| Title | : | Creature |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0553284118 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780553284119 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 416 |
| Publication | : | First published May 1, 1989 |
| Awards | : | Evergreen Teen Book Award (1992) |
Creature Reviews
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This was my first "grown-up" book that wasn't by Michael Crichton (In 91 I never considered Jurassic Park to be adult...it was about DINOSAURS! And Sphere and the rest never registered as something for the older crowd.) I remember the day I got it from the Scholastic book sale (remember when the big box of books would come once a month and it was like Christmas?) newsletter in middle school. I loved it. It was gross, crass, disturbing, and better yet? Got me in trouble in high school! I performed a monologue from the book for the NC Christian Drama Competition and my score sheet, despite a high ranking on delivery and effectiveness, remained a low 3 out of 4 (lowest) for content which had, and I quote: "ABSOLUTELY No Taste!!!!!" I have never been so proud of a performance. I have had a soft sport for John Saul ever since.
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I remember being scared when I read this in middle school, less so when I re-read it in high school. Now, I FEEL like I just read a YA book, not a book meant for adult readers- WAS this an adult book? Its writing style surely was meant for younger readers. The story is a good yarn and you DO keep compulsively turning the pages, but the book feels...juvenile. Saul can do better than this, I think.
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This book was great.
I really got attached to Mark, the main character, who, in my opinion, is a perfect example of a shy, good male character. Most authors don't understand the thin (but still existing) line between a shy, good male character and a girl. He was a pretty much complex character thorn between his father's ambitions and his love for nature and animals. I felt sorry for him at the beginning, but as the story moved on, he became much more admirable than pitiable. On the other hand I hated almost every other male character than Mark. I don't know if it was the crazy town or if Saul wanted to point out that Mark was very different from the people around him, or he just wanted us to sympathize Mark only, but if that was Saul's intention, he captured it well.
Now, the writing could have been improved, and when I say that, I mean that it was great as long as you don't compare it with King's. It couldn't be called a page turner, but I can't say I wasn't interested in what was going to happen. It was average writing, with an interesting story and well made characters. One of my friends said that Saul is one of the best in the horror genre, and I can say I approve (even though I know she said that just to brag because she bought around 6 books by him that she didn't even bother to read... >.> ikr).
All that being said, this was a great read, I'm giving this book 5 stars, and I definitely will be reading more of Saul's books. -
Definitely not one of John Sauls better works. But if you are a fan of 'werewolf' or creature features, this is a MUST read.
Check out my video book review of this book here from my YouTube Channel; AreYouIntoHorror here:
https://youtu.be/m5VRIQWQHX4
I originally read this back in 1990, and did not like it at all, however now that I am older and thoughts have changed about what is creepy, scary or disturbing, I gave this a 3.4 star read. Saul has always been one of if not my favorite horror / suspense horror writers and this would have been and or seemed like his homage to the old 'Wolfman' and 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' movies that we grew up on.
Silverdale Colorado is a small and PERFECT town.....so perfect that their high school football and sports teams NEVER lose a game. The Tanner family move to Silverdale from Southern California due to 16 year old Mark's father has gotten a work promotion to work at Turren Tech, the company that owns most of and literally runs the town of Silverdale. Mark was stricken with a childhood illness that left him shorter and more weakened than other kids his age, and not being an outgoing young boy, he is the perfect victim of shool bullying......and I mean to the MAX! Once they move to Silverdale, and Mark's dad starts working, he is started to get bullied by his father and hassled to 'go out for sports, why not even the Football team!!?' Nope. Mark would rather take care of his rabbits and his large dog Chivas.....his lifelong best friend.
The football season opens for the fall year, and at the first game one of Silverdales teammates goes out of control and gets into a fight and injures another team mate so badly that the boy is put upon life support, and Mark and his mother start to notice everything is not normal and Perfect in Silverdale.
