The Keep

Rating:
Summary: The Keep
Review: The Keep is perhaps the most astonishing spectacle of horror I have had the privelage of reading. It combines a dramatic storyline, believeable characters, and the difinitive portrayal of good versus evil set against a historical backdrop. Something is murdering the troops of a Nazi regime located in an abondoned castle in the Transylvanian Alps. A lone warrior awakens from a sleep and is lurred to the castle by a mysterious force. A young Jewish woman and her father are held mercilessly against their will until they can unravel the mysteries locked away for centuries in the keep. What mysterious force is murdering men by the dozens? Who is the brave warrior who is drawn to castle? What is the significance of the crosses inlaid in the castle walls? The Keep is a thrilling adventure and a bold experience in sheer terror. See Also: The Tomb, The Touch, Reborn, Reprisal, and Nightworld.

Rating:
Summary: Terrifyingly terrific!
Review: This is honestly the best horror novel I've ever read. I first read it a few years ago at a time when I had already been desensitized to horror, having read such books for years. When I went to bed one night while reading it, just thinking about the storyline kept me awake for a few hours, wondering what may be lurking in the dark, shadowy corners of my room.

Rating:
Summary: Good horror. Original.
Review: An enjoyable horror book. Not full of gore, but intelligent battle between ancient evil and good(?) or is it that clear cut? Look forward to the rest of the series. Yet again the Nazis get beat up and made to be laughable - not a bad thing at all

Rating:
Summary: Basic horror made better
Review: "The Keep" is really, in its basic form, a pulp horror novel and it covers some familiar territory: slimy, evil things in the dark that no one believes is there till their dead, characters getting mad at each other rather than at whatever is killing them. But "The Keep" is better than one might expect, and it is raised far above its humble horror premise. First of all, the setting elevates it: Set during world war II when the greatest horror in history was playing out, in an isolated keep that is brought into the modern world beautifully but given a hint of gothicism. Yet the "typical" scenes of horror here are elevated because of Wilson's genuine talent for giving the reader chills. The way he describes the darkness "enveloping" people is truly frightening, and there are many further scenes that induce terror, two dead men standing over a sleeping man's bed and etc. Then the characters - here is where Wilson truly excels. One might think that you can feel nothing for these characters, since they are Nazis. But throughout a large part of the book, the main character is German Captain Klaus Woermann, who despises Nazism and would really rather not be at the keep, he feels sorry for the suffering caused. He is a truly likeable character for the most part, but more importantly, he feels REAL, all the characters do. Even small characters who are only in the book for a few pages are given in an introduction, a brief history that truly makes you feel for them and for their situation. The finale gets a little to fantasy-ish for my personal tastes, as well as the final explanation behind the killing force in the keep, but thats a minor thing. There are so many scenes of spine-chilling horror in this book that it truly is a rarity of its type.

Rating:
Summary: BEST BOOK I'VE READ THIS YEAR!
Review: I bought this book...ooh, I don't know...maybe two years ago, in some used bookstore, simply because the front cover said "A Novel Of Deep Horror". For two years (I guess) the book just sat there in my room, doing nothing. Then, on August 1 (a date that I will not soon forget), I began reading this (don't ask me how I came to do it--maybe fate?), and I was immediately hooked! The first couple of chapters of this masterpiece were horrifying, terrifying, and with just enough gore to please the standard horror audiences (me included), but not gross-out. The book takes place in 1941, in a place in the Transylvanian Alps called the Dinu Pass. In Dinu Pass is a small castle, or Keep, and it is here that the story occurs. The book starts off in the present, where Major Sturmbanfurer Kaempffer recieves a message from the Keep, saying, quite simply, "SOMETHING IS MURDERING MY MEN." Then the book takes a sort of flashback, where Captain Klaus Woermann of the German Army is assigned with a small league of his soldiers there to watch for any possible invasion by the Russians. Woermann has this sort of dread feeling the minute he crosses the threshold of the Keep and into its courtyard, but he cannot think why. And the whole book just goes on and on, and never lets up until the end. I recall one particular sentence in one of the first couple of chapters that is a real haunter: The horror has begun. These four words are what truely captivated me more than anything else. I will not begin to tell what this "horror" is, but I will only say, READ THIS BOOK. F. Paul Wilson is a uniquely talented writer, and he writes very clearly, with well-developed characters, great visual settings, and quite some scary scenes (let me tell you!). What is really unique about this book is the setting: 1941 in Romania, one of the few countries not totally taken over during this mighty war. As a matter of fact, there is not a single American in the book; in addition, I only recall seeing the word "America" in the last 40 or so pages, only once or twice. There is also something else unique: for a long time, the main character of the book is Klaus Woermann, and he his of the German Army--one of what once were the "bad guys." In this book, the reader learns of his internal hatred of Nazism, as well as how he only joined the war for the honor of prideful battles of justice. I rooted for him, believe it or not, and future readers might do so, too. F. Paul Wilson's character development was excruciatingly *real*. When minor characters died off in the book, they had a small introduction before this. This is much like the usual writing style of another author (James Herbert--nearly *all* his characters are like this), but this is a good thing--if there is no introduction or background to a character, their being killed off is as sad a moment as seeing those cardboard cutout characters from those old B-horror movies. We *need* some intro, and this is it. There are so many other things I would want to talk about from this book, but unless everyone in the entire world read--and enjoyed--this book, I cannot share them. This review was written not only to show my feelings for the book, but to interest other people in reading it. Therefore, I will leave all the wonderful--and horrible--surprises for newcomers to discover. This book will one day be a classic, along with other such terrors as The Shining, I Am Legend, and so many more. I have yet to see the movie, but many people hated it, and from what I've heard, it is more influenced by this book than based upon it. Whatever the movie is like, read this book first, if not instead. I guarantee readers of all sorts--horror, romance, science fiction, fantasy, the works--will enjoy it. Purchase and enjoy this book, people, and don't get too scared...

