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Perfect Nightmare

3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 · rating details · 1,963 ratings · 129 reviews

If you open your house to strangers, who knows who might come in. And what they might be after. Or whom. Now, ponder the unthinkable and surrender to your darkest dread, as sinister storyteller extraordinaire John Saul weaves a heart-stopping tale of lurking terror and twisted intent.

Every parent’s nightmare becomes reality for Kara Marshall when her daughter, Lindsay, van...more

Paperback, 384 pages

Published April 25th 2006 by Ballantine Books (first published August 1st 2005)

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Oct 22, 2012 Mary M. rated it 3 of 5 stars

John Saul delves into the dark world of a psychopath obsessed with collecting young girls, and also, as we venture further into the book, a young woman. The perpetrator blends into the scenery, seemlessly; and, with methodical care, he plans each of his kidnappings right down to the last detail.
Enter the Marshall family ... They find they must finally sell thier home and move to the city where Mr. Marshall's job is. The travelling back and forth to the city is getting too much, and they can no l...more

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Jul 13, 2012 Abraham rated it 5 of 5 stars

John Saul Perfect Nightmare

Plot:

When Lindsey Marshall mysteriously vanishes from her bedroom during the night, her mother, Kara, fears the worst. Their neighbor 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, sense the hand of a malevolent stranger in this tragedy. And as more people go missing, Patrick's suspicion, like Kara's, b...more John Saul Perfect Nightmare

Plot:

When Lindsey Marshall mysteriously vanishes from her bedroom during the night, her mother, Kara, fears the worst. Their neighbor 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, sense the hand of a malevolent stranger in this tragedy. 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 is watching, plotting, keeping a demented diary of unspeakable deeds ... and waiting until the time is ripe to make another fateful movie.

My Review and Thoughts:

A great example of an exciting read of spooks and most of all creepiness. Wild twists and turns. Great characters and great frights. A mixed bag of suspense and edge of your seat moments that keep you guessing and floored at the very deep story and dark nature of the frights that only Saul could do. Something I have always been entertained by is stories that make your skin crawl and that's what this story plays at.

The thought of someone or something seeking victims has always played perfect in the horror world and that is what Saul does with this book, he blends the classic with the modern. Such force is displayed in this sharp tale of horror and Saul gives an exciting spooky tale with all the twists and turns you would expect in a great horror story and also from Saul's imagination. He graces the pages with the spectacular wonders of chills and nightmares.

Another book that is priceless to behold, to read for those who love horror stories with thick drawn out plots and character build up. Saul is able to raise the neck hairs, send in the goosebumps, bring forth the spine to tingle, the heart to race and the heavy breathing to happen in this tense book.

This book brings chills, reading the bad guys thoughts, you get to enter his mind, hear his demons and become apart of his insanity. A kick in the gut as you follow along with his deranged ordeal. John Saul knows how to play with the reader and knows just how to place the creeps into frightening reality. What stands out the most is that Saul captures the ordeal of the victim, you feel the pain and the struggle and the fear and also the helplessness of the victims loved ones as they struggle to cope and come to terms with what is happening.

You get all sides to the ordeal, the bad guy, the victim, the family all bringing a tight woven story together for the reader to take a hold of and experience it first hand adding to the wonderful writing quality that is John Saul. I love the tension and terror that flows off the page and into the readers mind. The darkness of a basement, a missing object and that dread of knowing something is not right and then it happens, hands grab you in the darkness. The book knows how to pull the reader to the edge.

You want to scream out in fright or scream out to help the innocent person about to be attacked. The book gets under your skin and stays there releasing its horror in slow calculated doses to frighten the reader and to cause the blood pressure to rocket sky high page after page.

One hell of an original true ending that will stick with you and give you pure satisfaction in how the conclusion takes place. A twist and turn ending with shocks and a kick in the gut reality that works perfect. A great twisted little book of pure goosebumps and tension. The shocking past story comes out in graphic details as the killer is finally revealed. The final showdown I was on the edge of my seat with frustration and anger and tension and thrills running wild in me.