This book is very well written, and disturbing in parts of gruesome murders and of the depiction of the pathetic 'Creature' of its title. It deals with the extreme consequences of the use of Anabolic Steroids and growth hormones used in high school sports, which was extremely and widely used in the 80's and 90's. But this is taken to the point of creating monsters. It moves extremely fast and the pages fly as fast as you can turn them, however dont expect a horrifyingly creepy ghost story or serial killer in the making book as Saul was so expertly and well known for, this is a very sad and disturbing look at human evil and the acceptance in today's society. -
The small mountain town of Silverdale Colorado is perfect. A company town with perfect weather, perfect neighborly citizens, and the perfect high school with a perfect football team. It is to this perfect town, run by the corporate tech giant, Tarrentech, that the family of 16 year-old Mark Tanner moves; a promotion for his father and a chance to start again for Mark. Little does he know that such perfection comes at a cost. Due to a childhood sickness, Mark is now a short, skinny kid who avoids sports in favor of more scholarly pursuits but when faced with continual bullying from school, friends, and even his own dad, it becomes harder and harder to resist what the town, and the high school sports clinic has to offer.
I’ve tried two John Saul novels before and thought them “OK” but not particularly brag-worthy. But several of my Goodreads friends have been urging me not to give up on him and so I dug this one out of my vast home library of unread books and gave him another try. Happily, I can report that this one surprised me quite nicely, keeping me engaged throughout with good narrative story-building. The character of Mark, especially, was well done and I think I will remember him for a long time to come. It’s not fine literature by any means but what would you expect from a book titled, “Creature”?
Published in 1989, the plot of this novel makes full use of the dangers and fears of anabolic steroid abuse, vitamin enhancing therapies, etc. of the time. The novel takes things to extremes, of course, in order to create a truly horrifying story but just as in most good horror, it is the nature of humans and how we treat each other that is the real horror occurring. -
Is it just me or does John Saul, accomplished writer and selling author, write like freshman level creative writing?
I mean I don't expect great literature out of book called "Creature" with a picture of a football helmet on front containing dimly lit eyes, but still. I was rolling my eyes at many points of this book. It's the writing equivalent of a USA Up All Night movie. Also, I wonder if John Saul harbours a hatred towards woman. Very mysogynistic undertones in this book. Anyway, I read this over the course of a few nights and it's an ok story. It keeps you sort of interested in following its course to the end, but once I got there, I looked back over my metaphorical shoulder and said "Really! That's it!"...theirs 3 evenings I won't get back
Story 6/10...an interesting premise laid out in an impossibly juvenile way
Writing 3/10...barely holds together and is right out loud laughable at points
Recommend....no -
This was quick & easy read. The theme has been done many times in novels and on TV since this book was written in 1989. In fact, I would say you could find a kernel going back to Frankenstein!
Evil in the hearts of men come to the fore in the name of science, prestige, and prosperity in this seemingly idyllic town of Silverdale, CO.
Alert: I knew as soon as innocent animal characters were introduced that it would be a bad outcome for them. I hate that!!! I find it more difficult than when bad things happen to humans. What does that make me??! -
I loved this horror novel! Juiced up mutant high school football player experiments gone wrong and secret lab shenanigans. It screams 80's, so sign me up!
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De fiecare dată când se întâmplă să citesc un John Saul, ştiu că va fi cel mai probabil echivalentul unui film horror, eventual tinzând spre categoria B, o poveste care, fără a fi memorabilă, se va dovedi plăcută. Poate că John Saul – descoperit cu mulţi, mulţi ani în urmă, în paralel cu Serge Brussolo – nu este cel mai important autor de gen, nici măcar un scriitor de calibru, poate că a repetat de prea multe ori o reţetă epică de succes cu prea puţine variaţiuni, dar esenţial este că de fiecare dată un roman de John Saul „merge”. Un autor surprinzător de prolific, şi încă sunt departe de a putea spune că l-am citit integral. Dar dintre cărţile sale încercate până acum cel mai mult mi-a plăcut – cu un amestec de nostalgie şi interes pentru o poveste reuşită – Creatura. De câte ori văd coperta amuzant-grotescă a ediţiei vechi, publicată de RAO pe la jumătatea anilor 90, parcă m-aş întoarce în timp. Unii au văzut în această poveste tipic americană, cu destule clişee din filmele pentru adolescenţi în combinaţie cu SF-urile clasice ale anilor 50, un soi de replică dată celebrului Frankenstein. Alţii un John Saul apărut cu mult înainte ca autorul să se bucure de celebritatea de acum, un roman de început, uitând că Saul s-a bucurat de succes (comercial, cel puţin) surprinzător de repede. Genul de roman de tranziţie în căutarea stilului şi temei proprii. Recitindu-l recent şi comparându-l cu unele dintre celelalte cărţi ale autorului, îmi dau seama că această Creatură nu este cel mai bun titlu al autorului, dar este o poveste suficient de solidă – cu inerente stângăcii – şi o excelentă introducere în lumea lui John Saul. Un fel de prim pas recomandat.
