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Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
In her assured but overstuffed horror debut, Langan lovingly crafts the struggling town of Bedford, Maine, its unlucky inhabitants and the troubling history of the town's shuttered paper mill, before tearing it all to bloody pieces. Bedford is haunted by the beautiful Susan Marley, a damaged young woman who wanders the streets and never speaks a word, stirring "feeling[s] of something undone, something quite wrong, at the sight of her." Those feelings are strongest in Susan's maladjusted little sister, Liz, wracked with guilt over Susan's fate; their mother, who refuses to acknowledge her wayward daughter's existence; and alcoholic high school teacher Paul Martin, who once had an affair with Susan. Susan's fall to her death in the final, rain-soaked days of winter triggers a series of events that bring the buried secrets of the town to terrifying reality—people and animals rise from the dead, and a spirit of homicidal rage grips the living. Fighting to survive, Langan's characters come brilliantly to life, their inner conflicts rendered in sharp but exhausting detail at once expansive and constricting, slowing the narrative to a crawl just before it whips into frenzied, graphic violence. This is horror on a big scale, akin to the more ambitious work of Stephen King, and though Langan's enormous imagination can slow her narrative, this effective debut promises great things to come. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
“it’s the only horror story I’ve read recently that finds adequate metaphors for the self-destructive properties of anger.” (New York Times Book Review )
“[A] distinct and juicy flavor all its own. THE KEEPER begins what should be a very fruitful career.” (Peter Straub, New York Times bestselling author of IN THE NIGHT ROOM )
“A smart, brand-new take on the haunted house story…hard to believe this is a first novel.” (Jack Ketchum, author of OFFSPRING )
“[A] brilliant debut, heralding the arrival of a major talent.” (Tim Lebbon, author of DUSK and BERSERK )
“THE KEEPER kept me up, late into the night...I’m hoping for a whole shelf of novels by Langan.” (Kelly Link, author of MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS )
“A dark and bracingly bleak tale of supernatural terror.” (Ramsey Campbell, author of SECRET STORY )
“Deft and disturbing... twists expectations into surreal surprises... hypnotic reading - an assured and impressive debut.” (Douglas E. Winter )
“An astonishing first novel...chilling, haunting, and so smartly written that the pages fly by like the wind.” (Ray Garton, author of THE LOVELIEST DEAD )
“Akin to the more ambitious work of Stephen King...this effective debut promises great things to come.” (Publishers Weekly )
“Echoes of Stephen King resound...the first fruits of a most promising career.” (Washington Times )
“recalls Edgar Allan Poe” (Washington Times )
“it’s hard to put down...” (Washington Times )
“Langan has a sharp eye for the small vivid details of American life, and her characters are utterly believable. Reminiscent of early Stephen King, this is not for the squeemish” (London Times )
“[A] distinct and juicy flavor all its own. THE KEEPER begins what should be a very fruitful career.” (Peter Straub, New York Times bestselling author of IN THE NIGHT ROOM )
“A smart, brand-new take on the haunted house story…hard to believe this is a first novel.” (Jack Ketchum, author of OFFSPRING )
“[A] brilliant debut, heralding the arrival of a major talent.” (Tim Lebbon, author of DUSK and BERSERK )
“THE KEEPER kept me up, late into the night...I’m hoping for a whole shelf of novels by Langan.” (Kelly Link, author of MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS )
“A dark and bracingly bleak tale of supernatural terror.” (Ramsey Campbell, author of SECRET STORY )
“Deft and disturbing... twists expectations into surreal surprises... hypnotic reading - an assured and impressive debut.” (Douglas E. Winter )
“An astonishing first novel...chilling, haunting, and so smartly written that the pages fly by like the wind.” (Ray Garton, author of THE LOVELIEST DEAD )
“Akin to the more ambitious work of Stephen King...this effective debut promises great things to come.” (Publishers Weekly )
“Echoes of Stephen King resound...the first fruits of a most promising career.” (Washington Times )
“recalls Edgar Allan Poe” (Washington Times )
“it’s hard to put down...” (Washington Times )
“Langan has a sharp eye for the small vivid details of American life, and her characters are utterly believable. Reminiscent of early Stephen King, this is not for the squeemish” (London Times )
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Most helpful customer reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
I look forward to more,
By
This review is from: The Keeper (Mass Market Paperback)
She's been compared to both Stephen King and Peter Straub (and, for the record, I'd say she leans a little more toward the latter than the former), but if The Keeper proves anything it's that Sarah Langan has developed a voice all her own. With a poetic sensibility she creates a haunting atmosphere and chilling imagery without ever bogging down the narrative. In fact, though it may seem almost aimless, the plot comes together like a dark mosaic, piece by piece, until the whole is revealed.The Keeper is the story of a small town rotting from the roots on up. Bedford, Maine, had once prospered, but since the closing of the paper mill, its one source of income and primary source of employment, the town is now dying. Some of the townspeople blame the economy, some blame the mill operators, but many, even the most rational of them, blame Susan Marley, an odd young woman turned town whore, witch and sin-eater. With Susan as its central mass, the disease eating Bedford metastasizes, spreading dreamlike through and into the minds and lives of the town residents. I have, in the past few months, made a concerted effort to find horror writers who've published their debut in the last five years. Sarah Langan ended up at the top of my short list, especially due to her Bram Stoker Award wins for her second and third novels, The Missing and Audrey's Door. If these are even half as good as The Keeper, then I'd say I've discovered not only a talented new voice in horror fiction, but a new favourite author.
