{"product_id":"in-the-dark-of-the-night-isbn-9780345487025","title":"In the Dark of the Night","description":"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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut 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.In the Dark of the Night is John Saul’s thirty-third novel. His first novel, Suffer the Children, published in 1977, was an immediate million-copy bestseller. His other bestselling suspense novels include Perfect Nightmare, Black Creek Crossing, Midnight Voices, The Manhattan Hunt Club, Nightshade, The Right Hand of Evil, The Presence, Black Lightning, The Homing, and Guardian. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling serial thriller The Blackstone Chronicles, initially published in six installments but now available in one complete volume. Saul divides his time between Seattle, Washington, and Hawaii. Join John Saul’s fan club at www.johnsaul.com.CHAPTER 1\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    The hands on the classroom clock were crawling far too slowly toward the  weekend. Eric Brewster fidgeted in his seat as Mr. Smallwood reiterated  the English assignment, but Eric wasn’t paying much attention. Everybody  in class—everybody in school—had spring fever, including the teacher, and  Eric was certain that nobody intended to do much homework, any more than  Mr. Smallwood expected it would get done. Not tonight, not this weekend,  not next week, which was the last week of school before summer vacation.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    When the bell rang, Eric was out of his seat, out the door, dodging  fast-moving bodies as he made his way to his locker to dump his books.  Long summer evenings weren’t made for studying, and he was already  thinking about the possibilities when Kent Newell started working the  combination to the locker next to his. Which meant that Tad Sparks, the  third member of the triad that had formed in kindergarten and was still  thriving in the next to last year of high school, wouldn’t be far behind.  When any two of them were together, the third was sure to be close by.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Except in summer, when the Newells and the Sparkses headed for rented  summer houses in Wisconsin, while the Brewsters sweated it out in  Evanston, just barely north of Chicago, and, where they lived, not quite  close enough to Lake Michigan to catch whatever cool breeze the water  might conjure up. But maybe this summer would be different. This summer  his parents were looking for a summer rental, too. Of course, so far the  looking had proved futile. It seemed every house at Phantom Lake had been  rented months ago, and the ugly possibility that he might be stuck without  his friends for another summer was starting to seem like an even uglier  reality.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    As usual, Kent Newell read his mind. “Your folks find a house yet?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eric shook his head, and memories of the single week he and his parents  had spent at the lake with Kent’s family last summer rose up to taunt him:  fishing, swimming, waterskiing all day; barbecuing fresh trout or steaks  outside in the evening while pretending the mosquitoes weren’t nearly as  bad as they were. Walking into town after supper to get an ice cream cone  or just hang out ogling the local girls. Eric had loved it all, and so had  his parents, even though all they’d done was sit around in chairs on the  lawn or on the dock in front of the Newells’ house, just talking.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    But this year, with a lot of convincing from Kent’s mom, his parents had  decided they should rent a house of their own for the summer. At least,  Eric’s father was convinced.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    His mother was a different story. All she kept talking about was how  nervous she’d be, all alone in a house in the middle of the woods. Except  that it wouldn’t be the middle of the woods. It would be on the lake. And  she wouldn’t be all alone at all. He’d be there, and his sister Marci  would be there, and every weekend his father would be there, too.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    If his mother stopped dragging her heels, that is, and actually found them  a house.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We’re going up on the twenty-second this year,” Kent said. “Your mom’s  got to find a place, and she needs to do it quick.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eric nodded. “Yeah.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Tad Sparks arrived then, and was greeted with one of Kent’s arm punches,  which had grown more painful over the last year, since Kent had spurted  past six feet and put on twenty pounds, all of which was muscle. “This is  the summer,” Kent said, grinning slyly at Tad. “I can feel it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Feel what?” Tad said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “You’re gonna get laid, man. You’re finally going to do it!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Tad’s face reddened as he followed Eric out into the already humid  midwestern afternoon.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Those girls up at the lake are just waiting for you,” Kent went on,  nudging Eric. “I mean, they are going to be hot for you this year. And  Eric’s gotta be there when you finally give it up, so we’ve got to get his  mom in gear. I mean, there’s got to be one house left, doesn’t there? A  cancellation or something?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “But it’s got to be in The Pines,” Tad said. “You’ve got to make sure it’s  in The Pines.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eric sighed. “Right now I don’t care where it is, just so it’s close to  you guys.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “Which means The Pines,” Kent said, rolling his eyes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “We’ll go fishing,” Tad said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “You’ll dance naked with girls,” Kent added, winking at Eric. “There’s a  dance every Friday night in the pavilion. If Tad can’t get laid there,  there’s no help for him at all.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eric groaned. “So far all Mom says is she can’t find anything. Except I’ve  got a feeling she’s not really trying.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Kent Newell’s brows arched, and his voice dropped to a conspiratorial  level. “Ah, but you see, I’ve got an ace in the hole.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eric eyed him. “Yeah? What?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “My mom,” Kent declared. “She knows some people up there. Hell, she knows  everybody up there. And believe me, if there’s a place at The Pines,  she’ll find it. And she’ll talk your mom into taking it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    They paused at the corner. “I gotta get home,” Tad said. “See you guys  later.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    “I’m going to go work out,” Kent said to Eric. “Want to go to the gym?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eric hesitated, then shook his head, his good mood now long gone. If his  mother was scared about being up in Wisconsin without his father during  the week, then that would be that. And given that his mother was scared of  practically everything, the possibility that she’d wind up just refusing  to go even if someone did find them a house was all too real. “I think  I’ll just go home, too,” he said.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Once again Kent read his mood. “Ah, who needs the gym,” he said, clapping  Eric on the shoulder. “Let’s grab a Coke, then go over to my house and see  if my mom’s found your folks a house yet.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Eric shrugged. Better to hang with Kent right now than go home, where he  might well be stuck with his ten-year-old sister all summer, once again  spending endless days mowing and trimming the lawn while his mom went out  to lunch with her friends and his father worked and Marci would stick to  him like glue, constantly asking her ten-year-old’s questions while he was  thinking his sixteen-year-old’s thoughts.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    While his friends were at Phantom Lake, fishing and swimming and  waterskiing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    And getting laid.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Without him.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    Falling in beside Kent, Eric felt the summer already slipping away even  though it hadn’t yet actually begun.Author of The Devil's Labyrinth National bestseller","brand":"Ballantine Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46301818749157,"sku":"NP9780345487025","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780345487025.jpg?v=1767729958","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/in-the-dark-of-the-night-isbn-9780345487025","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}