|
John Saul fans, horror fans, thriller fans, step right up. The master of the
supernatural thriller is at it again, and THE RIGHT HAND OF EVIL may be his best offering
to date. Tackling Satanism and pure evil, this novel is disturbing and unrelentingly
intense. Although many Saul novels touch on ghosts and haunted places, none of them deal
so extensively with Evil.
The Conway family of Shreveport, Louisiana is on a downhill slide, both financially and
emotionally. Assistant hotel manager Ted Conway has lost his job once again due to his
drinking. Realistically, he has no more prospects for a job in Shreveport. His wife Janet
is barely keeping the family afloat with sales of her paintings, but the tension in the
household is strengthening her resolve to take the children, 15-year-old twins Kim and
Jared and 15-month-old Molly, and leave Ted and his problems behind.
Fate steps in with the impending death of Ted's Aunt Cora. Cora entrusts the Conway family
Bible to Father Devlin, her confessor. As the story progresses in the present, the Bible
reveals a family past filled with suicides and murders. Cora also gives a small gold cross
to each of her great-nieces, Kim and Molly, saying the crosses will protect them. Cora
places Kim's cross around her neck before she dies, while Molly's cross is delivered to
her mother for safekeeping until she's older.
Ted is the heir to the family home in the small town of St. Albans. The house was
abandoned 40 years earlier (Cora was confined to a mental institution after her husband
George hung himself and Cora delivered a baby that was never found) and has been the
subject of town gossip and fear for many years. Unaware of most of the stories, at least
at first, the Conways look at this as an opportunity to start over. With a trust available
to fix up the property as long as they live in the house, money is readily available for
the renovations needed for Ted's ambition to turn it into a small hotel.
Talk of the evil possessing the ancestor who built the house, which is passed down through
generations of Conway men, has been a staple of town gossip for over a century. Only a few
days after the Conways move in, the evil already has a stranglehold on Ted and his son
Jared. When bad things start happening around town, Jared, whose personality has changed
completely, always seems to be around. But Ted, who has stopped drinking and now appears
to be the model husband, father and community member, uses his charisma to convince his
wife and neighbors that Jared is just stretching his teen wings and can't possibly have
anything to do with the unfortunate accidents.
As the story progresses, Kim experiences terrible nightmares that always include her
brother and a strange, satanic cathedral that appears behind a door in the basement. She
doesn't understand what's happening, but her "twin thing" with Jared is gone,
and she's the only family member that suspects something isn't right. Ultimately, it will
fall on Kim's shoulders to save her family from the evil that permeates the house.
Through intense description and masterful storytelling, John Saul delivers a taught,
supernatural thriller, adding yet another great book to his 20-year career of bestselling
novels.
--- Reviewed by Mary Ellen Gustafson
© Copyright 1996-2008, Bookreporter.com. All rights reserved.
Back to top.
|