3.0 out of 5 stars
Laudable First Effort,
By
This review is from: The Keeper (Mass Market Paperback)
A confession upfront, I read The Keeper in preparation for its follow-up, The Missing whose plot appeals to me more. Having said that, this first effort by the author was entertaining and brings to mind Stephen King's New England. The damaged and mysterious Susan Marley holds sway over the town of Bedford, Maine during the day and in their dreams. This does set up a bit of suspense both in terms the origins of her situation and how this will impact the townies of Bedford. The characters are believable but not entirely worthy of our sympathy so this makes the whole book very dark. The ending comes up rather suddenly but rewards the reader who has been patient through an overly slow build. I look forward to The Missing and hopefully a more consistent book in tone and pace.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
3.3 out of 5 stars (90 customer reviews) 25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
Impressive Debut with a (Nearly) Fatal Flaw,
By Maria Alexander "Author and Snarkiologist" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Keeper (Mass Market Paperback)
I was very excited to read Langan's book, because female horror writers are special for a lot of reasons. The first chapter absolutely knocked it out of the park. She is great at building dread, and the idea of a town haunted by a woman is very original. While I prefer prose that's something akin to prose poetry, Langan's book has strong, solid writing that worked well for this bleak, frightening story.The only problem was that about 3/4 into the book everything ground to a halt for me. As realistic as they were, the characters never felt very likable. So, when Very Bad Things started happening to them, I lost interest in the story. I suspect it was because the characters were already dead in many ways and therefore it felt over the top. I soldiered on because a friend of Langan's had loved the book so much that I wanted to give it a fair read. Ultimately I liked the ending and was glad I got there, but that was a difficult bridge to cross. That said, I suspect future books by Langan will shine even more brightly. I'll definitely be staying tuned! 51 of 58 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sarah Langan is a Major New Talent,
By Thriller Lover - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: The Keeper (Mass Market Paperback)
I typically read over two-hundred novels a year, and THE KEEPER is one of the best written debuts I've read in 2006. This is a top-shelf effort.The quality of the writing in this novel is simply superb. It's hard to believe that Langan is a first-time novelist. Her prose is both vivid and compelling. Langan has a real gift for characterization and all of the people in this book really came alive for me. In the end, I made an emotional investment in the story and characters of THE KEEPER, which is something that rarely happens with most books I read. The high quality of Langan's writing compensates for the somewhat creaky plot. This is a relatively slow-paced novel, with a great deal of prose devoted to the inner conflicts of multiple characters. If you're looking for fast moving suspense story, you will probably be disappointed with this novel. There isn't a great deal of action in this novel until the final few scenes. THE KEEPER is essentially a well crafted literary novel with supernatural overtones. It is more of a spooky read than a thrilling one. You either like this type of novel or you don't. I enjoyed it throughly, and I eagerly look foward to Langan's future books. If she learns to tighten her plotting a bit, she could become the next Peter Straub in my opinion. 17 of 20 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Promising, but not fully realized.,
By frumiousb "frumiousb" - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Keeper (Mass Market Paperback)
I'd actually more or less given up on horror novels as a genre. While there are a few contemporary horror writers that I enjoy, I have given up the steady diet of supermarket horror that I read as a teenager. However, I made an exception in this case and actually ordered the Langan book from Amazon. This is largely because a great many of those "few contemporary horror writers" who I still read published hugely glowing blurbs about The Keeper. Peter Straub credited her with combining a "genuinely poetic sensibility" and a "taste for horror's most bravura excesses". Ramsey Campbell praised the quality of the prose. With chops like these, it almost seemed as though I had to love the book.Probably unsurprisingly, I didn't love it. I didn't hate it either. Honestly, if I *had* just picked it up at the supermarket somewhere in upstate NY then I probably would have actually been quite pleasantly surprised. Langan isn't at all a bad writer, and seems to have a dab hand at the kind of real little details that generally work very well in horror and supernatural fiction. Liz was often very likable, and I could easily visualize her in her surroundings. The problem was that even though she got the verisimilitude right, Langan somehow didn't succeed in making me care about the characters. I suspect that she tried to draw the story too widely. I needed to care about the town as much as I cared about the main characters. And that never came together. She might have done better to make it a claustrophobic family story. I suspect that by narrowing the focus, Susan may have been more genuinely frightening. The wider scope on the whole town meant that Langan resorted to pretty typical horror tricks-- vicious dogs, giant spiders, yadda yadda. It kind of felt like pastiche, and the rest of the work didn't really deserve pastiche. All this said, The Keeper is a first novel. And it probably even counts as a first novel with a fair degree of promise. There's enough in here for me to want to keep an eye on her work and see where she goes. |
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