nathaniel, but a overall easy story to follow with some scary parts.

Suspenseful and surprisingly complex:
My opinion of this novel vacillated somewhat as I read it, but John Saul pretty much won me over in the end. Initially, I worried that the main characters lacked sufficient depth, and this made me question some of their decisions and actions initially. When Mark Hall mysteriously dies back in the hometown he left years earlier, his widow Janet and son Michael journey to the small farming village of Prairie Bend for the funeral. Mark had never spoken about his home town or family to his wife, so Janet's grief is accompanied by a growing sense of amazement as she discovers things about her husband she never knew. Michael's grandfather Amos is a towering figure in the novel, seemingly loving yet stiff and mysterious, while his wife Anna's importance grows as Janet, Michael, and the reader begin to piece together the events of a night twenty years earlier. Although she is a city girl seemingly oblivious to the obvious weirdness of folks in the rural community, Janet decides to live there on the farm she never knew her husband owned. Her son soon begins to hear a voice calling to him in the night, and he braves the danger of a shotgun-toting hermit to sneak into the man's barn. After meeting the mysterious Nathaniel, a boy regarded by the community as a legend dating back a century, Michael begins to have headaches and begins to change. He sees visions of what happened to his father, and-more importantly-what has been happening for years to a significant number of newborn babies in the creepily quaint village. The things Michael sees and the confrontations he has with his grandfather are well told, although his whining can get tiresome in places. The grandfather is a menacing figure in the story, one who is more complex than I initially thought. Everything in the plot doesn't hold together perfectly, but there are no holes large enough to really matter. There is more to the story and the legend of Nathaniel than expected, and it is worth the wait to hear the women of the family finally reveal the stories they have kept bottled up inside of them for many years. I was especially pleased by the ending, which featured a twist I did not foresee. I wouldn't consider this one of Saul's best novels, but it does make for very interesting reading once you get past the somewhat dull opening pages. I didn't find any of the characters particularly likeable, but my ambivalence didn't matter much in the end. While the novel intentionally left some questions unanswered, Saul's painstaking attention to detail and commitment to reveal his secrets only in due time makes sure the patient reader's interest is peaked at the very end.

Couldn't put it down!:
This was the first Saul novel I've read and I'm ready for more. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was so good - I read it in one sitting. The book will keep you guessing till the end. I disagree with what one reviewer said about the main characters being annoying and/or victims. I thorougly enjoyed it. Where can I get more?!

A "HAUNTING" NARRATION:
Mix yourself a toddy, curl up in front of a fire, and prepare to hear a chilling, spine tingling tale. "Nathaniel" reminds one of the ghost stories told in darkened rooms- those that made listeners shiver with a mixture of fear and delight. John Saul's horror filled narrative explodes with excitement in an arresting reading by first rate vocal performer Laurel Merlington. She injects her performance with just the right amounts of fear and curiosity in this story of evil both real and imagined. Just who is Nathaniel? No one in the small town of Prairie Bend seems to know for sure, but the majority fear him. Some say he's part of a folk tale that has been circulating for generations. Others swear that his spirit is very real and will bring havoc upon the innocent in an effort to avenge past deeds. Still grieving after his father's accidental death young Michael Hall arrives in Prairie Bend. It is he who clearly hears the voice of Nathaniel calling to him, urging him to venture where he has been forbidden to go. Michael obeys and therein lies this terrifying tale. Listen and discover the dark secrets that refuse to stay buried.

A "HAUNTING" NARRATION:
Mix yourself a toddy, curl up in front of a fire, and prepare to hear a chilling, spine tingling tale. "Nathaniel" reminds one of the ghost stories told in darkened rooms- those that made listeners shiver with a mixture of fear and delight. John Saul's horror filled narrative explodes with excitement in an arresting reading by first rate vocal performer Laurel Merlington. She injects her performance with just the right amounts of fear and curiosity in this story of evil both real and imagined. Just who is Nathaniel? No one in the small town of Prairie Bend seems to know for sure, but the majority fear him. Some say he's part of a folk tale that has been circulating for generations. Others swear that his spirit is very real and will bring havoc upon the innocent in an effort to avenge past deeds. Still grieving after his father's accidental death young Michael Hall arrives in Prairie Bend. It is he who clearly hears the voice of Nathaniel calling to him, urging him to venture where he has been forbidden to go. Michael obeys and therein lies this terrifying tale. Listen and discover the dark secrets that refuse to stay buried. - Gail Cooke