Maxima Library

The dark history and dire secrets of a peaceful small town are summoned from the shadows of the past. Unholy forces are stirred from long slumber to monstrous new life. And two young misfits discover the chillingart of turning persecution into retribution. With these eerie ingredients, bestselling master John Saul once again works his unique brand of sinister magic to conjure an unforgettable tale of unspeakableterror.

For most of her young life, thirteen-year-old Angel Sullivan has been on the outside looking in, enduring the taunts of cruel schoolmates and the angry abuse of a bitter father. ThenAngel's family moves to the quaint town of Roundtree, Massachusetts-where a charming home is available, a promising job awaits Angel's unemployed father, and most of all, the chance to make anew start beckons to the shy, hopeful teenager. But when she is shunned by her new classmates, Angel falls deeper into despair. Until she meets Seth Baker, a fellow outcast-and a fateful kinship is forged.

It's Seth who tells Angel the unspoken truth about the legacy of murder that hangs over her family's home-and the whispered rumors that something supernatural still dwellsthere. Uncertain whether the stories are true, and desperate to escape the torment of their daily lives, Angel and Seth devote themselves to contacting whatever restless soul haunts the dark recesses of Black CreekCrossing. But once they have begun, there is no turning back.

Guided by an anguished and vengeful spirit, they uncover the shocking events and centuries-old horrors that lay buried beneath the placidveneer of Roundtree. And along with the ghastly revelations comes a terrifying power-one that feeds upon the rage of the victimized, turning the basest impulses and most dangerous desires into devastatingweapons. Now, the closer Angel and Seth are pushed toward the edge by their tormentors, the deeper they descend into the maelstrom of dark forces they've unleashed… and the more unspeakable the hour ofreckoning will be.

John Saul knows how to make the blood run cold and the heart race wild with fear. Now the author of the New York Times bestsellers Creature and The Homing delivers his most chilling novel yet, a gripping story of a convicted serial killer sentenced to death--and hell-bent on revenge. For five years Seattle has been seized in the terrifying grip of a monster as black as evil itself: a sadistic serial killer who methodically lures his victims to grisly deaths in order to satisfy a twisted passion. For five years journalist Anne Jeffers has pursued this horrifying story like a woman obsessed--following the killer's capture, trial and appeal--crusading to keep the wheels of justice churning toward the electric chair, never believing the prisoner's steadfast denials of guilt. Now the day of execution has come. A convicted killer will meet his end. Anne believes her five-year nightmare is over. Until, within days, a similar murder stuns the city, forcing Anne to face some disturbing questions: Was the wrong man put to death? And is she to blame? Or did he have an accomplice who longs to continue a bloody legacy? Is a copycat killer at work? But how could any imitator so uncannily re-create all the gruesome hallmarks of a murderer's modus operandi, details kept completely secret from all but the police? As the murderer stalks his next victims, creeping ever closer to her, Anne cannot help but feel an icy unease, a haunting sense of connection to these unspeakable crimes. And, relentlessly, she hears the eerie echo of the dead man's last words to her: "Today won't end it. How will you feel, Anne? When I'm dead, and it all starts again, how will you feel?" In Black Lightning, John Saul strikes with a novel as electrifying as a jagged bolt from a pitch-dark sky, proving once again his inimitable genius for suspense. From the Hardcover edition.

Alex Lonsdale was one of the most popular kids in La Paloma, California. Until the horrifying car accident. Until a brilliant doctor's medical miracle brought him back from the brink of death. Now, Alex seems the same. but in his eyes there is a blankness. In his hear there is coldness. If his parents, his friends, his girlfriend could see inside his brain, inside his dreams, they would be terrified. One hundred years ago in La Paloma, a terrible deed was done. A cry for vengeance pierced the night. That evil still lives. That vengeance still waits. Waits for Alex Lonsdale. Waits for the...

John Saul is an American author. His horror and suspense novels appear regularly on the New York Times Best Seller List.