http://cinabru.blogspot.ro/2012/08/jo... -
I want to start off this review by saying that I hadn't planned to read this book at all, but it so happened that I needed a light book to bring to highschool to read when I felt bored and I was kind of feeling the horror genre, so, naturally, I asked Mum – the biggest fan of horror content that I know. Originally, I asked her if she had Carrie in her library, but no luck. Instead, she recommended me John Saul's books, since she had a fair share of them. So, here I am.
First of all, I need to say that I had expected this book to be a little more scary, though I cannot deny its fair dose of creepiness. It wasn't frightening in the ghost-demon-evil entity; no, it was its almost realistic premise that send shivers down my spine. For those unfamiliar with the story, the main character and his family move to Silverdale – a perfect city where everything goes just right. Only... that it is too perfect. It is what happens behind the walls of Tarren Tech and Rocky Mountain High that builds the creepy factor of this story. Who would have thought that these so trusted institutes would
Everything I will be saying from now on is spoiler-material, so read at your own caution. So, as I was saying, the story is both chilling and thrilling because it uses the premise of experimenting on humans and what they become after this lab-rat game. The way the football team was acting on the field was concerning ever since the beginning, and the suggestion of their dangerous roughness was enhanced by the physical descriptions of abnormally big and muscular teen boys, capable of hurting their adversaries critically – thing that, ironically, happened in the second chapter. Not only did Jeff LaConner, the MVP of Silverdale's football team, send Rick Ramirez into a coma, but he also began transforming, becoming more and more dangerous as time passed by; he threatened and hurt Linda Harris after she cordially broke up with him, he pushed his mother, causing her to fall down and break an arm, and he beat Mark until he was barely breathing. With each and every single day, he became more and more agressive, though the changes were not only of psychological nature, but also physical – eyes deepening into the orbits of his head, jaw growing sharper, fingers elongating etc. And all of these changes were caused by the treatment he had undergone at the sportive clinic of Marty Ames.
Surprisingly or not, Blake Tanner, the father of our protagonist, signs Mark up to undergo the same treatment received by Jeff LaConner, not knowing the dark secret that laid behind it. You can all imagine what happened after – same fits of anger, same bloodthirst, same physical transformations. The hormones that were introduced in their bodies turned them into humanoid beasts that ressembled monkeys, but, of course, no one could know what happened to the boys. No one could find out what TarrenTech was doing behind closed doors. So, naturally, they liquidated anyone that tried to reveal scandalous information about their company – they sent Charlotte LaConner to the sanatorium, they killed Doctor MacCallum, they were about to get rid of Mark's mother too if she weren't to escape (though they had eventually killed her). They came up with stories for people's disappearances and, in the end, everyone bought it.
This is why the story is scary. It is frightening because of how easy people can be manipulated by a higher power. It is chilling because history proved that experimenting on humans was something that had actually happened. It is horrendous because we have no idea what happens behind closed doors. And this is why John Saul has done a great job writing this book. -
La criatura John saul
Tres estrellas y media
John saul es un autor que se destaca por contar historias algo grotescas de las cuales participan niños.
En la criatura la familia Tanner se muda a silverdale un pueblo bonito que se destaca por niños bien desarrollados y con una alimentación sana. La historia de centra en su personaje principal Mark , el típico adolescente estado unidense que quiere encajar en la escuela secundaria.
En tanto a la trama y su manejo , es atrapante, aunque en un principio no da indicios de una novela de horror, si no más bien de suspenso. El autor detalla bien la trama como si fuera una mini serie de los 80.
Si bien este libro no es de terror extremo me sumergió en una distopia, ¿dónde puede llegar la ciencia , la ética en tanto la medicina y lo que consumimos los seres humanos? A un nivel de un dr menguele moderno, Marty Ames un doctor increíblemente sin escrúpulos, con su empresa millonaria tapando y sometiendo a todo el pueblo a costa de ganancias y beneficios como si fuese una conspiración demoníaca en donde se esconde una trama que da mucho para pensar acerca de lo que consumimos y quiénes están detrás.
