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Title: The Presence by John Saul ISBN: 0-449-00241-1 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 29 April, 1998 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.41 (44 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Gripping and Exciting Read
Comment: The Presence, by John Saul, is a truly gripping and exciting read that totally throws the reader into the content of the story and truly makes the reader feel as though the far-fetched nature of the novel could actually be feasible. The novel's focus on main character Michael Sundquist and his unwilling involvement in one of the most influential and terrifying scientific discoveries of all time. This book not only discusses the possibility of life outside of the confines of earth, but it also delves into the mystery of creation and simultaneously puts to rest all past speculation on either of the two topics. Saul has created a novel that can stand the test time because of universal nature. While the book has a slow beginning it ultimately develops into a tale that the reader cannot wait to finish and discover. John Saul sets up the book so that even readers that do not have a strong scientific background are able to understand the vast scientific concepts that are contained in the novel. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for and exciting read that will bring them into a world full of mystery and suspense.
Rating: 4
Summary: One of Saul's more impressive novels
Comment: I had my doubts about The Presence early on. Although the Hawaiian setting was a new one, the subject of human experimentation on children by a mysterious group of seemingly unfeeling men is rather standard fare for Saul. The book started off slowly, moving from an unexplained discovery of a mysterious geode off the shores of the big island of Hawaii to a rather bland account of the move by anthropologist Katharine Sundquist and her son Michael from New York to Maui. Brought there to study the remains of a peculiar skeleton found near the volcanic slopes of Haleakala, Katharine soon finds herself in a living nightmare, one which threatens to take the life of her son. She has only the help of new boss and former flame Rob Silver in learning the truth about her new employer Takeo Yoshihara. Young Michael suffered asthma as a youth and had worked hard to overcome the condition, setting his sights on joining the track team in defiance of the ailment that had made his life a solitary one. On the island, he wins a spot on the team and makes several friends very quickly, but after the group sneaks off for an ill-advised night-time scuba dive, Michael's world spins out of control. As tragedy begins to strike his friends, Michael himself begins to struggle once again for each breath he takes. The problem is not asthma this time, however, but something much more dangerous-and unnatural.
The story of Michael's unhappiness over the move to Hawaii, his introduction to and contact with his friends on the track team, and Katharine's own work with Rob Silver on the unidentified skeleton are rather rough going. The plot doesn't seem to move very well, and the characters are not very compelling. Once things start moving, though, and the secrets at the heart of the plot begin to emerge, the novel becomes quite gripping and fascinating. There are some rather farfetched and seemingly unnecessary elements attached to the storyline, but they do not harm one's enjoyment of the book. All in all, the whole package is wrapped more tightly than many of Saul's other novels, leaving me with few unexplained answers at the conclusion. It's a well-told story, although one aspect of the denouement seems just a little too convenient. The setting, based on Saul's own familiarity with the island of Maui, is rich and vibrant, adding further energy to the tale. The basic idea of The Presence, secret experimentation on unsuspecting children, is nothing new, but this novel has legs to stand on its own two feet. The main characters eventually seem convincingly real, the science Saul evokes does not come across as utterly implausible, and the conclusion succeeds in tying together most of the loose ends scattered throughout the text. For my money, this is one of Saul's more impressive novels.
Rating: 3
Summary: What was in those tanks?
Comment: Imagine you're a good single mother who worries over your teenage son who has a history of asthma. Your son, Michael, says he's going to the movies, but when he comes home late he tells you that he and his new friends decided to play video games instead, and lost track of time. It's a lie. The boys "sort of" broke into a dive shop and went scuba diving at night in a gloomy lagoon. So what? Although it was only Michael's second dive, he's home safe, right?
Unfortunately, there was something insidious in those "borrowed" dive tanks that will involve you and your son in a ruthless scheme of such incredible complexity that it takes three scientists and a computer hacker to unravel the mystery and save Michael. The problem is the author builds the complexity gradually until he has enough pages for a book, and then slams out the ending. It's like getting cold runny eggs when you expected an omelet.
This plot is billed as suspense - mystery - horror, but Saul has to use science fiction and fantasy themes, or what I call "incredibilities," to try to hold it together. Saul attempts to create dread by giving an apparently normal, upstanding character extraordinary power to do incredibly awful stuff to the nearly defenseless until he's defeated in the last chapter. That doesn't work for me as well as creating incredible characters with human frailties who have to struggle with the good guys throughout the story, so much so that you might doubt who's going to will win. For my idea of a much better tale in this genre, see my review of "Running with the Demon" by Terry Brooks.
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Title: The Right Hand of Evil by John Saul ISBN: 0449005836 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 02 May, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Midnight Voices by John Saul ISBN: 0449006530 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 04 March, 2003 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: Nightshade by John Saul ISBN: B00008RWPQ Publisher: Ballantine Books (Trd) Pub. Date: June, 1900 List Price(USD): $25.95 |
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Title: Shadows by John Saul ISBN: 0553560271 Publisher: Bantam Pub. Date: 01 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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Title: The Homing by John Saul ISBN: 0449223795 Publisher: Fawcett Books Pub. Date: 27 June, 1995 List Price(USD): $7.99 |
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