2002-11-29 Black Lightning barely strikes at all

In Black Lightning, John Saul builds his plot around a serial killer of unusual distinction. I have a morbid fascination with serial killers and their motivations, but midway through the book it was quite apparent that Saul was going in a weird direction; glimpses into the mind of the maniac dwindle with time, and the door to insight is slammed shut by the paranormal elements of the story. This is by no means a bad novel; it's always nice to read a Saul novel that has nothing to do with some type of hundred-year old curse or mysterious genealogy. The writing is quite tight and riveting in places. The scenes describing one character's acrophobia attacks are incredibly intense, and the descriptions of the individual murders are painstakingly realistic.

The novel begins with the execution of serial killer Richard Kraven. Journalist Anne Jeffers, who worked diligently to assure the killer's conviction, is there to witness the event. While Kraven is being electrocuted, Anne's husband is suffering a near-fatal heart attack. The doctors don't seem to really do anything at all for Glen Jeffers, but he is soon back home resuming a fairly normal life. Warned by the doctor that her husband's behavior may be changed as a result of the heart attack, Anne and eventually her children become increasingly disturbed by Glen's behavior. They would really have worried had Glen told them he was having blackouts; he continually finds himself having to explain actions he has no conscious memory of having performed. Meanwhile, a new killer is on the loose, committing murders eerily similar to Kraven's handiwork. Soon the killer begins entering Anne's home secretly and leaving her messages. When cops begin finding Kraven's "signature" on fresh murder victims, a signature that no one besides the deceased Kraven and the cops could possibly know about, things go from bad to worse. When the killer finally turns his eyes toward his nemesis Anne Jeffers, things get worse still. This is no average serial killer, as Anne soon discovers when he strikes truly close to home.

The basis of this novel winds up seeming a little hokey. Midway through the novel, the story switched directions on me a little bit, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but by the time I reached the conclusion, this potentially impressive plot really started sputtering. At times, incidents and dramas last a little longer than they should, and this drags down an otherwise fairly brisk story. I can't address the paranormal aspects of the tale without divulging too much information, but it is not quite original and pushes the limits of credulity in the context of the novel Saul constructed around it. There are also a few subplots that seem important early on but sort of fade into obscurity, such as the relationship between Anne and the lead detective. Sometimes riveting, sometimes a little drawn-out, Black Lightning is a perfectly satisfactory horror novel. It makes a good change of pace for Saul, who sometimes seems to get in a rut of old curses and young teenagers. The effort is undeniably there, but unfortunately the book seems to shoot itself in the foot at the very end.