Los ajetreos , la desesperanza y la desesperación por los seres queridos de los niños sometidos a estos experimentos fue impactante, lo sentí en carne propia y fue lo que más me motivo a seguir con la lectura.
El final estuvo bien, con bastantes cosas inesperadas.
Es el segundo libro que leo del autor y seguiré con más , por qué la verdad me gustó muchísimo este libro. -
Corre la leyenda que esta novela duró en el mercado 2 meses y fue eliminada por las criticas tan duras que recibió al utilizar los niños como bestias (literalmente) Hoy en día no la veo para nada dura, aunque este ya más que curtido en mil batallas. Y en Saul no es nada sorprendente utilizar al niño como arma de terror, y hace bien, pues junto a los ancianos es el elemento más terrorífico que puedes encontrar. Y los gatos.
Miedo no da. Es más un tema de perturbación por algo que puede ser real y demasiado americano. En un pueblo, se mandan a familias con hijos para que trabajen los padres allí con buen salario. Así puede emplear los esteroides con sus hijos para volverlos auténticos deportistas y militares.
Como lees, este argumento es algo REAL en el sueño americano. Pues el uso de los esteroides anabólicos es muy común y bien visto. Allí ni se discute que haya la mínima posibilidad de su uso, se da por hecho.
Estos niños poco a poco y gracias al exceso de testosteronas se irán trasformando en mitad lo que se desea y restante NO. -
Creature by John Saul is one of those books that starts out slow as the author builds the storyline, but halfway though it picks up and becomes hard to put down, until the very last page with an unexpected ending. Saul is good at ending with a twist, and he’s also not afraid to kill off a character or two, often abruptly. No sentimentality there. I would give this book 3 1/2 stars because the ending packs a punch and makes up for the slow beginning.
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When Blake Tanner accepts a promotion at TarrenTech they relocate him to an idyllic company town nestled in the Rocky Mountain. The town is postcard perfect, maybe too perfect. The high school football team never loses. The players are perfect specimens of health and athleticism. It seems the team’s sports clinic holds the key, but a sense of unnerving dread slowly begins to build as the perfect facade begins to fall away and expose a horror beyond imagining.
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Decent read
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I remember reading this somewhere during 8th grade, everybody was reading John Saul, Dean Koontz and Stephen King, I called it The Dark Trinity. Although Koontz tends to have happier endings, Saul was darker in his endings and I always wonder why do the children have to suffer? But I remember this book from way back and it's kinda short and it was a creepy read and loved it at the time of my creep fest LOL. Dark and enjoyable for those who love to read in the shadows.
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I had this as a required reading in early high school and really loved it. it seemed way more intense back then, and when I bought it i was hoping it would still evoke the same feelings. unfortunately it didn’t, and felt more like it targeted young adults. i very much enjoyed it and it had me gasping at parts I had forgotten, but wasn’t as good as I thought it would be.
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2.5.
A middling potboiler creature feature that isn't bad enough to be entertaining, nor good enough to be worth recommending. In every way it's a product of the '80s horror paperback boom that spawned it. -
I found the book very enjoyable and a page-turner, with likable characters. The writing is a bit dry, and the book feels like it goes on forever as it wraps up, but it’s still worth the read.
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This was the first John Saul novel I ever read, and it still holds up 25 years later. If you want to know what happens when you try to improve on Mother Nature, Saul reminds us of the awesome (or awful) consequences.
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I’ve read this book many times over the years and I was presently surprised that I had forgotten so many of the details. It made the reading just as suspenseful for me. It has been years since I read it last, but every time I pick up the book it’s like driving back into Silverdale to hangout with the Tanners in this almost too perfect little town.
To me John Saul is a classic horror, suspense, and thriller author. Seeing as how this book was published the year 1989, I guess it is an honest classic. I just really like how he writes. He builds the suspense in a scene and then changes scenes at just the right moment. He keeps the thrill up by revealing just enough horror as you go. His world building and character building are really good. You feel like you’re really in Silverdale, walking the streets, cheering on the amazing football team; an almost too perfect football team. I also love that John Saul pits technology and nature or nature and the paranormal against one another in his books. This is another reason I think his books are classics.
This book will always hold a special place in my heart because it was the first “grownup” chapter book I ever read.
