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Title: Shoots high, hits low
Review: Punish the sinners delivers an interesting but ultimately unsatisfactory suspense story centering around a Catholic school in a small town. While the story initially raises some interesting questions about theology and Catholic doctrine, Saul eventually forsakes those topics completely in the pursuit of a ridiculously far-fetched tale of obsession and mind-control. There is literally no character development whatsoever, and Saul goes a step worse in drawing on multiple character stereotypes: the sinister priest, the disbeleiving psychologist, the popular jock, the picked-on "ugly girl," and more. If Saul had done anything memorable with such characters, it might be worthwhile, but this is simply unacceptable. To top off the frustration, the ending is simply atrocious, and does nothing to conclude the story; it feels like a bad horror movie where the killer is still alive at the end (though that is somewhat of a recurring theme in Saul's work). Not recommended at all.
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