In the Dark of the Night
2006 • 324 pages
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
15
Ratings4
Average rating3.5
Summer vacation becomes a season in hell for an ordinary family who unwittingly stir something invisible, insidious, and insatiable from its secret slumber--unleashing a wave of horror only the darkest evil could create, that only a master of spine-tingling terror like John Saul could orchestrate. For deep in the shadows in the dark of the night lurks something as big as life . . . and as real as death.It has waited seven years for someone to come back to the rambling lakeside house called Pinecrest, which has stood empty since its last owner went missing. For upscale Chicago couple Dan and Merrill Brewster, the old midwestern manse is an ideal retreat, and for their kids, Eric and Marci, it's the perfect place to spend a lazy summer exploring. Which is how Eric and his teenage friends discover the curious cache of discarded objects stowed in a hidden room of Pinecrest's carriage house. The bladeless hacksaws, shadeless lamps, tables with missing legs, headless axe handle, and other unremarkable items add up to a pile of junk. Yet someone took the trouble to inventory each worthless relic in a cryptic ledger. It has all the makings of a great mystery--whispering, coaxing, demanding to be solved.But the more the boys devote themselves to restoring the forgotten possessions and piecing together the puzzle behind them, the more their fascination deepens into obsession. Soon their days are consumed with tending the strange, secret collection--while their nights become plagued by ever more ghastly dreams, nightmares that soon seep into reality. And when a horrifying discovery surfaces, so does the chilling truth--about the terrifying events that rocked the town seven years before, the mysterious disappearance of Pinecrest's last resident, and a twisted legacy with a malevolent life of its own . . . and a bottomless hunger for new victims.From the Hardcover edition.
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Eric Brewster is so happy that they are going to join his friends at the Summer resort town, his friends go to every year. His family rents a house that has been boarded up for years called Pinecrest. Once there they go exploring and find an old cottage filled with odd stuff. They always seem to lose time while in there. Coming out hours later and not realizing how long they were there.
Strange murders start happening in the town and the boys start having nightmares about killing people, only they all have the same dreams. Could the room have anything to do with the murders?
The story constantly grew and I was never bored. There were the boys who are bullying the three friends but that is only part of the story. There were a couple of triggers like the death of a cat and a dog, but they were quick and not too drawn out.
I suppose this is a typical horror novel. I've not read enough to know and I don't mind a paint by number model. The story line was compelling. The characters were typical. The violence and gore was more than I preferred. So overall it was average.
