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Epicurus.com - The Keep (Adversary Cycle)
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List Price: $6.99
Our Price: $6.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Tor Books
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9780812579253
ISBN: 0812579259
Label: Tor Books
Manufacturer: Tor Books
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 416
Publication Date: 2000-05-15
Publisher: Tor Books
Studio: Tor Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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"Something is murdering my men." Â Thus reads the message received from a Nazi commander stationed in a small castle high in the remote Transylvanian Alps. And when an elite SS extermination squad is dispatched to solve the problem, the men find a something that's both powerful and terrifying. Invisible and silent, the enemy selects one victim per night, leaving the bloodless and mutilated corpses behind to terrify its future victims. Panicked, the Nazis bring in a local expert on folklore--who just happens to be Jewish--to shed some light on the mysterious happenings. And unbeknownst to anyone, there is another visitor on his way--a man who awoke from a nightmare and immediately set out to meet his destiny.
The battle has begun: On one side, the ultimate evil created by man, and on the other...the unthinkable, unstoppable, unknowing terror that man has inevitably awakened.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: "This place was not designed to keep something out..."
Comment: F. Paul Wilson's THE KEEP is one of the best atmospheric horror novels ever published. Cleverly plotted, ably written and featuring characters of remarkable depth and complexity, it does a great deal to single-handedly destroy the sterotype that "scary" books can't rise to the level of art.
THE KEEP begins in early-mid WW2, with a small unit of German soldiers occupying a deserted castle in the Translyvanian Alps. When one of the soldiers foolishly disturbs a secret chamber in the cellar, however, he discovers that the castle isn't deserted after all. Something was sleeping inside...and it woke up hungry. A week later, Wehrmacht HQ receives a chilling telegram from the German commandant: "Request immediate relocation. Something is murdering my men."
THE KEEP is actually many carefully interwoven stories. Captain Klaus Woermann is a tough, principled officer of the Prussian school, appalled by the effortless ease with which an unseen, possibly supernatural killer is butchering his elite soldiers. SS-Major Erich Kaempfer, dispatched with a "special action commando"to crush what he initially is sure is a guerilla insurrection, is a pitiless killer who views his assignment as a way to wangle a concentration camp command and settle an old score with Woermann. Magda Cuzar is a lovely Romanian Jewess forced to accompany her wheelchair-bound father, a folklore expert, Theodor to the keep, in the hopes that his expert knowledge of its history may prove the weapon the Germans need to save themselves. And mysterious traveller Glenn may or may not be the missing piece of the puzzle everyone needs to survive the night.
Wilson's novel distinguishes itself from the pack by virtue of its very strong and well-drawn characters and by the individual trials each much endure in the bloodthirsty corridors of the keep. He plays heavily on classic themes of Gothic horror but adds some surprising and unexpected twists which prevent the story from falling into predictable conventions. Just as importantly, it establishes from the very first chapter a feeling of dread which intensifies to an almost unbearable degree as the story goes on. The gore-spattered climax comes almost as a relief.
Many reviewers mention THE KEEP as being part of Wilson's "Adversary Cycle", but it should be clearly understood this book was written as a stand-alone work and doesn't obligate the reader to buy anything else. Nor is there any need. THE KEEP does for itself, and it does just fine.
Pleasant dreams.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The begining of a wonderful series
Comment: I lost alot of sleep staying up to the wee hours reading this wonderful story.F Paul wilson is a great story teller.His other books in the series night world,the tomb and the touch are must reads as well
Customer Rating:
Summary: The beginning of Wilson's mythology
Comment: In 1941 a small contingent of Nazi soldiers occupies an abandoned keep in the mountains of Romania. The origins and purpose of the keep are shrouded in mystery, but the Germans care little about such things. The first night of their occupation, one of their number pulls one of the stone blocks that forms a cellar wall. In search of buried treasure, he instead finds a quick and grisly death. By breaking into a secret chamber, he has released something that had been trapped for 500 years. The remaining soldiers quickly come to believe that it is a vampire, but is it really? The quest for answers leads them to recruit an old professor, Theodore Cuza and his daughter Magda, who happen to be Jews.
The Keep is the first in F. Paul Wilson's Adversary Cycle series of six novels. After this series was written, Wilson went on to start the Repairman Jack series that is up to eleven books with more to come. Since this is where the whole epic starts, it's virtually a must read for fans of either series. The story is part horror, part character study. Captain Woermann is semi-sympathetic German officer because he is not a Nazi and is sickened by the actions of the SS and others. Yet, he is not exactly pure of heart so most readers will probably have a love/hate relationship with him at best. Magda and her father are the story's innocents as they get dragged into a lethal situation. They are threatened with death if they don't help the Nazis, and death later even if they do.
The Keep clocks in at just over 400 pages and that helps keep it from dragging too badly. It's not the tightest plot you'll ever see, but it mostly pushes forward and holds a reader's interest. The climactic battle at the end is worth the journey and should satisfy most. I would recommend this book to any Wilson fans and as a starting point to anyone interested in trying his work. The other obvious choice for beginners is The Tomb (Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack), which is the second of the Adversary Cycle series and introduces Repairman Jack.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not Free SF Reader
Comment: A few key elements to an entertaining story are here. An old dark
fortress, a bunch of ratzi soldiers, and some vampire type monsters. Not
a lot more you could ask for in a horror tale of this type.
What would you expect when you fortress is a castle in the
Transylvanian mountains? Unsurprisingly, the commander starts to see
his troop numbers decrease.
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of my favorites
Comment: All I can say is this is one of my all time favorite reads. This story will grab you from the very beginning and never let you go. After I finished reading the Keep I found myself wanting more. I hope F. Paul Wilson's other writings are as good as The Keep, if so I'll be a very happy lady.
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