A great read. A must read, a Perfect Book. (less)

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Apr 07, 2012 Kasia S. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Perfect Nightmare was my first John Saul book and it was fast, intense and extremely dark as simple words rang truth in my ears like bells and they were terrifying and depressing but made for a really good horror book. There were no super natural monsters, no vampires and witches but a soul of a man so dark and rotten that it chilled me to the bone as I read this book in two days, as it was a very fast and smooth read. I must admit that the story left me feeling down and sad because it was so re...more Perfect Nightmare was my first John Saul book and it was fast, intense and extremely dark as simple words rang truth in my ears like bells and they were terrifying and depressing but made for a really good horror book. There were no super natural monsters, no vampires and witches but a soul of a man so dark and rotten that it chilled me to the bone as I read this book in two days, as it was a very fast and smooth read. I must admit that the story left me feeling down and sad because it was so real and horrifying yet I knew it was a book so I kept reading, if it was a newspaper article I don't know if I would have had the guts to continue.

Kara Marshall and her husband Steve were planning on moving form the charming Long Island home to the city, where Steve worked because they couldn't afford to stay in the house and needed help with their finances. As they decided to put their home out on the market, they unknowingly invited a stranger into their house for an open house who ended up doing the worst harm a mother can imagine; he was responsible for having her only daughter, Lindsay who was a seventeen year old girl, disappear without a trace. I have never read a book so dark and twisted, as the mother's agony was so clearly written, I felt pain as I read it and I felt sick reading about the cold blooded killer who tortured and kidnapped women out of their homes and who were thought to be dead by their family members. I have been told by some people that a loss of a child is the most macabre thing a parent can suffer, and I got a major does of the end, the sadness and the finality of someone else's actions as they ended a mother's happy life and set her life in eternal shadows as her own child was being tortured and pushed to brinks of death. I got to read and feel the emptiness, the sadness, the way the mother knew her child was out there and was not coming back, that no matter what dreams she woke up from that nothing was ever going to be the same. Just as things got bad they got worse very quickly and darkness turned to inky blackness as I had no hope for any of the captured girls.

This was a gloomy, morbid book, and it caught me in a surprise a few times, but I'm glad I read it, as it made me look around more at people and made sure to always keep safe. This really read so realistically that I'm still trying to shake it off, but I know its fiction and it was a good read from a solid and well known author, and I will definitely read more of his stuff.

As someone else mentioned, I don't know hot Saul wrote this, as it was insane and real but I respect him as a writer, as clearly his skills were sharp, and despite the negative reviews, maybe this was too dark for some, to me this was a great read. (less)

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Jun 18, 2009 Lori rated it 3 of 5 stars

"Perfect Nightmare" by John Saul starts with a nifty premise. A kidnapper targets victims by stalking open houses and homes for sale on the internet. Great idea, and one that hasn't been done yet, to my knowledge, or done to death (no pun intended). The main and core characters are likable, sympathetic and realistic. You can relate to them and you care about what you just know is going to happen.
But starting about midway through the book, I felt that Saul began to lose his focus. Maybe it was t...more

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May 12, 2009 Charlene rated it 3 of 5 stars

Perfect Nightmare's story could have been a story from Criminal Minds or CSI without all the FBI agents/Police/Forensic Scientists. That being said, it was really creepy. The story was entertaining enough and the characters were quite believable--except for Lindsay, the main teenager.

Okay, I know the perfect student/teenager/cheerleader could exist somewhere in this twisted world, but Lindsay was way too perfect for me. Couldn't she have had a boyfriend at least? Someone in line to be the next h...more

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Nov 08, 2012 Deana M rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was my first John Saul book and I am hooked. I started reading this book at night and it got me a little creeped out. I am so glad my bed is on the floor with no room to store anything and that my closet is jam packed with stuff. The Marshall's are looking to sell their home because Steve Marshall works in NYC and they cannot afford to have both their home and his apartment. They put their house on the market and soon they have an open house. While the open house is going on, the Marshall's...more

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Sep 16, 2012 Angela rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, thrillers, mystery, fiction, novels, suspense, wishlist

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Apr 14, 2011 Braydensmommy rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Mar 15, 2013 Linda Moore rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Linda by: My daughter

