The series follows a different character each chapter as they receive a "gift" from an anonymous source and the terrible things that happen to the recipient (or those around them) shortly thereafter.
The books also follow the character of Oliver Metcalf, editor of the local paper, who had previously grown up on the asylum's grounds and suspects that a single source is behind each of the tragedies that befall the gifts' recipients.
On the night the demolition begins, a mysterious figure sneaks into the Asylum and retrieves a porcelain doll from a small hidden chamber.
During the night, while Bill is away on business, Elizabeth begins having nightmares, while Megan tries to climb a large bookshelf where her mother has hidden the doll.
The section ends with the mysterious figure sneaking back into the Asylum and retrieving a locket from the same hidden chamber as the doll.
A mysterious man has begun compiling an album within a hidden room of the now partially demolished Blackstone Asylum.
Back in the present timeline, Jules Hartwick, owner of the town’s small, private bank, finds a wrapped package left in his wife Madeline’s unlocked car.
The section ends with the mysterious figure retrieving a cigarette lighter in the shape of a dragon from the hidden chamber.
Rebecca manages to pull her aunt out of the home unscathed, but Andrea is badly burned and dies at the hospital.
We then learn that Martha bought the lighter as a child, to give to her sister, who was the young woman who burned herself at Blackstone.
Martha decides she must cleanse the house of sins so she douses everything in turpentine, including a sleeping Rebecca, who wakes up and manages to run for help, but it is too late.
A few weeks later, the shadowy figure pastes an article about Martha’s death into his scrapbook and picks an antique handkerchief to send to his next victim.
She sees any food served to her as disgusting masses of worms and other horrors, so she refuses to eat and attacks a nurse trying to feed her.
Back in the present timeline, the townsfolk are starting to demand answers about the tragedies that seem to keep befalling the town.
Oliver Metcalf, head of the local paper, is told about several anonymous gifts that had been received by Elizabeth, Jules and Martha shortly before their demise.
As soon as the handkerchief is in her possession, though, Germaine begins to see horrible things in place of her food, as well as insects crawling on her.
Rebecca finds them and runs into the night for help, but out of the darkness a hand in a latex glove closes over her mouth as the section ends.
Ed becomes convinced his nightmares are prophetic, after accidentally killing the family dog and surviving a gas explosion in his home, both of which he had dreamed about.
Meanwhile, Oliver Metcalf seeks out his uncle, demanding to know if his father was responsible for the horrific tortures patients underwent at the asylum.
In a flashback Harvey Connally receives a phone call from his brother in law Malcolm Metcalf begging him to meet at the asylum.
As soon as he touches the razor, Oliver is flooded with suppressed memories of his father abusing him, shocking him with a cattle prod.
He also remembers Malcolm showing him all the objects he took from patients and telling Oliver he must someday take vengeance on people on behalf of his father, and forcing him over and over to say he is a bad boy.
The game, titled John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles: An Adventure in Terror, is a sequel to the novels and takes place several years after the sixth book.
[1] In 2011 a graphic novel adaptation of John Saul's Blackstone Chronicles by Bluewater Productions was announced, with the first issue having a November 2011 release date.
[2] The Blackstone Chronicles was at one point licensed by ABC for a six-hour miniseries to air in 1998,[3][4] but plans for the TV adaptation fell through.