BLACK CREEK CROSSING
John Saul
Ballantine
Fiction
ISBN: 0345433327

Let's take a moment and give thanks to John Saul. The dark fantasy genre is somewhat similar to country music. Singers like Shania Twain and the Vichy Chicks will come and feed at the trawl, get fat, happy and successful, and turn their back on the genre. So, too, with authors who make the monthly nut with dark fantasy, but just long enough to get the notoriety and fortune to turn their back on the genre that jump-started their careers. Saul continues, in the words of Bear Bryant, to "dance with the one what brung him," doing yeoman's work in the genre and doing it quite well, thank you.

Saul's latest offering is BLACK CREEK CROSSING, and it has all of the elements that make the genre, and Saul, great. You have the Sullivan family, for one. The Sullivans are a family in crisis. Marty is the alcoholic father who can hold a beer bottle longer than he can a job. Myra is the clueless mother, using religion as a crutch rather than as a tool of strength and fortitude in an imperfect world. And then there is Angel, the not quite pretty 13-year-old daughter, trying to rid herself of the invisible "kick me" sign that is psychically hung around her neck.

When an opportunity comes for a fresh start in a different town, the Sullivans jump at the chance. Roundtree, Massachusetts seems to be the answer to all of their problems --- a new school for Angel, a new job for Marty and a new house that they can buy at a below market price. The house, located at Black Creek Crossing, has some history to it. It seems that the last family who lived there --- a husband, wife and teenage daughter --- experienced a bit of a tragedy, to wit, the murder of the wife and daughter by the husband. This does not deter the Sullivans. Almost from the minute they move in, though, things begin to go amiss. Marty is having trouble on the job and Angel immediately becomes a target at school.

Angel is soon befriended by Seth Baker, another social outcast who has much in common with her. She also finds a black cat --- or maybe the cat finds her --- that seems able to enter and leave her house at will. The discovery of a mysterious, ancient book in the Sullivans' new home sets Angel and Seth down a path that appears to lead to their salvation. There is, however, a terrible price to pay in the end.

While BLACK CREEK CROSSING has many elements that will be familiar to longtime fans of the dark fantasy genre, it will most certainly appeal to those readers who are just beginning to encounter the genre and, by definition, Saul's work. Saul's ultimate strength in BLACK CREEK CROSSING, however, is his ability to explore the world of adolescent angst, to get into those areas where the triple gratings of school, friends and family rub the skin of the psyche raw. Saul writes like someone who has been there and remembers it all too well, even if it was decades ago. It is this ability coupled with Saul's masterful storytelling that make him, and BLACK CREEK CROSSING, worth reading.

   --- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub

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