I really enjoyed reading this book. I usually read all my books on an ereader but this one I got from my daughter and is a hardcover. It was a wonderful book with all the twists, turns, nail biting, edge of your seat, who done its ever. I expect nothing less from Saul than a wonderful book.
In this one you really do get caught up in the lives of Kara, her husband and their daughter who goes missing. Just vanishes into thin air along with two other people.
All the kids from school come together t...more I really enjoyed reading this book. I usually read all my books on an ereader but this one I got from my daughter and is a hardcover. It was a wonderful book with all the twists, turns, nail biting, edge of your seat, who done its ever. I expect nothing less from Saul than a wonderful book.
In this one you really do get caught up in the lives of Kara, her husband and their daughter who goes missing. Just vanishes into thin air along with two other people.
All the kids from school come together to help Kara find her daughter and she feels so alone because her husband and Lindsey's dad is not there. But he has a reason. You will feel so sorry for Kara. She feels that she has lost everything but she still will not give up on finding her daughter alive.
Lindsey is a smart and strong teenager who begins to think she will never be found and endures so much. Then an older woman is abducted and there are three of them now.
The villain is really very sad. He endured such torture as a very young boy and in a way I felt it was not him there but the crazy part of him only. I had him figured out only in the last half of the last chapter. It did take me a while with this one. I thought it was someone else but then it hit me. I didn't expect it to be the way it was though and there was a lot of twists and turns, edge of your seat and sadness in the story. You didn't know what to expect when Kara kept thinking she was hearing her daughter crying, singing, yelling and just things that a distraught mother would hear if her daughter just went missing and you could not get the police to believe that she had not run away because they were moving during her senior year of high school. But even though in the end all did not go exactly as you might like it was a wonderful book with a wonderful ending. Some people got exactly what they deserved, but others.... not so much. Great book. I love John Saul's books and now can't wait for a new one to come out.. Read if you like scary, not horror but intense scary reading. (less)

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Dec 12, 2012 Sarah Angoluan rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Camden Green, Manhattan
35 Flinder's Beach Road, Manhattan

Characters:

The Marshalls
- Steve Marshall - lawyer and the man of the house of the Marshall's. He was promoted and due to being assigned to the city, he and his wife, Kara Marshall had decided to move to the city.
- Kara Marshall - Steve's wife.
- Lindsay Marshall - Steve and Kara's only daughter, became depressed after finding out that they are moving.

The Shield’s
Patrick Shields - younger brother of Claire Sollinger. Lost his family in a dev...more

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Jun 11, 2009 Mickey DeCicco rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

This guy is so fucking creepy. This book gave me more chills up my spine than Black Creek crossing; he's starting to equal H.P. Lovecraft as the rare author that can scare me. I swear I didn't want to turn the lights out the other night. Realtors and those selling their homes should read this first ;) Being in the market for a new house, this book hits particularly close to home. Because this story is grounded totally in reality, the horror is even more intense than his other works with supernat...more

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Mar 09, 2012 Diane rated it 3 of 5 stars

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Sep 02, 2007 Tory rated it 2 of 5 stars

Hmm. This was alright. Alright in the sense that I cared enough to have something to say about it.

I don’t think that the writing was great, or even good. But it was enough to not put me off completely. The concept of a killer that stalks his victims through the real estate ads was clever.

But the “chilling” parts were just stupid. That the subjects could smell their attacker. It was just over the top, didn’t cause goosebumps, just reminded me that it was a silly paperback.

Also, the reasoning for...more

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Aug 15, 2010 Lindsey Brooks rated it 3 of 5 stars

It's probably my own fault that I'm scoring this book a little low. It wasn't bad, but I borrowed it expecting it to be supernatural evil and it turned out to be more along the lines of mild sexual torture (meaning it wasn't overly graphic). Not really what I usually read for pleasure. The story itself wasn't bad, and even though I figured out the ending really early, it was set up well. Again, just not really my cup of tea.

