The Blackstone Chronicles

The quaint little town of Blackstone, New Hampshire has never truly had much excitement. The community was always very simple, a basic town at best. However, one thing that set Blackstone apart was the historical mental institution that gazed down upon the city from the highest hill in Blackstone. However, as times change, the out-of-date asylum is simply wasting space, and a new renovation project plans to demolish the old stone building to make way for a shopping center. As the plans for the destruction of the asylum advance, inexplicable events begin to occur, as the terrors of just what went on in that asylum begin to reveal themselves. What better setting for a series of horror novels?

The author of this series, John Saul, is no stranger to terrifying his readers. Many of his books have appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list, including the Blackstone Chronicles. His writing style is unique, particularly the way he chooses to use details. He describes events in just the right amount of detail to inform you, without boring you. The Blackstone Chronicles are fairly short books, absolutely perfect for a lite, thrilling read.

The plot of each individual book revolves around a member of the Blackstone community receiving a peculiar gift from an unknown person. Each one of these gifts somehow relates to one of the atrocities that occurred at the Blackstone asylum, and causes extreme, psychological conflicts for the person who was unlucky enough to receive it. Each novel reveals just a little bit more about the morbid history of the asylum, and gives you a perspective of what life was like for the unfortunate people who were trapped there.

You have the option of buying each novel individually, or purchasing them all in one book. Each version presents the same stories. In addition to the books, their popularity also attracted a video game company who released the chronicles as a game.

The novels are not "horror-genius", but they are quite entertaining. The reader shouldn't expect to be terrified to the brink of insanity by any means, but more spooked. You won't lose sleep at night from terror, but you will enjoy reading 6 well written novels.