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Oct. 2013 Review:
Mr. Saul kept me going with this book! I didn't want to put it down! I first read it in high school and then again last year. The storyline of this book is amazing. There are many twists in the book that will keep you going and wondering what will happen next! Such a great read! -
2+ stars I guess.... This book was recommended by a friend, usually my taste aligns with hers, not this time.
My first thought was that this book was written for a juvenile audience, until the animals heads started getting ripped off. It wasn't really deep and didn't speak to me.
I liked the main characters allright. Mark and Sharon and Kelly I didn't like Blake and I didn't like any of the family dynamics. The mothers just going along with what the men of the family say regardless of their own feelings. The women helpless and can't hold their ground. Lame.
I liked the mutation and experimental portion of the book. I didn't like how the story gets very graphic and violent towards animals.
Which I don't get bothered by things like that in novels. I love Stephen King, but John Saul did it so frequently and tastelessly.
The weirdest part of this book was the fact that it felt like a book for a kid, then suddenly disgusting harsh murders. It was about a high school football team and the book felt like it was to simple written and for a young adult group which I didn't find entertaining then half ways through at the drop of a hat it goes into teens killing and ripping up animals by the throats, which I just didn't get.
It's long, and everyone dies. I hate that sort of ending in a book.
With all my complaints it was an allright story and for the most part I wanted to see what was going to happen next but now I'm glad it's over. -
A powerful high tech company has started a side project in Silverdale, which is a postcard pretty town; only it is just too perfect. An experimental project is being done in e town which transforms small boys into huge strong boys. Marty Ames, the scientist conducting the experiment doesn't know the true extent of what the growth hormone he gives to the boys does, and the experiment has its flaws. Three boys in Silverdale turn ino the monsters and only one of them survives in the mountains outside of town.
The book doesn't end the story completely. There are still some loose ends. At the end, Marty Ames dies and so does. Phil Collins (the head of the football team) and talks of only one incident when Mark comes down from the mountains & hugs s sister and his girlfriend and goes back to his shelter. But Saul says nothing of what finally becomes of Silverdale after the head of the experiment project, and the coach is dead. -
The ending is good, and funny/stupid, and Saul's interpretation of the semi-colon's function is frequently creative. But this is a bad book. The best thing I can say about this book is, I got it very cheaply at HPB but it had never been read and I kept sticking my face in it and smelling the pages. The book is bad, yes, but also somehow comforting. If you took out a hundred pages of pointless exposition and shaved down some of the more egregiously redundant prose, it would be like a cool pulp story with a good, stupid, funny ending. But that's the difference between borderline-entertaining airport novels and good pulp fiction. I would watch a movie of this if it was made in 1996 and featured Craig Wasson as blandly evil Dr. Martin Ames, or blandly complicit football coach Phil Collins, or even blandly hapless sad beta dad Blake Tanner.
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I read this book as a child and spent years searching for it again. I recently rediscovered it and was thrilled to reread it. Though not exactly as I remembered it, it is indeed the book I remember from my youth.
Silverdale, Colorado is almost too good to be true, especially the high school football team. The boys are bigger and stronger than most kids, and the sports center they use for training is state of the art. But is the training and vitamin regimen the doctor has them on really harmless?
I definitely had to keep in mind the time frame when this was written, as much of what happened would never fly the way it did these days. It was still an enjoyable read. -
Saul is always good for a b horror story, and this is a good one. Typically Saul, a family with two teenagers moves to a small town in Colorado for a new job. The town is basically owned by the corporation the father works for. The teenage son is short and nerdy, in part due to a childhood illness that stunted his growth. While the town seems to be just about perfect, something strange is going on in the athletic training facility run by the company. We have our typical mad doctor running experiments with the local boys, making them into football superstars, but there are some side effects and it gets ugly.
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Creature, by John Saul, was a fun horror story about a town that appears to be too perfect and reveals the malignant machinations going on behind the scenes. I particularly enjoyed that John Saul would write a person's first and last name several times in the book, which allowed me to follow the characters in the book effortlessly. The ending held a surprising death or two, but it also left me a little sad.
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book choice for Saul group.
Isolated town. Newcomer family. Football team that never loses. Sports center funded by a wealthy company. Experiments on kids.
Nothing new but Saul tells the story so well I'm giving him 4 stars. Won't he be thrilled? I also teared up at the end! And who the hell cries over a horror story? Niiiiiice. (bumps fist with Chia)
