false 6559 14 There's no such thing as a happy family in John Saul's dark imagination. He made this chillingly clear in <I>Suffer the Children</I> and <I>The Right Hand of Evil</I>, and he deepens this impression in <I>Nightshade</I>, a perfectly macabre tale of a household ripped apart by malevolent forces.<p> Meet New Hampshire couple Bill and Joan Hapgood and their teenage son, Matt. They have a huge home, many friends, and the glow of Matt's glory as a high school football star. Life couldn't be sweeter, right? Wrong! <p> Trouble begins when Joan's mother, Emily, accidentally burns down her own house and moves in with the Hapgoods. Matt is terrified of his foul-tempered grandmother, who refers to him as "Joan's bastard." Emily's odd behavior reaches a fever pitch when she insists that the bedroom of her long-dead (and much-favored) elder daughter, Cynthia, be recreated, prom dress, dolls, and all. The household's normal warmth vanishes, "the sense of welcome and comfort was gone." Matt complains of strange, perverted dreams in which the staggeringly beautiful Cynthia visits him, leaving behind the pungent scent of her Nightshade perfume. Joan also feels the presence of her dead sister, and has painful flashbacks to a childhood best left forgotten. A murder and three disappearances befall the small town, Matt spirals into depression, and Joan loses her mind. Throw in child abuse, torture, and a wickedly irritable ghost, and we have one whopper of a nightmare. <I>Nightshade</I> contains gobs of gore, melodramatic (and occasionally bumbling) prose, and a deviant, twisted ending--John Saul's famous recipe for family disaster and reader delight. <I>--Naomi Gesinger</I> 1988540 2000 Nightshade: A Novel total:328|5:86|4:84|3:117|2:27|1:14| 328 1185 465 15 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 5 0 false Fri Nov 09 06:05:05 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 18 06:06:44 -0800 2008 more...]]> 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 2 0 false Tue Jan 13 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 06:40:20 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 13 06:44:53 -0800 2009 more...]]> 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 3 0 false Wed Sep 17 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Sep 16 13:02:27 -0700 2008 Sat Sep 20 20:12:52 -0700 2008 2 more...]]> 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 3 0 false Thu Jul 23 06:25:24 -0700 2009 Thu Jul 23 06:29:46 -0700 2009 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 3 0 false Fri Jul 10 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 04:59:27 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 10 05:00:04 -0700 2009 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 1 0 false Thu Feb 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Thu May 22 10:21:11 -0700 2008 Thu May 22 10:21:11 -0700 2008 more...]]> 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 3 0 false Wed Mar 12 22:43:12 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 25 20:25:52 -0700 2008 more...]]> 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 2 0 false Wed Jul 23 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 16:08:58 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 16:10:59 -0700 2008 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 4 0 false Tue Jul 29 20:02:16 -0700 2008 Mon Aug 04 15:45:33 -0700 2008 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 3 0 false Wed Feb 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 07 11:01:05 -0800 2008 Thu Feb 07 11:09:12 -0800 2008 1985000 0345433297 9780345433299 6 2 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1191358140m/1985000.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1985000.Nightshade 5 0 false Sun Aug 16 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Tue Jun 02 18:47:57 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 16 16:43:32 -0700 2009 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 3 0 false Thu Oct 11 00:00:00 -0700 2001 Wed Jun 25 02:41:04 -0700 2008 Tue Mar 24 22:42:14 -0700 2009 1 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 5 0 false Sat Jan 12 14:34:51 -0800 2008 Sat Jan 12 14:35:12 -0800 2008 i love it~]]> 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 5 0 false Mon Jul 28 21:56:44 -0700 2008 Mon Jul 28 21:57:02 -0700 2008 1985000 0345433297 9780345433299 6 2 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1191358140m/1985000.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1985000.Nightshade 0 0 false Wed Oct 22 08:13:04 -0700 2008 Wed Oct 22 08:13:18 -0700 2008 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 5 0 false Thu Dec 10 09:31:51 -0800 2009 Thu Dec 10 09:31:51 -0800 2009 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 3 0 false Sat Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2000 Wed Dec 09 14:02:05 -0800 2009 Wed Dec 09 14:02:18 -0800 2009 1662559 0449005909 9780449005903 22 0 3.61 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1186531237m/1662559.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1662559.Nightshade 0 0 false Tue Dec 08 13:15:56 -0800 2009 Tue Dec 08 13:15:56 -0800 2009 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 0 0 false Mon Dec 07 15:16:35 -0800 2009 Mon Dec 07 15:16:35 -0800 2009 6559 0345490630 9780345490636 297 13 3.61 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6559.Nightshade_A_Novel 4 0 false Fri Dec 04 14:37:56 -0800 2009 Fri Dec 04 14:37:56 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=6559