Creepers (Paperback)

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Key Phrases: surveillance room, taped hands, medical room, David Morrell, Asbury Park, New York (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Morrell takes a creative kind of breaking-and-entering as the premise for his latest thriller (after Nightscape), a gripping story that demands to be read in a single sitting. Disguising himself as a journalist, Frank Balenger, ex-U.S. Army Ranger and Iraqi war veteran, joins a group of "Creepers," also known as infiltrators, urban explorers or city speleologists—men and women who outfit themselves with caving gear to break into and explore buildings that have long been closed up and abandoned. Though what they're doing is technically illegal, participants pride themselves on never stealing or destroying anything they find at these sites. They take only photographs and aim to leave no footprints. Balenger joins a group of four: the leader, Professor Robert Conklin, high school teacher Vincent Vanelli and graduate students Rick and Cora Magill. This gang infiltrates the Paragon Hotel, an abandoned, seven-story, pyramidal Asbury Park, N.J., structure built in 1901 by eccentric, hemophiliac Morgan Carlisle. Balenger and the professor have a special agenda, but the others are there simply for the thrills. Things quickly begin to unravel in life-threatening ways once the intrepid infiltrators penetrate the building—they aren't the only ones creeping around the spooky hotel. Morrell delivers first-rate, suspenseful storytelling once again.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Frank Balenger is a New York Times reporter doing a Sunday magazine profile on urban explorers, better known as creepers. It's an illegal activity but a very popular one, in which adventure seekers invade crumbling old structures in search of thrills and perhaps a glimpse of the past. Frank joins a team of four as they prepare to enter the long-shuttered and mysterious Paragon Hotel. They surreptitiously enter as darkness envelops the city, planning to emerge before dawn none the worse for wear. At least that's the plan. Initially they encounter the expected assortment of crumbling furniture, magazines, and rats, but soon they realize they are not alone, and their counterparts are not friendly people. It turns out that Frank's group has a hidden agenda involving treasure, and their rivals are after the same loot. Throw in an even more unfriendly kidnapper and his captor, and you have a nightmare in the making. Veteran thriller writer Morrell gleefully and shamelessly cherry picks from several genres (crime, horror, adventure, western) and blends them into a violent, claustrophobic nightmare. There's the survive-the-night-in-a-haunted-house plot starring a Norman Bates villain; there's a Treasure of the Sierra Madre cast that would rather die than give up the loot; and there's a version of the classic western in which the outlaws and the homesteaders join forces to battle the Indians. An unabashedly entertaining thriller that has blockbuster movie written all over it. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Vanguard Press; 1 edition (September 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593153570
• ISBN-13: 978-1593153571
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (140 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #75,310 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something's In The Dark!, September 10, 2005

By	Mel Odom (Moore, OK USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Creepers (Hardcover)

Frank Balenger claims to be a journalist interested in the urban art of "creepers", people who break-and-enter into old, abandoned buildings to see what they can see. Operating under the same constraints as professional cavers and with much of the same equipment, "creepers" invade an abandoned structure with the intent of taking pictures and leaving only footprints to mark their passage. Only the building Frank and his five new collegues invade is the Paragon Hotel, a luxury experience designed and built by a hemophiliac trapped within his own world that wanted to experience as much of the outside world as he could. Frank's lie about being a journalist is only the first of several that fall apart during the eight hours of hell and horror waiting for the "creepers".

David Morrell is known around the world for creating the character John Rambo. Author of over 30 novels, several of them feature or television movies, Morrell used to be an English professor that turned professional thriller writer. Many claim with his creation of Rambo that he invented the modern male action adventure novel. He writes from experience, from the literary field as well as hands-on training in hostage negotiation, evasive driving, firearms, and combat maneuvers.

The novel is a slam-bang adrenaline rush to the finish line that knocks the reader for a loop every time the plot seems clear. With simple, cutting prose, Morrell introduces readers to the urban art of "creeping", a mysterious millionaire who built a hotel to satisfy his own cravings, and more twists and turns in character relationships than a toboggan ride down an Olympic run. The information comes quickly and sparsely, just sips that go down when needed and never interfere with the ticking clock the author sets up in the first chapter.

Unfortunately, some of the other reviews give too much away. This is simply one of those novels impossible to talk too much about without spoiling so much.

CREEPERS is a white-knuckled adventure of a read. Easily understandable, engrossing, and ennervating, CREEPERS is not written for the reader who simply wants to while away a few minutes there. The plot, the characters, and the breakneck action will nail a reader to a chair until the ride is over and the last surprise is out of the box.

67 of 78 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Morrell at the top of his game, August 16, 2005

By	Henry W. Wagner (Rockaway, NJ USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Creepers (Hardcover)

As you get older, it's reassuring to note that your favorite writers are maintaining the high standards that attracted you to their work in the first place. Writers who fall into this category, folks like Elmore Leonard, Lawrence Block and Donald E. Westlake, continue to produce quality work book after book, story after story. Another member of this elite club is David Morrell, who, with the publication of Creepers, shows that he still has what it takes to satisfy even the most demanding thriller reader.

Morrell's latest chronicles eight hours in the lives of five "creepers", urban explorers who break into abandoned or condemned buildings to experience their historical and architectural delights first hand. This particular group, comprised of Professor Robert Conklin, high school teacher Vincent Vanelli, graduate students Rick and Cora Magill, and reporter Frank Balenger, has chosen the Paragon Hotel in Asbury Park as a target, accessing it via a series of underground tunnels. Once inside, the situation deteriorates rapidly as the group discovers the Paragon is not the abandoned building they thought it was. The perils presented by others in the building, and by the decayed hotel itself, place them all in mortal danger. Before the night is through, some inside the Paragon will discover hidden depths of courage and resourcefulness; some will be revealed as liars and imposters; some will die.

Morrell does an excellent job of accounting for almost every second of the eight hours of his story, as, in fact, it will take most readers about that long to read it. The immediacy of the book is one of its greatest strengths--readers quickly start to feel as if they are looking over the shoulders of the team, almost like a sixth member. Besides its immediacy and intimacy, the book is packed with surprising twists and turns, as the group is forced to think on its feet, reacting to the numerous threats they encounter. And it's not only the dilapidated hotel that yields surprises, as several of Morrell's well-drawn cast of characters harbor their own secrets.

It's difficult to pin any particular label on Creepers. At heart a thriller, it also can be categorized as a gothic, horror, or even a time travel novel. It's not cliché to say that Morrell gives readers one hell of a ride, as it's a perfect description of the feeling this book gives you--exciting, captivating and suspenseful, you'll no doubt find yourself thinking Creepers would easily lend itself to a variety of adaptations, whether it be as an action film, a video game, or virtual reality park attraction. Suffice it to say that the man who has alternately been dubbed the "father of all modern action novels" and "the mild mannered professor with the bloody minded visions" has once again proven his considerable mettle, delivering yet another book sure to satisfy loyal fans and win him some new ones as well.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally Awesome w/ major, unexpected twists, October 31, 2005

By	Romance Lover "tarvo1218" (GH, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Creepers (Hardcover)

This is the first time I've ever read Morrell and I really enjoyed the book. I was thinking that it was pretty predictable, but then it took a turn I certainly didn't expect. I would have loved where I thought the plot was going, but this turn was pretty darn good as well. Great book.