Justine's Thoughts: Perfect Nightmare by John Saul

Perfect Nightmare
By John Saul

Pages:

365

Book Description:

When Lindsay Marshall mysteriously vanishes from her bedroom during the night, her mother, Kara, fears the worst. Their neighbour Patrick Shields can easily relate to Kara’s grief -- he is still dealing with the pain of losing his wife and two children in a devastating fire. But heartache isn’t all that draws Patrick and Kara together. He, too, senses the hand of a malevolent stranger in this strategy. And as more people go missing, 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. Kara and Patrick, alone and desperate, are determined to unmask the monster who even now is watching, plotting, keeping a demented diary of unspeakable deeds. . .and waiting until the time is ripe to make another fateful move.

A quote:

All she wanted to do was slip into that blissful unconsciousness where there was no pain, no fear, no terror, where nightmares were something from which she would awaken...

Any thoughts:

• John Saul certainly knows how to tell a story with such words that can make you cringe. The plot itself was enough to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end, especially when I read the diary entries the “monster” had written. Boy, that was creepy, but this is one of the things why Perfect Nightmare is such a great thriller/suspense novel.

• It’s the first one I’ve read, to be honest. I never really bothered to try and pick one out, but once I saw a review about it, which outlined how great of a novel it is, I decided to give it a shot. Then after I read it, I was glad I did because this is so good, I want to keep reading more of John Saul’s books, which are also of the thriller/suspense genre. So I should definitely keep that in mind.

• One of the thoughts I had throughout the novel was “Poor, Kara.” It was difficult to understand what she was feeling, what she was going through and how she could possibly cope with the situations she was in. But she doesn’t give up; she’s determined to find her daughter, because she believes she’s still out there, somewhere. The dreams she have keep her hopeful. It was like there was a connection between her and Lindsay that keeps her hopes up.

• The psychopath...or the “monster”, as he was described, is really that - a psychopath. A sexual psychopath who hunts for his victims undetected so he could take them to a “children’s playhouse” and do awful things to them. His diary entries will make you shudder, as I’ve said before, because of the reasons for his doings. They’re just so horrible and insane.

• There’s an unexpected twist at the end of the novel, which is when the monster is unmasked. Of course, I’ve been trying to figure out who it was the whole time. And once only did the actual character popped in my mind. I was never really sure, though, because it couldn’t be. However, once things were explained, it all made sense.

• Written in third person through the eyes of different characters in each chapter, this book will keep you turning the pages, just to, you know, take a tiny peek. But really, it’s a page turner, one that’ll be difficult to put down.