A child cries out. . in torment-in terror. From out of the past, from outof the mists, a terrible vengeance is born.

A powerful high-tech company. A postcard-pretty company town. Families. Children. Sunshine. Happiness. A high school football team that never-ever loses. And something else. Something horrible… Now, there is a new family in town. A shy, nature-loving teenager. A new hometown. A new set of bullies. Maybe the team's sports clinic can help him. Rebuild him. They won't hurt him again. They won't dare.

Clark's Harbor was the perfect coastal haven, jealously guarded against outsiders. But now strangers have come to settle there. And a small boy is suddenly free of a frenzy that had gripped him since birth… His sister is haunted by fearful visions… And one by one, in violent, mysterious ways the strangers are dying. Never the townspeople. Only the strangers. Has a dark bargain been struck between the people of Clark's Harbor and some supernatural force? Or is it the sea itself calling out for a human sacrifice? A howling, deadly…

Villejeune, Florida. A secluded little town at the edge of a vast, eerie swamp. Far from prying eyes. Far from the laws of civilization. Here folks live by their own rules — dark rites of altars and infants, candles and blood.

Years ago the Andersons left town with a dream. Now they are back. To live out a nightmare. Something has been waiting for them. Something unspeakably evil. It feeds on the young and the innocent. And soon it will draw their teenage daughter into its unholy embrace….

Fifteen-year-old Alison Shaw may not be beautiful, but she doesn’t really care: She’d much rather read a good book than primp in front of a mirror. But Alison’s gorgeous mother, Risa, knows that beauty can be a key to success and wishes only the best for her daughter–a wish that may come true after Risa marries widowed plastic surgeon Conrad Dunn. Conrad claims that he can turn Alison into a vision of loveliness, so the teenager reluctantly agrees to undergo the first procedure. Then Alison discovers a picture of Conrad’s first wife and notes, to her horror, a resemblance between the image in the photo and the work her stepfather is doing on her. Though, Risa refuses to acknowledge the strange similarities, Alison digs further into her stepfather’s murky past, uncovers dark secrets and even darker motives–and realizes that her worst fears are fast becoming reality.

Der junge Michael Sundquist und seine Mutter Katharine, eine Anthropologin, übersiedeln für einige Monate nach Hawaii, wo Katharine durch Vermittlung ihres ehemaligen Studienkollegen Rob einen interessanten Auftrag erhalten hat: Auf der Insel wurde das Skelett eines Frühmenschen gefunden, was allen bisherigen wissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen über die Besiedelung widerspricht. Katharines Auftraggeber ist ein japanischer Industrieller, der ein unerklärliches Interesse an diesen Forschungen hat. Während Katharine via Internet versucht, weitere Informationen zu diesem Rätsel zu bekommen und dabei auf ein unerklärliches Video stößt, das den ehemaligen Besitzer des Skeletts, eine Art Affenmenschen, ganz lebendig zeigt, macht Michael einen Tauchkurs und findet Freunde im Leichtathletikteam seiner neuen Schule. Eines Nachts leihen sich die Jungen heimlich Tauchgeräte aus und unternehmen einen Tauchgang, der fast dramatisch endet, weil ihnen die Luft ausgeht. Die Jungen können sich retten, doch kurz darauf stirbt einer von ihnen an Atemschwäche. Offenbar sind alle Teilnehmer, unter ihnen auch Michael, von einer rätselhaften Krankheit befallen, an der bereits mehrere junge Sportler starben: sie können nur noch in einer Atmosphäre überleben, die für normale Menschen tödlich wäre. Ist die Ursache die geheimnisvolle Kristalldruse, die Taucher aus dem Lavaboden am Meeresgrund geborgen haben? Oder sind Yoshikawas Experimente mit den >Affenmenschen< tragisch fehlgeschlagen?

The old mill has been silent for a hundred years, its dread secrets locked from view. Still, the people of Westover, Massachusetts, remember… and whisper of that terrible day when horrifying flames claimed eleven innocent young lives. The day the mill's doors slammed shut-forever.

