A Suspenseful Novel with A Bit of a Plot Twist | The Devil's Labyrinth: A Novel

The Devil vs. The Pope - with surprisingly few scares | The Devil's Labyrinth: A Novel | John Saul

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	• The Devil's Labyrinth: A Novel John Saul Ballantine Books, 2008 - 416 pages average customer review:based on 39 reviews view larger image
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John Saul book

I paid full price for this book at the book store - $7.95 paperback! It was good, but I have definately read better from John Saul! If you are a true fan of his books then you will read it!

A Suspenseful Novel with A Bit of a Plot Twist

The story is suspenseful almost from the onset. Mr. Saul keeps it on track & on a good pace with no wasted dialogue. A 16 year old boy who transfers from a public high school to a Catholic high school begins the suspense novel. It moves along well. It keeps your interest very well. The boy, Ryan, & his new love interest, Melodie are believable. Readers can identify with Ryan's uneasiness in losing his father, Mom dating, Mom's boyfriend moving in, the trauma of being the new kid in school, the rigid life of a Catholic high school.
The story take on an entirely new twist when a couple of fanatic Muslims become involved, The story line goes a bit over the top here & the way they intend to assassinate the Pope. The Muslim fanatic believable in today's world. The plot in this section of the book seems to falter. But the novel is still very entertaining. It's an enjoyable, suspenseful read.

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The Devil vs. The Pope - with surprisingly few scares

If you've read all of John Saul's novels, as I have, you will notice certain themes that run throughout the majority of them. "The Devil's Labyrinth" has a few of these themes at their center - terrorized teens being tormented by evil adults.

In this case, it's students at a Catholic Boarding School being terrorized by a young priest with a dangerous hidden agenda. Saul goes further into religious/satanic territory than ever before. The only problem is that this book has hardly any tension or scares. Once the hidden agenda is revealed (involving a plot to kill the Pope in Boston) things go downhill fast.

I praise Mr. Saul for attempting different plot lines but would rather he scare the heck out of me rather than getting into the realm of religious historical fiction.

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For more than three decades, bestselling novelist John Saul has been summoning macabre masterpieces from the darkest realms of his imagination. With each new book, his instinct for playing upon our deepest dread has grown only stronger and more sinister. He?s never been afraid to push the boundaries of suspense and confront us with what frightens us most.

After his father?s untimely death sends fifteen-year-old Ryan McIntyre into an emotional tailspin, his mother enrolls him in St. Isaac?s Catholic boarding school, hoping the venerable institution with a reputation for transforming wayward teens can work its magic on her son. But troubles are not unknown even at St. Isaac, where Ryan arrives to find the school awash in news of one student?s violent death, another?s mysterious disappearance, and growing incidents of disturbing behavior within the hallowed halls.

Things begin to change when Father Sebastian joins the faculty. Armed with unprecedented knowledge and uncanny skills acquired through years of secret study, the young priest has been dispatched on an extraordinary and controversial mission: to prove the power of one of the Church?s most arcane sacred rituals, exorcism. Willing or not, St. Isaac?s most troubled students will be pawns in Father Sebastian?s one-man war against evil?a war so surprisingly effective that the pope himself takes notice of the seemingly miraculous events unfolding an ocean away.

But Ryan, drawn ever more deeply into Father Sebastian?s ministrations, sees?and knows?otherwise. As he witnesses with mounting dread the transformations of his fellow pupils, his certainty grows that forces of darkness, not divinity, are at work. Evil is not being cast out . . . something else is being called forth. Something that hasn?t stirred since the Inquisition?s reign of terror. Something nurtured through the ages to do its vengeful masters? unholy bidding. Something whose hour has finally come to bring hell unto earth.

From the Hardcover edition.

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