Creepers
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Written by David Morrell.
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($24.95)
Editorial Review (from Amazon.com)
On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and begin preparations to break into the Paragon Hotel. Built in the glory days of Asbury Park by a reclusive millionaire, the magnificent structure - which foreshadowed the beauties of art deco architecture - is now boarded up and marked for demolition.The five people are “creepers,” the slang term for urban explorers: city archeologists with a passion for investigating abandoned buildings and their dying secrets. On this evening, they are joined by a reporter who wants to profile them - anonymously, as this is highly illegal activity - for a New York Times article.
Frank Balenger, a sandy-haired, broad-shouldered reporter with a decided air of mystery about him, isn’t looking for just a story, however. And after the group enters the rat-infested tunnel leading to the hotel, it becomes clear that he will get much more than he bargained for. Danger, terror, and death await the creepers in a place ravaged by time and redolent of evil.
User Reviews (3) Login or create an account to write a review.
Jax thinks this book is Worth Reading.
A group of urban explorers enter an abandonned hotel and find that some places are best left abandonned. Worth making a movie out of it.
Sharon thinks this book is Excellent.
I throughly enjoyed this book. This is the first book that I've read by David Morrell but it won't be the last. When the book begins the cast of characters are planning to go and do some "urban exploring" of an old hotel in Asbury Park, NJ. By the end of the book the reader finds that everything that was supposed to be true of these characters isn't exactly true at all. If you enjoy a book with lots of twists and unexpected happenings then you will love this book. Also if you are interested in "urban exploring" go to the website www.theparagonhotel.com and check out some of the links from there...lots of interesting reading there also.
MaTitwonky thinks this book is Terrible.
I bought this book for two reasons: the overwhelmingly excellent reviews it received, and the fact that the book is about urban exploration, a subject about which I knew nothing. I thought the latter would make it interesting, and since I was familiar with David Morrell's writing, I thought it simply couldn't miss as a riveting, good book. Wrong on both counts.
While there is information about what urban exploration entails, if I wanted to know more on that subject, I should have either found a different novel on the subject OR read a book devoted to the discussion solely of "creepers" (the name for people who engage in urban exploration). Still, the first 100 pages of this book did hold my interest. After that it went decidedly downhill.
The character of Frank Balenger is an ex-army Ranger and an Iraqi war veteran. He's posing as a journalist so that he can be included in this group of urban explorers who want to search through the Paragon Hotel in Asbury Park, New Jersey. It soon becomes clear that Balenger is really a cross between Rambo, McGyver, and Dear Abby. Balenger has the answer to every question, he comes up with solutions to the most intricate problems, and if challenged, there is no doubt he could bend steel with his bare hands. Even after it is revealed who Balenger really is, there's no accounting for how he knows what he knows and why on earth anyone in the group should trust and believe him since he's lied to and duped them all. Well, all except for the team leader who isn't what he purports to be either. I was also put off by the women characters in this book. Naturally since they are the victims of the forces of evil at work at the Paragon Hotel, they're stupid. But when the chips are down, at least one of them, found in a place and wearing an outfit that defy description, pulls herself together and almost puts Rambo to shame.
I know people believed this book to be a thriller. I thought it was predictable, and by the end I was laughing through most of the drama. The coincidences piled up faster than I could absorb and giggle at them, and Balenger, by the end of the book, was more of a caricature than he was a believe action hero. The sequel to this book is now out in hard cover. The reviews are glowing. I'll pass.