But now, the last of the once-powerful Sturgess family is about to unlock those doors again… and unleash an elemental fury. For behind the padlocks, deep within the dark, abandoned building, a terrible vengeance waits. A vengeance conceived in HELLFIRE.

Summer vacation becomes a season in hell for an ordinary family who unwittingly stir something invisible, insidious, and insatiable from its secret slumber — unleashing a wave of horror only the darkest evil could create, that only a master of spine-tingling terror like John Saul could orchestrate. For deep in the shadows in the dark of the night lurks something as big as life… and as real as death.

It has waited seven years for someone to come back to the rambling lakeside house called Pinecrest, which has stood empty since its last owner went missing. For upscale Chicago couple Dan and Merrill Brewster, the old midwestern manse is an ideal retreat, and for their kids, Eric and Marci, it’s the perfect place to spend a lazy summer exploring. Which is how Eric and his teenage friends discover the curious cache of discarded objects stowed in a hidden room of Pinecrest’s carriage house. The bladeless hacksaws, shadeless lamps, tables with missing legs, headless axe handle, and other unremarkable items add up to a pile of junk. Yet someone took the trouble to inventory each worthless relic in a cryptic ledger. It has all the makings of a great mystery — whispering, coaxing, demanding to be solved.

But the more the boys devote themselves to restoring the forgotten possessions and piecing together the puzzle behind them, the more their fascination deepens into obsession. Soon their days are consumed with tending the strange, secret collection — while their nights become plagued by ever more ghastly dreams, nightmares that soon seep into reality. And when a horrifying discovery surfaces, so does the chilling truth — about the terrifying events that rocked the town seven years before, the mysterious disappearance of Pinecrest’s last resident, and a twisted legacy with a malevolent life of its own… and a bottomless hunger for new victims.

The sudden, tragic death of her husband leaves Caroline Evans alone in New York City to raise her children with little money and even less hope. When she meets and marries handsome, successful Anthony Fleming, the charismatic man of her dreams, she believes her life is destined for happiness. She and her children move into her new husband’s spacious apartment in the legendary Rockwell on Central Park West. Despite her son’s instinctive misgivings about the building and its residents, Caroline dismisses the odd behavior of her neighbors as pleasant eccentricities. But after her daughter begins to experience horrifying nightmares and a startling secret emerges, Caroline realizes that the magnificence of her new home masks a secret of unimaginable horror…

For a hundred years, the people of Prairie Bend have whispered Nathaniel's name in wonder and fear. Some say he is a folktale, created to frighten children on cold winter nights. Some swear he is a terrifying spirit returned to avenge the past. But soon… very soon… some will learn that Nathaniel lives still-that he is darkly, horrifyingly real. Nathaniel-he is the voice that calls to young Michael Hall across the prairie night… the voice that draws the boy into the shadowy depths of the old, crumbling, forbidden barn… that chanting, compelling voice he will follow faithfully beyond the edge of terror.

Fifteen-year-old Matthew Moore seems to have a charmed life. . until a mysterious fire forces his grandmother to move in with his family. The elderly woman insists on recreating the bedroom of Cynthia, her favored child who died tragically more than a decade ago. Soon Matt's life insidiously begins to change. At night he finds himself haunted by nightmares of unimaginable terror. In the morning the smell of Cynthia's perfume seems to linger in his room. While his grandmother drives a wedge between his once devoted parents, Matt transforms from a gregarious teenager to a hostile loner. Then a shocking tragedy shatters the family beyond repair-as a horrific shadow from the past takes on an implacable life of its own, clawing toward Matt with ferocious hunger. .

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 invaded her room when the house was opened to prospective buyers — drives Kara to fear the worst: a nameless, faceless stalker has walked the halls of her home in search of more than a place to live.