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Mar 03, 2008 Walt rated it 3 of 5 stars

If you open your house to strangers, who knows who might come in. And what they might be after. Or whom. ponder the unthinkable and surrender to your darkest dread, Every parent's nightmare becomes reality for Kara Marshall when her daughter, Lindsay, vanishes from her bedroom during the night. The police suspect that the girl is just another moody teenage runaway, angry over leaving behind her school and friends because her family is moving. But Lindsay's recent eerie claim — that someone invad...more

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Dec 12, 2012 Vincent rated it 2 of 5 stars

Really good story with a really disappointing resolution. I was thoroughly annoyed and frustrated by the revelation of the kidnapper's identity and the kidnapper's backstory, which felt very much forced or contrived, as did the circumstances leading up to the identification of the kidnapper. Really disappointing deus ex machina conclusion to an otherwise great story. The wheels just seemed to fall off in the home stretch.

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Jan 07, 2010 Marti rated it 3 of 5 stars

it has been a while since i read a john saul book, and perfect nightmare falls right into the type of book one of his regular readers has come to expect--spooky in places, gruesome and for the most part, fast moving. you can sympathize with a character like kara marshall, who isn't just having a bad day, but several weeks of bad. it is horrifying to think that there might be creatures around us like this bad guy!

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Jun 05, 2012 Issy Bell rated it 4 of 5 stars

A very creepy book and it did make my sink craw as it is about the abduction of young girls. The first few chapters are a bit slow and the writing is a bit simplistic but once the story starts it is a real page turner. A couple with a teenage daughter put their house up for sale and then the nightmare begins. I would recommend this book but not to anyone who is selling a house or lives on their own.

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Feb 24, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011-books-read

I read this book yesterday while miserably sick and it was a great distraction from how horrible I was feeling. The storyline was interesting and while some of it was predictable, there were some twists and turns I didn't expect, especially that end. I found myself invested in the characters and not wanting to go away from certain characters to hear about the others. A good read, overall.

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Feb 13, 2010 Georgiann Hennelly rated it 5 of 5 stars

When Kara Marshalls daughter Lindsay suddenly vanishs from her bedroom in the middle of the night. Her neighbor Patrick can relate . He is still dealing with the grief of losing his wife and daughters to a house fire. But the police won,t take Kara seriously they think Lindsay ran away. So Kara has started here own investagation to find out what has happen to her daughter. a wonderful story with plenty of suspense.

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Apr 08, 2010 Tricia rated it 1 of 5 stars

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Apr 07, 2013 Andreia Fernandes rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2013

Weak beginning, surprising ending...

I thought the book premise was very good but the beginning and the middle of the book was very boring. I almost put the book aside. But from the middle to the ending the story fired up and I thought it very surprising, especially the ending of the book. Very original.

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Jan 25, 2009 Doug rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fic-j-saul

This is a nice departure from the John "Same ol', same ol'" Saul we're used to. That being said, reader discretion is advised as this novel is also very disturbing and the imagery is keen enough to make one's skin crawl.

It is an enjoyable read with a solid plot and a believable yet surprising conclusion.

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May 19, 2009 Tanya rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: my-reads

What a great thriller! The story was easy to follow, it flowed from page to page starting at the very beginning and never lost it's intensity. The twists and turns always kept me guessing. If you're in the mood for an easy, quick, good read, you won't be disappointed with Perfect Nightmare!

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Feb 08, 2008 Brian rated it 4 of 5 stars

It starts off somewhat slow, but once it gets going, Perfect Nightmare is an intense, suspenseful thrill.

Many people don't like John Saul much; even many horror fans pan his work as contrived tripe. I don't agree (except for Creature, which was so predictable that I stopped reading after 100 pages). Saul is not profound, nor is he going to write the next literary masterpiece. However, his writing weaves taught thrillers, some supernatural, and others, like this book, frightening because we all k...more

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Aug 19, 2012 Nattie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

What a horribly good read! This book really had me from the first word until the last. A rare combination of thrilling and depressing. This was a goodreads recommendation, I never would have read it otherwise, but I am pretty glad I did.
There were things that I didn't like. Poor Steve! Poor Shannon! Poor everybody! I wanted to feel bad for the sicko, but I just couldn't, not as a grown man. I really don't understand why what was done to Steve was done. It didn't seem like something that was ben...more

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Sep 04, 2008 Charity rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anybody who likes a good horror novel.

