Author: John Saul
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: April 25, 2006
Length: 384 pages
Genre: Mystery/Thriller
Source: Purchased
Rating: ⭐⭐
Find it Here: Amazon // Goodreads
If you open your house to strangers, who knows who might come in. And what they might be after. Or whom. Now, ponder the unthinkable and surrender to your darkest dread, as sinister storyteller extraordinaire John Saul weaves a heart-stopping tale of lurking terror and twisted intent.
Every parent’s nightmare becomes reality for Kara Marshall when her daughter, Lindsay, vanishes from her bedroom during the night. The police suspect that the girl is just another moody teenage runaway, angry over leaving behind her school and friends because her family is moving. But Lindsay’s recent eerie claim–that someone invaded her room when the house was opened to prospective buyers–drives Kara to fear the worst: a nameless, faceless stalker has walked the halls of her home in search of more than a place to live.
Patrick Shields recognizes Kara’s pain–and carries plenty of his own since he lost his wife and two children in a devastating house fire. But more than grief draws Patrick and Kara together. He, too, senses the hand of a malevolent stranger in this tragedy. And as more people go missing from houses up for sale, Patrick’s suspicion, like Kara’s, blooms into horrified certainty.
Someone is trolling this peaceful community–undetected and undeterred–harvesting victims for a purpose no sane mind can fathom. Someone Kara and Patrick, alone and desperate, are determined to unmask. Someone who is even now watching, plotting, keeping a demented diary of unspeakable deeds . . . and waiting until the time is ripe for another fateful visit.
My Review:
Perfect Nightmare was this month's (July) book club pick by a member of my book club. I usually try to read the book club pick first, just in case I don't like it, I can get it out of the way and spend the rest of the month reading books that, hopefully, I'll enjoy. Which is the case this month. I really wanted to DNF this book but I'm actually kind of glad that I didn't because the ending was so shocking!
One of the reasons that I didn't like this book is that I just didn't really care for the characters. All these awful things were happening to them and I was more interested in the story line and figuring out who was responsible for all these horrific things instead of caring about the victims feelings.
I thought a little of what happened was unrealistic. I find it completely plausible that someone would target victims through open houses, coming in as a potential buyer but then hiding and kidnapping their target. But the other tragedies that happened in the midst of everything else just seemed unrealistic.
The other reason I didn't like the book because there were some parts that were from the perpetrator's perspective. Normally I don't mind that because it can be a little creepy. But these little pieces of perspective made me feel dirty because he wanted to touch a teenage girl and he was smelling her underwear. That just felt wrong and I am not down with that.
This is only the first John Saul book that I've ever read so I don't know if all his books are like this or not. I've actually heard that some of this other books are paranormal so I'm not going to completely write this author off until I give another one of his books a try. I was going to give this book only 1 star but that ending was so shocking that I decided to bump it up one more. If you want to try John Saul I would recommend picking up one of his other books.
One of the reasons that I didn't like this book is that I just didn't really care for the characters. All these awful things were happening to them and I was more interested in the story line and figuring out who was responsible for all these horrific things instead of caring about the victims feelings.
I thought a little of what happened was unrealistic. I find it completely plausible that someone would target victims through open houses, coming in as a potential buyer but then hiding and kidnapping their target. But the other tragedies that happened in the midst of everything else just seemed unrealistic.
The other reason I didn't like the book because there were some parts that were from the perpetrator's perspective. Normally I don't mind that because it can be a little creepy. But these little pieces of perspective made me feel dirty because he wanted to touch a teenage girl and he was smelling her underwear. That just felt wrong and I am not down with that.
This is only the first John Saul book that I've ever read so I don't know if all his books are like this or not. I've actually heard that some of this other books are paranormal so I'm not going to completely write this author off until I give another one of his books a try. I was going to give this book only 1 star but that ending was so shocking that I decided to bump it up one more. If you want to try John Saul I would recommend picking up one of his other books.
We are in the early stages of buying/selling a home, so this seriously creeps me out!
ReplyDeleteYikes! I'm definitely staying away from this one. The perpetrator's perspective sounds really gross.
ReplyDelete