Patrick Shields recognizes Kara’s pain — and carries plenty of his own since he lost his wife and two children in a devastating house fire. But more than grief draws Patrick and Kara together. He, too, senses the hand of a malevolent stranger in this tragedy. And as more people go missing from houses up for sale, 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. Someone Kara and Patrick, alone and desperate, are determined to unmask. Someone who is even now watching, plotting, keeping a demented diary of unspeakable deeds… and waiting until the time is ripe for another fateful visit.

They call it the Academy. A secluded, cliff-top mansion overlooking the rugged Pacific coast. A school for children gifted — or cursed — with extraordinary minds. Children soon to come under the influence of an intelligence even more brilliant than their own — and unspeakably evil. For within this mind a dark plan is taking form. A plan so horrifying, no one will believe it. No one but the children. And for them it is already too late. Too late, unless one young student can resist the seductive invitation that will lead… into the

Shadows

.

An Exorcist Reverses the Mysterious Art Summoning Evil Instead of Driving It Out

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. 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. 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.

But Ryan sees and knows otherwise. As he witness 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.

Falsely convicted of a brutal crime, college student Jeff Converse sees his future vanishing before his eyes. But someone has other plans for Jeff, in a far deadlier place than any penitentiary. Jeff finds himself beneath the teeming streets of Manhattan, in a hidden landscape of twisting tunnels and forgotten subterranean chambers. Here, an invisible population of the homeless, the desperate, and the mad has carved out its own shadow society. But they are not alone. For someone has made this forsaken civilization a private killing ground. Now, with no weapon but his wits, and an unimaginable threat lurking around every dark corner, Jeff must somehow move heaven and earth to escape from a living hell…

It is an offer anthropologist Katharine Sundquist cannot refuse. A chance to study the unusual skeletal remains unearthed on the volcanic flanks of Haleakala, Maui. Yet for Katharine's sixteen-year-old son, Michael, the sudden move is jarring. It's the last thing he needs while struggling with the still painful death of his father. And here, beyond the sparkling beaches, masked by the deceptive beauty of the rainforest, a terrible danger waits. It begins with a video transmission so shocking that Katharine cannot believe what flashes on her computer screen — then instantly, inexplicably, vanishes. Secret deliveries in the dead of the night to a restricted wing of the high-tech laboratory in which she works signal that behind locked doors some sinister experiment is unfolding. And then, with the sudden, unexplained death of Michael's friend, a disturbing truth dawns: the corporation that is funding Katharine's dig has a far greater investment than she has imagined — an investment in medical terror. And her son may be part of their hideous grand plan.

1.0 — конвертация, форматирование — alaskin

John Saul has been giving readers the jitters since the publication of Suffer the Children in 1977. His 22nd twisted tale, The Right Hand of Evil is another nerve shaker.

The Conway family is in deep financial trouble. Ted Conway would rather knock back bourbon than support his family, and Janet Conway's career as an artist is going nowhere. Happily, the three Conway children-toddler Molly and 15-year-old twins Jared and Kimberley-seem well adjusted. Of course happy children to not make for good horror material, so dark times are just around the corner.

Ted receives an unexpected call from a Louisiana sanatorium, where his aged Aunt Cora is dying. Cora wants to convey a final message to her only surviving family members. She rasps out the ominous words, "I can see it. Stay away! Stay away from here!" Her words are futile-the financially strapped Ted moves his family into Cora's old house, a house deeded to them in a family trust.

Young Kimberley instantly feels a dark presence in the dilapidated Victorian house: "Suddenly her skin was crawling, as if a large insect were creeping across her neck." Tragedy upon tragedy strikes the family. Kim's beloved cat disappears and is sacrificed in a black-magic ceremony; an evil presence takes over Jared's mind-transforming him into the most rotten of bad seeds; the wails of a dead infant fill Kim's head, driving her to the edge of insanity. The family has fallen victim to a centuries-old curse-a curse that threatens to wipe out the Conway name.

Although there is nothing particularly original or earth shattering about this haunted-house story, The Right Hand of Evil is still a welcome piece of escapism. Read it at your peril.