Night Shade

Nightshade
John Saul
399 pgs
Ballentine Books















An evil sick being is beating an innocent toddler.  The poor baby is trying to retreat into herself, but the blows hurt too much and she cries out.  The sick monster isn’t through with the torment.  The baby is brought to the cellar and locked in a cedar chest where she’s told to cry and scream all she wants now….

Matt Moore is a happy vibrant teenager.  Popular, on the football team, pretty girlfriend, he’s on his way to an awesome future.  Then his Grandmother moves in.  She suffers from Alzheimer’s and after nearly burning herself and her home down, his mom Joan brings her to their home.  There’s one problem, his gram is a bitter nasty hag.  She refers to him as “Joan’s bastard”, and is all around horrid to his mom.  His step-dad, Bill Hapgood, one of the towns elite, wants his mother-in-law in a home, what she’s doing to his family is straining his marriage and he can’t take it.
His stepdad winds up leaving because of the situation and Matt is hurt.  Bill is the only father he has ever known for the past 10 years, and all his mom can say in offer of an explanation is “but she’s my mother.”  Soon Matt starts suffering from blackouts.  Then there’s a terrible accident with Bill, followed by his grandma and girlfriend Kelly going missing.  What evil is lurking in that room that his grandmother insisted be made to look like the exact replica of his dead Aunt Cynthia’s….
Saul weaves a good tale.  I wasn’t shaking in my boots, but I enjoyed the suspense.

3 cannolis