Lush and deceptively tranquil, with its pristine beaches and blossoming vegetation, the island basks in splendid isolation off the South Carolina coast. Here, where sudden storms unleash the murderous rage of wind and sea, stands the Devereaux mansion, a once-great plantation house now crumbling amid ancient oaks dripping with Spanish moss. Here, Marguerite Devereaux, 50 and childless, has cast off her dreams to care for her aged, demanding mother.

Caroline Evans, a recently widowed mother of two, thinks things have finally fallen into place when she meets the charismatic Anthony Fleming. They are quickly married, and she and her two children move into his luxury apartment in the legendary Rockwell on Central Park West. Caroline dismisses the oddities of their new neighbors as pleasant eccentricities - until things begin to change.

The small town of Villejeune, Florida, lies far enough from the inquisitive eyes of strangers and even the reaches of the law that a community with its own customs, rituals, and deadly rites has grown there. In order to start fresh after a failed job prospect and unexpected emotional trauma for their teenage daughter, Ted and Mary Anderson have returned home to Villejeune, unaware of the growing malevolence there. Soon, they are thrust into a nightmare as their sweet but troubled daughter, Kelly, is pulled into the darkness that seems to have consumed the town.

Michael Mace, head of security at a top-secret research facility, opens his eyes in a makeshift morgue twenty-four hours following an event in which everyone perished—including him and his best friend, Shelby Shrewsberry. Having awakened with an extraordinary ability unlike anything he—or anyone else—has ever imagined, Michael is capable of being as elusive as a ghost. He sets out to honor his late friend by helping Nina Dozier and her son, John, whom Shelby greatly admired.

For more than three decades John Saul has haunted the New York Times best seller list - and listeners imaginations - with his chilling tales of psychological suspense and supernatural horror. His instinct for striking the deepest chords of fear in our hearts and minds is unerring, and his gift for steering a tale from the light of day into the darkest depths of nightmare is at its harrowing best in House of Reckoning.