Rating:
Summary: The Ultimate Battle Between Good And Evil - Terrifying!!
Review: SS Sturmbannfuhrer Erich Kaempffer has just received a promotion and a plum new assignment. After a year's tutelage at Auschwitz, learning how to run an efficient concentration camp and implementing the Reich's final solution, Heinrich Himmler has rewarded him with a death camp of his own. Romania's new Division of Race and Resettlement is going to be busy for the next year or so, rounding up Jews, gypsies and other undesirables to transport to the facility, now under construction, in Ploiesti, north of Bucharest. It is April 1941.

Then word comes through that Kaempffer is to make a detour. A small regular German army detachment under the command of Captain Klaus Woermann is stationed in an ancient castle, the Keep, in the Dinu Pass, a remote area of the Transylvanian Alps. The location is of interest to the Germans because of its strategic position to nearby oil fields. The captain had sent a communique to Headquarters in Berlin: "Request immediate relocation. Something is murdering my men." The SS major must make the inconvenient trip to investigate, along with a contingent of his einsatzkommandos (SS goons).

Kaempffer and Woermann had known each other since their teens, when they fought together in the Great War. Woermann, a regular army officer and non-party member, had distinguished himself in WWI as a hero. Kaempffer, a fanatic Nazi, had not. Now their soldiers keep dying, both army and SS, each in a manner more gruesome than the one before. Clearly something supernatural is involved which is brutally sucking the life from living souls. The Keep's occupation by foreign soldiers, and their continual tampering with the castle's structure while searching for "hidden gold," have released an evil entity - the MOST EVIL entity. When a message is found, written in blood in an unknown language, it is decided an expert must be called in to assist the investigation. Unfortunately for everyone, the SS major refuses to abandon the Keep, as this may look like a failure to Heydrich, Himmler and cohorts. An elderly, sickly Jewish scholar from Bucharest, knowledgeable about Romanian history, folklore and extinct languages, is ordered to the castle. Accompanying him is his lovely daughter, Magda.

Meanwhile, in Tavira, Portugal, a red-haired man awakens from a nightmare with a sense of foreboding. Grim-faced, he suddenly understands. He had hoped this moment would never come, but he is ready. He is called Glaeken, and he begins his trip across the 2300 mile length of Mediterranean Sea, through Turkey to Romania, immediately. Soon another war will begin, one which will rival even Hitler's war.

Parts of "The Keep" are extremely scary, horrifying actually. A fantasy element is also present in the explanation of the evil "entity's" history, and Glaeken's, along with the building of the Keep. I found this to be fascinating stuff. During these segments the novel is fast-paced and riveting. However, there are areas of the narrative which plod, and while I enjoyed the romantic subplot, I am pretty sure hard core horror fans will not. The gratuitous gore, is just that - unnecessary, and becomes almost comical at times - especially since the gore belongs to Nazis. Overall, I did enjoy this. It is not a masterpiece of horror but it will certainly hold your attention. Recommended!
JANA

Rating:
Summary: Top of the Game
Review: Plainly put, this book is a superb read. Check out some of the other reviews, And forget about what they say!!!
Read the book if you want a great experience, a good read, and a great chill.


