GtPGKogPYT4p61R1biicqBXsUzo" /> Google+ Book Review: The Keep: A Novel of the Adversary Cycle (Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack, 1) by F. Paul Wilson | I Smell Sheep

Thursday, March 31, 2022

Book Review: The Keep: A Novel of the Adversary Cycle (Adversary Cycle/Repairman Jack, 1) by F. Paul Wilson

by F. Paul Wilson
December 7, 2010
The Keep is the first book in the Adversary Cycle from bestselling author F. Paul Wilson

"Something is murdering my men."

Thus reads the message received from a Nazi commander stationed in a small castle high in the remote Transylvanian Alps. Invisible and silent, the enemy selects one victim per night, leaving the bloodless and mutilated corpses behind to terrify its future victims.

When an elite SS extermination squad is dispatched to solve the problem, the men find something that's both powerful and terrifying. 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.

I read THE KEEP years ago, after making the mistake of seeing the film version. The movie is pretty bad, but it had some cool ideas and an interesting enough plot. So when I saw there was a novel, I gave it a chance. And I am glad I did.

THE KEEP takes place back in WWII when the Nazis swept Europe. They take over an abandoned keep, even after the locals warn them it’s cursed. Soon, one of their soldiers is slaughtered every night. The Nazis have to bring in a scholar who happens to be Jewish. And then a mystery man arrives from nowhere. He’s there because the monster in the keep has awakened.

I was immediately captivated by all the conflicts and subplots running underneath author F Paul Wilson’s absolutely frightening vampire creature. He doesn’t shy away from actual history, from the Nazis claiming they’re the ‘superior race’ to addressing the concentration camps. Wilson does this so you are actually torn with who is the worst evil. You 100% want the vampire to destroy the Nazis. But if this monster gets out of the keep, it kills everyone. It’s heart-pounding genius.

I recently saw the movie was back on cable. And it made me read the novel again. THE KEEP is even more impressive now. I highly recommend this classic for its original spin on the ‘haunted’ castle story, its unbelievable tension on very human levels, and for reminding us, vampires are supposed to be monsters from your darkest nightmares.

Five out of five sheepses.




REVIEWED BY Belle Bivdavo

About the Author:
I was born toward the end of the Jurassic Period and raised in New Jersey where I misspent my youth playing with matches, poring over Uncle Scrooge and E.C. comics, reading Lovecraft, Matheson, Bradbury, and Heinlein, listening to Chuck Berry and Alan Freed, and watching Soupy Sales and horror movies. I sold my first story in the Cretaceous Period and have been writing ever since. (Even that dinosaur-killer asteroid couldn't stop me.)

I've written in just about every genre - science fiction, fantasy, horror, young adult, a children's Christmas book (with a monster, of course), medical thrillers, political thrillers, even a religious thriller (long before that DaVinci thing). So far I've got about 55 books and 100 or so short stories under my name in 24 languages.

I guess I'm best known for the Repairman Jack series which ran 23 novels. Jack is out to pasture now, but I may bring him back if the right story comes along.

I'm tired of talking about myself, so I'll close by saying that I live and work at the Jersey Shore where I'm usually pounding away on a new novel and haunting eBay for strange clocks and Daddy Warbucks memorabilia. (No, we don't have a cat.)

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