Perfect Nightmare: A Novel
John Saul
Language: English
Pages: 384
ISBN: 0345467329
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
If you open your house to strangers, who knows who might come in. And what they might be after. Or whom. Now, ponder the unthinkable and surrender to your darkest dread, as sinister storyteller extraordinaire John Saul weaves a heart-stopping tale of lurking terror and twisted intent.
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.
From the Hardcover edition.
empty now except for the three of them. “Fishburn’s?” Mark nodded. “Meet you there. I have to lock up, so order me a cold one.” Alone, he’d gone through the rooms one last time, turning out all the lights, checking to see that the doors were locked and everything was exactly as it had been that morning. At the top of the stairs, he went first into Kara and Steve’s bedroom, then their bath. Everything looked good. He turned out the lights and closed the door, then did the same with Steve’s study
hysterics. If her daughter said someone had been in her underwear drawer, she believed that someone had. Chapter Twelve I believe I dreamed of this morning every moment that I slept. I’ve slept a lot since Wednesday—after being in her house—being in her room—feeling her presence—filling my nostrils with her sweet aroma—being awake without her seemed too painful to bear. So I slept. Hours? Days? I really don’t remember. But I remember dreaming of Sunday morning, and when this morning
house, and assured myself that it is, indeed, the place where she lives, I shall paste the ad into this journal, just as I have the ads for both the girls’ houses. I could probably paste the ad in now, so strong is my feeling, but again I must remind myself to be patient and wait until everything is proven and everything is right. Still, things are coming together perfectly—far more perfectly than I could ever have imagined. It won’t be long now. I can be patient. I must be patient. I will
Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you . . . The memory was so vivid she could almost hear it now, more than fifteen years later. Happy birthday, dear— Suddenly, it seemed she was actually hearing their voices, and she sat bolt upright in bed, listening. She turned to the open window. Nothing but the sound of the surf and a few gulls crying in the night. As a chilly breeze wafted over her, she lay back down and pulled the comforter close around her body. Of course she hadn’t heard
doors that led to the library. “Patrick?” she called softly, and once more her voice seemed to fill the silent house with its echoes. “Patrick, it’s Kara!” When there was no answer, she knocked again, then a third time. Why wouldn’t he wake up? Was he ill? “Patrick!” Still no response. Had something happened to him? Turning away from the library doors, she peered up into the vastness of the foyer. In the near-blackness of the night, it looked even bigger than it was, and everything about