The thoroughly sinister aspect of Saul’s novel, The Devil’s Labyrinth, was enough to convince me that Saul must have studied under the auspices of the parochial school system and exaggerated his feelings of injustice and control to deliver such a scathing and unholy plot. This piece of roller coaster horror could have only been achieved by someone both familiar with the system and gifted in telling a work of fiction.

The setting takes place in the school halls of St. Isaac’s, under the care of charismatic Father Sebastian, a supposed expert in exorcisms. However, it soon becomes obvious that there is much more to Father Sebastian than what is presented to the other clergy and the student’s parents. One is also led to believe that on the surface the good Father is exceedingly popular with the students until they are forced to come face to face with the demonic evil he projects into their lives.

Struggling to overcome the emotional turmoil brought on by his father’s death and the new man in his mother’s life 15-year-old Ryan McIntyre finds himself enrolled at St. Isaac’s where he discovers a terrible secret and as a result soon finds himself another of Father Sebastian’s victims. Ryan like the others will find himself involved in a plot to assassinate the Pope who, aware of Father Sebastian’s apparent success with student exorcisms, plans a visit to Boston to observe the cleric’s techniques.

Fortunately, however, Ryan’s father had given him a crucifix that he had found in Iraq that was supposed to protect him from evil. The question then becomes will the crucifix indeed protect Ryan and the others from the evil that Father Sebastian has planned thus saving the Pope’s life or will the diabolical work come to fruition?

I felt that Saul managed to write to another thrilling novel, even though it did get a little slow in the middle, as he covered the very controversial and little-known subject of exorcism. Otherwise the author managed to build the intensity throughout the book until the story was ultimately brought together with well-developed characters that the reader could identify with. I would recommend the book as a first-rate supernatural thriller that will keep the readers interest but I have read many reviews by readers that did not agree with my assessment. Therefore, I will suggest that you get a copy from your local library rather than purchase it unless you can find a deal on Amazon, that way you are not out the expense and can decide for yourself if the read was worth the time or not.

John Saul became a media favorite in 1977 after he published Suffer the Children and has continued to delight terror genre enthusiasts since that time with other bestsellers that included a Perfect Nightmare and The Right Hand of Evil. With his latest endeavor, Dark of the Night, Saul once again takes the reader on a roller coaster ride into the bizarre world of the supernatural.

The tale begins innocently enough with Eric Brewster’s family making plans to join their friends for a fun-filled summer vacation at picturesque Phantom Lake, Wisconsin. A last minute decision on their part provides them the opportunity to rent one of the area’s nicest homes which is being ready to go up for sale in the fall. However, unbeknownst to the family is that the house is available at such an affordable price because it was once owned by a Dr. Hector Darby, who disappeared under mysterious circumstances seven years ago allowing his heirs to rid themselves of it for what they hoped would be a good price.

The lone holdout on being excited about the trip is Eric’s mother, Merrill, who fears that the deal is to good-to-be-true but since her family in friends are so insistent she relents and goes along with the plan. It is just a short time after their arrival at Pinecrest, however, that Eric and his friends discover a hidden room that contains a strange assortment of macabre items that had at one time belonged to famous serial killers worldwide. Be prepared, however, because as strange as this room is the control that the pieces manage to wield over the unsuspecting will keep you posed at the edge of your seat once again exhibiting Saul’s skill at sending shivers up the spines of even the most hard cored horror addicts.

So, if you are looking for a spine-tingling thriller that will interrupt your slumber at night Dark of the Night might just provide the ticket for ending your sweet dreams. No doubt about it John Saul is a master in his field and this is another winner.

Bestselling author Michael Crichton researches the dangers of genetic engineering and nanotechnology in his book Prey. In his work of fiction Crichton shows how easily this evolving technology could be exploited and used if put into the hands of unscrupulous researchers. Frighteningly, the author’s research into the subject seems to be in depth and the dangers that he poses makes one realize how susceptible the human race is to this dangerous technology that may spell the end of the human race as we know it.

In the book Crichton utilizes one high-tech whistle-blower by the name of Jack Forman, a computer programmer trained to create programs that mimic prey animals, to take us inside of a facility where researchers are working on developing a top-secret project. Jack is originally presented to us as a house husband who is out of work and becomes suspicious of his ambitious wife’s activities for a research lab known as Xymos Technology. With that as the background Jack is called in to help the firm correct a programming bug in one of the programs that he had created and Jack jumps on the chance to resume working while having the opportunity to observe what his wife is up to. Jack, however, quickly discovers that there is a lot more going on out there in the Nevada desert than just an illicit affair between his wife and his good friend and he finds his life and the lives of his children in jeopardy as a swarm of nanotechnical units have escaped from the facility with the ability to mimic human behavior.

This cloud of nanoparticles - micro-robots are self-sustaining and self-reproducing. They have been programmed with an innate intelligence and learn from experience. For all practical purposes, they are alive and have been programmed as predators and become deadlier with each passing hour. Every attempt to the nanoparticle swarm fails and the human race is their prey.

Drawing on up to the minute facts that are fresh from today’s headlines Michael Crichton tells a compelling story of a mechanical plague and the desperate efforts of a handful of scientists to stop itSo, while the monsters in this book may be smaller than those in Jurassic park Crichton’s skill as a great suspense novelist is bigger than life making Prey one of the scariest reads available. However, that is not to say that the novel has no flaws. Though these may be minor the science is a little over the head of the average reader and may be difficult to get into if the reader isn’t tenacious enough to hang in there in the beginning.

However, if the reader can get through some of the lengthy explanations that sometimes read like dry academic lessons they will find a book that is more than worthy of the read. I found the book quite insightful and thanks to the sobering forward regarding the real danger of technology that continue to evolve faster than man knows how to manage them I couldn’t put the book down. Given that anyone who is interested in a scientifically based book with a chilling story edge there is no way you should pass reading Michael’s Crichton’s Prey.