Black Creek Crossing

John Saul's 2004 horror novel plants a teenage girl and a boy outcast in a Massachusetts house with a Salem-era dark history, then watches as they discover a book of spells and begin using it on their tormentors. Saul is effective at mining adolescent social pain — the loneliness of the outsider is genuinely felt — and the atmospheric small-town setting does real work. Booklist found it 'remarkably gratifying.' The honest caveat is that Publishers Weekly called it formulaic, and they weren't wrong: Saul's template shows its seams by the third act. Faith-conscious families should know upfront that witchcraft, occult spell-casting, an abusive father, and sustained supernatural horror are all front and center. This is for adult horror readers who already know what Saul delivers.