Wednesday, August 24, 2005

Creepers -- David Morrell

A few years ago I got what I thought was a terrific idea for a book. I'd been reading about urban infiltrators, people who go into long-abandoned buildings and tunnels at night and explore them. I checked out a bunch of websites and took several pages of notes, but I never did anything with the idea.

It's just as well that I didn't. David Morrell had the same idea, and he's done a dandy job with it. He's more twisted than I am, so he was able to come up with all sorts of horrible things that would never have entered my mind. He's used them all in Creepers, his new novel from CDS Books.

Five people enter the Paragon Hotel, abandoned and deserted for many years. Or so they think. Before they're inside long, it turns out that rats and mutant cats are the least of their worries. The old building is falling down around them, and they have company. Bad company. Things start happening on the first page of Creepers, and they don't stop until the end. You won't be able to guess what's coming, since some of the people aren't at all what they seemed to be, and their motives for entering the Paragon aren't what they said they were.

And that's all I'll say about the plot, so as not to spoil the fun for you. OK, one other thing. I think that Stephen King once said that an essential requirement for a book like this is that "anyone can die at any time." Consider the requirement met.

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