[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/johnsaul1.jpg]]

John Saul (born February 25, 1942) is an American author from California, specializing in suspense and horror novels akin to Creator/DeanKoontz and Creator/StephenKing.

A lot of Saul's books tend to be a little...[[SameStoryDifferentNames repetitive]], especially in his earlier works. Therefore many tropes apply to ''all'' his novels, frequently in the same context every time.

The man has an official website, which can be reached [[http://www.johnsaul.com/ here]].

He ultimately retired after publishing thirty-one books.

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!!Bibliography:

* ''Literature/SufferTheChildren'' (1977)
* ''[[Literature/PunishTheSinners Punish the Sinners]]'' (1978)
* ''[[Literature/CryForTheStrangers Cry for the Strangers]]'' (1979)
* ''Literature/ComesTheBlindFury'' (1980)
* ''[[Literature/WhenTheWindBlows When the Wind Blows]]'' (1981)
* ''Literature/TheGodProject'' (1982)
* ''Literature/{{Nathaniel}}'' (1984)
* ''Literature/{{Brainchild}}'' (1985)
* ''[[Literature/HellfireJohnSaul Hellfire]]'' (1986)
* ''Literature/TheUnwanted'' (1987)
* ''Literature/TheUnloved'' (1988)
* ''Literature/{{Creature}}'' (1989)
* ''Literature/SecondChild'' (1990)
* ''Literature/{{Sleepwalk}}'' (1991)
* ''[[Literature/DarknessJohnSaul Darkness]]'' (1991)
* ''Literature/{{Shadows}}'' (1992)
* ''Literature/{{Guardian}}'' (1993)
* ''Literature/TheHoming'' (1994)
* ''Literature/BlackLightning'' (1995)
* ''Literature/TheBlackstoneChronicles'' (adapted into ''VideoGame/BlackstoneChronicles''):
** ''An Eye for an Eye: The Doll'' (1996)
** ''Twist of Fate: The Locket'' (1997)
** ''Ashes to Ashes: The Dragon's Flame'' (1997)
** ''In the Shadow of Evil: The Handkerchief'' (1997)
** ''Day of Reckoning: The Stereoscope'' (1997)
** ''Asylum'' (1997)
* ''Literature/ThePresence'' (1998)
* ''[[Literature/TheRightHandOfEvil The Right Hand of Evil]]'' (1999)
* ''[[Literature/NightshadeJohnSaul Nightshade]]'' (2000)
* ''Literature/TheManhattanHuntClub'' (2001)
* ''Literature/MidnightVoices'' (2002)
* ''Literature/BlackCreekCrossing'' (2003)
* ''Literature/PerfectNightmare'' (2005)
* ''[[Literature/InTheDarkOfTheNight In the Dark of the Night]]'' (2006)
* ''[[Literature/TheDevilsLabyrinth The Devil's Labyrinth]]'' (2007)
* ''[[Literature/FacesOfFear Faces of Fear]]'' (2008)
* ''[[Literature/HouseOfReckoning House of Reckoning]]'' (2009)

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!!Tropes commonly found in his works:

* AcademyOfEvil: ''Punish The Sinners'' features St. Francis Xavier High School, where events transpire to drive the students to suicide.
* AbandonedHospital: ''The Blackstone Chronicles'' revolves around an abandoned mental hospital, where evil happened.
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: ''The Devil's Labyrinth'' and ''Punish the Sinners''.
* CreepyChild: Website/ThatOtherWiki quotes Saul as saying "I always find ... that when you have a scary scene, it broadens the scope of possibilities if you have children involved."
* EvilutionaryBiologist: ''The God Project'', ''Creature'' and ''Brainchild''.
* ExactlyExtyYearsAgo: The prologue to nearly ''every'' Saul book is a scene from 20, 30, 50, or 100 years ago explaining the origins of the evil to follow (the prologue is often even labelled "X Years Ago"). The book then jumps to the present.
* FollowTheLeader: ''The Blackstone Chronicles'', a SerialNovel, was published less than a year after Creator/StephenKing's Serial Novel ''Literature/TheGreenMile'' became a runaway success.
* GenreBlindness: Most of the main characters, with a healthy dose of ItsProbablyNothing and ArbitrarySkepticism thrown in.
* HereditaryCurse: Again, lots of 'em.
* HereWeGoAgain: The epilogues of many of Saul's books take place [[ExactlyExtyYearsAgo Exactly Exty Years From Now]] and indicate that the same situation we just witnessed is about to play out again in exactly the same way.
* IndianBurialGround: With a small twist in ''When The Wind Blows''.
* MadScientistsBeautifulDaughter: Stepdaughter in the case of Alison in ''Faces of Fear''. At least, she's going to be beautiful after the MadScientist surgically alters her to be his ReplacementGoldfish.
* MagicalNativeAmerican: The entire non-white cast of ''When The Wind Blows''. No one can say they didn't ''try'' to warn the townsfolk...
* ReplacementGoldfish: Attempted in ''When the Wind Blows'' and ''Faces of Fear'' (in which plastic surgeon Conrad Dunn attempts to use his skills to turn his stepdaughter Alison into a physical duplicate of his deceased first wife).
* ScienceIsBad: This is used in ''The God Project'' and ''Brainchild''.
* TownWithADarkSecret: Saul uses this trope so frequently, it would be easier to list the books that don't use this!

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