- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Headline Book Publishing; First Edition edition (7 Aug 2006)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0739473565
- ISBN-13: 978-0755333691
- ASIN: 0755333691
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.8 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 866,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"* '...crammed with startling images and framed with a sense of overwhelming dread. It's really hard to believe that this is a first novel.' Jack Ketchum, author of Offspring - Jack Ketchum, author of Offspring * Sarah Langan combines a genuinely poetic sensibility with a taste for horror's most bravura excesses, which gives her book a distinct and juicy flavor all its own. THE KEEPER begins what should be a very fruitful career. - Peter Straub"
Ramsey Campbell
'A dark and bracingly bleak tale of supernatural terror.'
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is the story of two sisters - Susan and Liz Marley. Susan has dropped out of school, wanders round the town barefoot, drinking, sleeping with unsuitable men and generally estranged from everyone and everything.
Liz is the sister who still wants a relationship with Susan but who is unable to deal with the person Susan has become.
The townsfolk of Bedford believe that Susan is responsible for it's gradual demise, unemployment and generally failing environemnt as well as for their own individual bad experiences and unhappy lives. Whilst they tolerate Liz they believe she may also have inhertited Susan's made bad genes.
When Susan dies in a freak accident, the story really begins. Whilst she had an impact on their lives when she was alive, Susan really begins to infect the minds of the townspeople now she is dead and they see her in their dreams which in turn become real.
And this is where it all gets a bit strange..... you need to really suspend your beliefs to follow the story which mixes some real events with many many dream/nightmare experiences involving Susan and various characters. The story does eventually build to a climax but it's certainly a weird story.
Oddly, whilst I thought it was a bit strange in the beginning and I was almost put off, I kept going with this book and rather enjoyed it. It is certainly a brave first novel and full marks to Sarah Langan for such an imaginative and unconventional book.
Liz is the sister who still wants a relationship with Susan but who is unable to deal with the person Susan has become.
The townsfolk of Bedford believe that Susan is responsible for it's gradual demise, unemployment and generally failing environemnt as well as for their own individual bad experiences and unhappy lives. Whilst they tolerate Liz they believe she may also have inhertited Susan's made bad genes.
When Susan dies in a freak accident, the story really begins. Whilst she had an impact on their lives when she was alive, Susan really begins to infect the minds of the townspeople now she is dead and they see her in their dreams which in turn become real.
And this is where it all gets a bit strange..... you need to really suspend your beliefs to follow the story which mixes some real events with many many dream/nightmare experiences involving Susan and various characters. The story does eventually build to a climax but it's certainly a weird story.
Oddly, whilst I thought it was a bit strange in the beginning and I was almost put off, I kept going with this book and rather enjoyed it. It is certainly a brave first novel and full marks to Sarah Langan for such an imaginative and unconventional book.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The Keeper is horror in the vein of Straub, where a community succumbs to a threat from a malevolent entity. The supernatural is well hidden, hinted at more that directly portrayed in an effort to maintain some suspense. Although the approach is fresh, the lack of any likeable characters creates a lacklustre story. There is a score of characters and only the two central protagonists offer any positive attributes, however with so many characters the key players receive little time, except to propel the story. The Keeper is short enough to be a simple time-killer but it's lack of emotional hold means you'll have soon forgotten it.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
91 reviews
25 of 25 people found the following review helpful
Impressive Debut with a (Nearly) Fatal Flaw
1 Dec 2006
Format: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!
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
Sarah Langan is a Major New Talent
28 Sep 2006
Format: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.
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
Promising, but not fully realized.
17 Sep 2007
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
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.
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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