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Perfect Nightmare: A Novel | 
 enlarge | Author: John Saul
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $7.99
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Rating:  50 reviews
Sales Rank: 253376
Media: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 384
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 6.6 x 4 x 1.3
ISBN: 0345467329
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780345467324
ASIN: 0345467329
Publication Date: April 25, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | ISBN13: 9780345467324 | | • | Condition: NEW | | • | Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark. |
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Product Description
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
 Nefarious and malevolent evil makes for a chilling read July 3, 2006
- Kasia S. (New York City)
14 out of 15 found this review helpful
Perfect Nightmare was my first John Saul book and it was fast, intense and extremely dark as simple words rang truth in my ears like bells and they were terrifying and depressing but made for a really good horror book. There were no super natural monsters, no vampires and witches but a soul of a man so dark and rotten that it chilled me to the bone as I read this book in two days, as it was a very fast and smooth read. I must admit that the story left me feeling down and sad because it was so real and horrifying yet I knew it was a book so I kept reading, if it was a newspaper article I don't know if I would have had the guts to continue.
Kara Marshall and her husband Steve were planning on moving form the charming Long Island home to the city, where Steve worked because they couldn't afford to stay in the house and needed help with their finances. As they decided to put their home out on the market, they unknowingly invited a stranger into their house for an open house who ended up doing the worst harm a mother can imagine; he was responsible for having her only daughter, Lindsay who was a seventeen year old girl, disappear without a trace. I have never read a book so dark and twisted, as the mother's agony was so clearly written, I felt pain as I read it and I felt sick reading about the cold blooded killer who tortured and kidnapped women out of their homes and who were thought to be dead by their family members. I have been told by some people that a loss of a child is the most macabre thing a parent can suffer, and I got a major does of the end, the sadness and the finality of someone else's actions as they ended a mother's happy life and set her life in eternal shadows as her own child was being tortured and pushed to brinks of death. I got to read and feel the emptiness, the sadness, the way the mother knew her child was out there and was not coming back, that no matter what dreams she woke up from that nothing was ever going to be the same. Just as things got bad they got worse very quickly and darkness turned to inky blackness as I had no hope for any of the captured girls.
This was a gloomy, morbid book, and it caught me in a surprise a few times, but I'm glad I read it, as it made me look around more at people and made sure to always keep safe. This really read so realistically that I'm still trying to shake it off, but I know its fiction and it was a good read from a solid and well known author, and I will definitely read more of his stuff.
As someone else mentioned, I don't know hot Saul wrote this, as it was insane and real but I respect him as a writer, as clearly his skills were sharp, and despite the negative reviews, maybe this was too dark for some, to me this was a great read.
Scared the *bleep* out of me, Creepy good fun! September 11, 2005
SpicyGuy (Los Angeles, CA)
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
If ever there was a book that your real estate agent didn't want you to read, it's this one.
I'm a fairly new reader of John Saul's -- got hooked after reading Midnight Voices and have now read most of the backlist -- and I was excited to hear about his new book. After reading a number of great reviews in the "traditional" media and some surprisingly mixed reviews on Amazon (are we all reading the same book?), I rushed out to get my own copy of Perfect Nightmare.
I can honestly say that I have no idea what the few negative reviewers are talking about. I guess any author with as many best sellers and legions of fans will have his detractors on any given title and we all have our favorite books by our favorite authors, but this is one of John Saul's best books and I urge you to give it a read. Is it dark? You betcha. Is it creepy. Unbelievably so. But, hey, this ain't Chicken Soup for the Weenie's Soul and if you're not a fan of dark and creepy, what are you doing reading John Saul anyway?
This story freaked me out (and I mean that in a good way). If you've ever sold a house and had hundreds of strangers traipsing through your house and your stuff, you know exactly the feelings that this story will evoke. Saul takes it to the next level, though, with his antagonist. It's edge-of-your seat, I-can't-believe-he-thought-of-that, holy crap... sort of stuff that will leave you reeling and thinking about the plot and characters for days after you've read the book.
I hate reviews that give away the plot, so I'll just give this book a huge thumbs up and suggest you take a look for yourself. I think it's one of Saul's best and I guarantee that you'll never look at an open house the same way again.
Change Of Pace For Saul, But His Best In Long Time January 3, 2006
Joshua Fowler (Rhode Island)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I was hoping when this book came out that it wouldn't follow the basic John Saul formula and thank God it doesn't. God love Saul but most of his books are like the same. I did enjoy many of his books, namely The Presence and The Homing. But he seems sometime to follow a basic formula. And it is kind of daunting that children are usually in trouble or abused is his books (not that this doesn't happen in real life). Well, anyway enough of my ranting.
Perfect Nightmare is one of those books that starts off with a bang. The villian is setting a house on fire, not seeing or getting what he wanted from his latest victim. This is done in a haunting first person point of view. We then go to a family that is moving and having an open house. The novel moves slowly jumping from the family to the first point of view of the stalker. Then a girl is kidnapped after the open house. What follows is a study in grief, as the mother spins out of wack. Then we meet a father who has also lost his family who relates to the mother Kara Marshall. We also get a picture of what is happening to Lindsay Marshall. The book moves slowly back and forth again until another woman is kidnapped, then the book takes a tragic and insidious turn.
Filled with many red herrings, like real estate agents and butlers and such. But the truth behind what is really happening is vintage Saul, which is where the book falls just a little short. But it will keep you guessing until the end (even though I had it figured out before then). I believe it is one of Saul's best in a long time.
Kept me reading past my recommended bedtime... :) November 19, 2005
Thomas Duff (Portland, OR United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
John Saul is one of those authors that I enjoy reading, but for whatever reason I don't tend to pick up his latest work right away. This time I got on the library hold list early for Perfect Nightmare, and proceeded to devour it in less than 24 hours. It was a pretty good read... :)
A family is putting their home on the market because the husband is spending too much time commuting into the city for his job. None of them really want to leave the house, but the parents feel it's a last attempt to save the marriage. The lone child, Lindsey, is especially upset because it will be her upcoming senior year in high school and she had a chance to be the head cheerleader. When they have an open house, Lindsey gets pretty spooked at the thought of people going through her stuff. She's convinced that someone took stuff from her room, but no one believes her. Until she disappears without a trace... The police finally believe there's an abduction (not a runaway) when a single mother also disappears after an open house event. The hard part is trying to find even a single clue to use to start tracking down the abductor...
The pacing of the story was pretty fast, and you just knew there was going to be a wicked plot twist in there somewhere. Saul kept you guessing as to who the perpetrator might be, and why all the psycho-sexual fantasies were occurring. A word of caution... The novel is very, very dark, and it's not necessarily a "feel good at the end" type of story. As a entertaining psycho-thriller though, it works pretty well...
Very satisfying; Mr. Saul succeeds in fine fashion... February 27, 2006
R. Gawlitta (Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I won't analyze this book to pieces, as some others did. I read for entertainment, and this one had me from the first page. I'm a huge fan of Horror Fiction, especially Saul & Koontz, and I was constantly surprised at developments. Mr. Saul is often quite brutal in his depictions of children being mistreated or victimized, but he sorta modified his expected style to create some interesting surprises. Indeed, I was surprised at many developments, and was never quite sure who the bad guy was until the final revelation. Red herrings a-plenty, I had fun, and it was a satisfying reading experience for me. I enjoyed it a lot.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 50
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