Book Reviews March 2006

Synopsis: 'Creepers'. That's what they call themselves. Urban explorers who illegally enter sealed buildings - hotels, offices, department stores - many of which have been abandoned for years. Exploring one is like going into a time capsule. Mystery and danger add to the adrenaline rush, as the building's secrets are unveiled. One night in New Jersey, a group of creepers enters the Paragon, a hotel designed and built during the glory days of Asbury Park by a reclusive millionaire. The magnificent structure, which foreshadowed the beauties of Art Deco architecture, is now a decrepit, boarded-up edifice marked for demolition. But the Paragon has a disturbing history, and soon after the group enters it becomes clear that this decaying seven-story building holds more secrets than they could have imagined in their worst nightmares. Danger, terror and death wait for them in a place ravaged by time and redolent of evil.

My review: I have to say that my disappointment with the latest Stephen King title CELL is more than tempered by the discovery that there's someone else writing creepy thrillers who can do it as well as King can. CREEPERS is edge-of-the-seat, arm-gripping stuff, so atmospheric you think you're there. I'm not sure how he does it, but David Morrell's style is guaranteed to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end, your pulse quicken, your heart race. It's not as if you're not prepared - after all, who'd pick up a book called CREEPERS and expect to find a Barbara Cartland romance inside? CREEPERS does just what it says on the cover - it gives you the creeps. The whole thing is cinematic in concept, and I guess that's what makes it so frightening. The discovery of cat skeletons and mutated rats in the first few pages does nothing to set your mind at ease - you know there's worse, much worse to come, and you don't want to be in the house alone while you're reading it. I haven't enjoyed a creepy thriller this much since Stephen King's BAG OF BONES, and that's going back quite a way, folks. Derelict buildings have never held much appeal for me - this book confirms my worst thoughts about them. Impressive. And creepy.

CREEPERS is available from Amazon, and published March 6th by Headline in the UK as a paperback. My copy was kindly sent over from the States by David's wife - for which many thanks!

 

First Blood (1972)

Rambo (1985)

Rambo III (1988)

Testament (1975)
Last Reveille (1977)
The Totem (1979)
Blood Oath (1982)
The Hundred-Year Christmas (1983)
The Brotherhood of the Rose (1984)
The Fraternity of the Stone (1985)
The League of Night and Fog (1987)
The Fifth Profession (1990)
The Covenant of the Flame (1991)
Assumed Identity (1993)
Desperate Measures (1994)
Extreme Denial (1995)
Double Image (1998)
Burnt Sienna (2000)
Long Lost (2002)
The Protector (2003)
Creepers (2005)