JOHN SAUL
PERFECT NIGHTMARE
Ballantine Books
Pub. Date: August 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-345-46731-0

John Saul moves into Thomas Harris country with his latest novel, PERFECT NIGHTMARE, about a sexual-psycho who kidnaps two teenagers and a single mom for some perverted games.

At the heart of the story are the Marshalls. Kara and Steve’s marriage is disintegrating because of his increased time spent at work. So to save the family, they decide to leave the idyllic Long Island, New York town of Camden Green to be closer to Steve’s job. Teenage daughter Lindsay, about to enter her senior year in high school, isn’t happy about the move, and makes life tough for her parents. But things get even tougher. During the open house at the Marshall residence, a maniac hides under Lindsay’s bed and, when the time is right, snatches the poor girl. Soon Lindsay finds herself gagged and bound to a chair in a dark chamber, about to become a member of a bizarre, captive family. The police think Lindsay is just another disgruntled teen runaway, but they change their minds when it’s discovered that two others have also been kidnaped after open houses. The newspapers dub the perp the Open House Ozzie (I know, kinda lame).

Getting through the first few dozen pages will be the most difficult part of reading PERFECT NIGHTMARE. From there the story picks up; though, if you are a savvy mystery reader, you should figure out the identity of the stalker by page 120. Saul throws in red herrings, but they can been seen for what they are.

The psycho’s first-person narration adds some eeriness to the story, and the third-person scenes of the psycho in action are often brutal and intense.

Despite its many faults, PERFECT NIGHTMARE does keep you turning pages, if only to answer that menacing question, “What’s gonna happen next?”