Rating:
Summary: A Unique Horror Novel - Gruesomely Splendid Fiction
Review: This was the second F. Paul Wilson novel that I have read and I was totally taken aback. A novel that mixes the horror of Nazi Germany with the legends of Nosfataru. Wonderfully description fiction and superb character development mark what I now consider to be a piece of classic genre horror. Better than early Koontz

Rating:
Summary: Good but overrated
Review: I picked this book up because I kept hearing that it was a true classic of horror. It also seemed to stand out among fans as being Wilson's best work. While I enjoyed The Keep and agree that it is a very solid novel, I found that there were way too many flaws and annoyances to grant it such status.

During World War II, a German SS squad take over the Dinu Pass in Romania. Nestled deep in the Transylvania Alps, it is a direct link to Russia and the Germans want to solidify their position in the pass should relations between them and Russia deteriorate. Within the pass there is a castle-like structure referred to as "The Keep", which is where the Nazis barricade themselves and spend the night. But every night, a Nazi dies at the hands of an evil, inhuman apparition. Is it a ghost? A vampire? Dumbfounded, they bring in a Romanian professor who is an expert on local folklore (and who also happens to be Jewish) to shed light on the situation.

Mainly due to its setting in WWII, I was expecting this novel to be a relatively complex read for a horror novel but it's not at all. It reads very easily, and the WWII setting is clearly only a backdrop and things like war and politics are rarely discussed. It's really more of a pulp novel about an inhuman monster battling human monsters (The Nazis). Okay so who are we as readers supposed to root for? I wasn't sure myself. What I found original here is how Wilson suddenly made the monster into a tangible presence halfway through the book. It was fascinating to read about the monster's origin and history. Wilson also packs the first half of his book with loads of suspense. As the monster kills one Nazi per night, readers are kept on their toes as they wonder which will be the next Nazi to suffer a horrible death.

Now for the bad: The suspense, horror and intrigue Wilson built in the first half of the book almost completely disappears in the second half. The monster seldom kills people, the 3 new characters introduced are annoying (professor, his daughter and Glenn), and the entire mood of the story changes. It's not even a horror story anymore but makes a complete 180-degree turn into a medieval fantasy novel of ancient good versus evil. Add to that the sickly sweet romance between two of the characters and it completely kills the buildup the novel had. These romance scenes were incredibly cheesy, the writing punctuated by exclamation points all the time like "Oh, how I love him so!" or "How strong his arms were!" and made me feel like I was reading a dime-a-dozen romance novel from the supermarket shelves.

I suspect those people proclaiming "The Keep" to be one of the best horror novels ever simply have not read that many horror novels. I don't want to give the wrong impression however: I still think "The Keep" is a solid novel, therefore my 4-star rating. It just didn't turn out to be the classic I was expecting it to be.


Rating:
Summary: SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES...
Review: I first read this book over twenty years ago, when it was first released and loved it. I decided that it was time to give it another go around to see if my original opinion of it still held. Well, time has certainly not diminished the power of this book to hold the reader in its thrall. I still love this book, and it remains my favorite book by this author.

As far as horror stories go, this one is definitely up with the best of them. The author has written a riveting page turner with this tautly written, inventive tale. The author has taken some vampire folklore and given it a new twist. In the hands of this master of the horror genre, the quintessential battle between good and evil takes on a new dimension.

In Romania, deep in the heart of the Transylvanian Alps, lies the Dinu Pass. In April of 1941, a small squadron of German soldiers has been ordered to occupy a small, deserted, five hundred year old castle keep at the Dinu pass. From the beginning, Captain Klaus Woermann senses that there is something unusual about the keep. Looking as if it had just been built and inlaid with brass and nickel crosses in every corridor, crosses that the caretaker for the keep exhorts the Germans not to touch, the keep is an architectural oddity.

Soon the games begin, as an unseen force begins murdering his men. Captain Woermann sends a message to the high command. To his dismay, they respond by sending a Nazi squadron of einsatzkommandos under the leadership of SS Major Kaempffer to quell whatever local guerilla activity is, undoubtedly, responsible for the murders. Soon, these death's head troopers begin succumbing to the same fate as their German Army counterparts, and all hell breaks loose.

Enter the ailing Dr. Theodor Cuza, a Romanian Jew and former professor at the University of Bucharest. Although suffering from the ravages of scleroderma, he is ordered by the Nazis to the keep, as he is an expert in the history of the region. It is hoped that he will be able to shed some light on the mysterious keep and enable his hosts to defeat their unknown adversary.

Accompanied by Magda, his daughter, they find themselves confronted with the cruelty of the Nazis, the unexpected kindness of Captain Woermann, and something from their worst nightmares that has them call into question their deepest beliefs. Then, a mysterious red-headed stranger with piercing blue eyes also appears, and nothing is ever the same again.

This is one of the premier horror stories of all time. Bravo!