Shelves: read-in-2008

I finished Perfect Nightmare: A Novel by John Saul about a week ago. It was an excellent read, as are the majority of John Saul’s offerings. I’m not sure, but I don’t think I’ve ever read a bad book by this man.

Perfect Nightmare involves what is every parent’s perfect nightmare - the abduction of their child. Couple this with the fact that in the midst of all this the parents were attempting to sell their home and move to a new city, and you have what can only be described as an absolute nightma...more

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Mar 17, 2010 J Mcdowell rated it 4 of 5 stars

High level suspense about a parent's worst fear. Classic John Saul and very good storytelling. . . but if you have kids, you might want to try another one of his books. I've never been disappointed by anything he has written.

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Jun 22, 2009 Michelle Meckley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow that was good.. what an ending I truly was shocked and that is hard to do .. I usually end up guessing b/f the end of book
Very visual and chilling details would not recc reading alone at night!!

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Aug 14, 2012 Mary rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book was ok. It held my attention throughout the book and was a fast-paced read. But I was a little disappointed in the ending. I am not exactly sure what I was expecting but it seemed to end with a thud not a bang.

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About John Saul

John Saul was born in Pasadena, California on February 25, 1942, and grew up in Whittier where he graduated from Whittier High School in 1959. He attended several colleges—Antioch, in Ohio, Cerritos, in Norwalk, California, Montana State University and San Francisco State College, variously majoring in anthropology, liberal arts, and theater, but never obtaining a degree.
After leaving college, he...more John Saul was born in Pasadena, California on February 25, 1942, and grew up in Whittier where he graduated from Whittier High School in 1959. He attended several colleges—Antioch, in Ohio, Cerritos, in Norwalk, California, Montana State University and San Francisco State College, variously majoring in anthropology, liberal arts, and theater, but never obtaining a degree.
After leaving college, he decided the best thing for a college dropout to do was become a writer, and spent the next fifteen years working in various jobs while attempting to write a book someone would want to publish. Should anyone ever want to write a novel concerning the car-rental industry or the travails of temporary typists, John can provide excellent background material.

Those years garnered him a nice collection of unpublished manuscripts, but not a lot of money. Eventually he found an agent in New York, who spent several years sending his manuscripts around, and trying to make the rejection slips sound hopeful. Then, in 1976, one of his manuscripts reached Dell, who didn't want to buy it, but asked if he'd be interested in writing a psychological thriller. He put together an outline, and crossed his fingers.

At that point, things started getting bizarre. His agent decided the outline had all the makings of a best-seller, and so did Dell. Gambling on a first novel by an unknown author, they backed the book with television advertising (one of the first times a paperback original was promoted on television) and the gamble paid off. Within a month Suffer the Children appeared on all the best-seller lists in the country and made the #1 spot in Canada. Subsequently all 32 of his books, have made all the best-seller lists and have been published world wide. Though many of his books were published by Bantam/Doubleday/Dell his last fourteen books have been published by Ballantine/Fawcett/Columbine.

In addition to his work as novelist, John is also interested in the theater. He has acted, and as a playwright has had several one-act plays produced in Los Angeles and Seattle, and two optioned in New York. One of his novels was produced by Gerber Productions Company and M.G.M. as a C.B.S. movie and currently one of his novels is in development.

John served on the Expansion Arts Panel of the National Endowment for the Arts. He is actively involved with the development of other writers, and is a lecturer at the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference and the Maui Writers Conference and received the Life Time Achievement Award from the Northwest Writers Conference. John is also a trustee and Vice President of The Chester Woodruff Foundation (New York), a philanthropic organization.

John lives part-time in the Pacific Northwest, both in Seattle and in the San Juan Islands. He also maintains a residence on the Big Island of Hawaii. He currently enjoys motor homing, travel and golf. He is an avid reader, bridge player, golfer and loves to cook. (less)

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“If you open your house to strangers, who knows who might come in. And what they might be after. Or whom.” — 5 people liked it

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