I loved the setting of this book, an abandoned hotel full of history and secrets. What I didn't love was the patchy way the plot was thrown together. Several times during the story I got the sense of things being tacked on to keep the action running. I felt like it was all too contrived and not realistic. The characters lacked depth and believability. ( )

I've read three or four of Morrell's books in the past and always found them fair...nothing I'd recommend to anyone other than a hard-core thriller fan, but they passed the time. Unfortunately, this one did not reach that level for me; I disliked it.

Up front, let me say that I apportion some of the blame for this on Patrick Lawlor. This was an audio book for my commute and my usual fare for this purpose is read by some of the really good readers out there: Patrick Tull, Nadia May, Frederick Davidson, etc. I found Mr. Lawlor's reading kept getting in the way of the story as my attention would be caught by him, rather than the tale. That's a cardinal no-no and I'll avoid his presentations in the future.

That said, even in print the story wouldn't really have appealed to me. First, the whole plot felt like it was constructed out of clichés. Without spoilers, think of "horror-type" thriller movies out there and you'll be able to put together a lot of the elements of this one—the scarred-by-the-past psychopath, the "don't leave the group!" moments, the "don't go in there!" scenes. Second, it felt rather contrived...you know, the violent lightning storm breaking out just when the characters need their cell phones type of thing? Third, Mr. Morrell needed to heed Chekhov's advice and tighten up the loose strands of the plot. There were too many plot elements introduced that went nowhere, such as the love quadrangle that was observed repeatedly in the beginning but ended up being irrelevant and largely forgotten by the end of the story.

However, the real cause of my reaction is mostly due to the constant use of two techniques I absolutely hate. First, everyone speaking in dangling sentences to create "tension":

We've got to..."
No.
But, if we don't, he'll...

It was endless. It drove me crazy.

The second was the constant "As you know, Bob" moments of the first half of the book. Put in a darn prologue if you want to info-dump and stop making people sound like characters in CSI: Miami. ( )

More thriller than horror, more angst and action than plot, this was nonetheless a fast and mostly entertaining read. Perfectly satisfactory for a chill fall night's reading. ( )

A while back I decided toread all the winners of theBram Stoker Award for best horror novel from the beginning (1987) to now (2009). Two years and twenty-three books later I have read a lot of really good books, a few really great books, one average book, and two books that really surprised me with how good they were. This week I'll be looking at the first of those two; Creepers by David Morrell.

Lets begin with the fact that this book is actually a little different than the horror I usually read: no monsters, no supernatural, and no end of days scenario to be seen. Actually this book takes place in the (previously unknown to me) world of urban exploring. Basically, this pastime involves exploring closed or condemned buildings in cities, and involves a lot of climbing, personal danger, and comfort with dirt.

Creepers is actually the popular nickname for these urban explorers and they are definitely a real thing, check out one of their Canadian websites at http://www.uer.ca/

The author, David Morrel is actually most famous for having written First Blood (The novel that the first of the Rambo films was based on), which by the way is an excellent book in its own right, ends differently that the movie, and took me over a year to find in various used-book stores before I could read it.

The story itself leans more towards Thriller than Horror; basically it follows a group of Creepers as they explore an abandoned hotel while some very nasty thieves are up to the same thing, so it involves the adventure of exploring an old building with a treasure hunt and a lethal game of hide and seek.

I really, really dug this book and I have to say that although I wasn't expecting much at all from it initially, it was by far one of my favourite Horror books of the last 10 years. (Suck it, The Ruins.)

Check out my actual blog at http://wisdomofbookmonkey.blogspot.co... ( )

For me, Creepers started as a book I absolutely could not put down. I think a big part of it is that I like urban exploration of abandoned places and Morrell's descriptive writing put me right there with the characters in the Paragon Hotel. Toward the middle, however, when the three hooligans show up it started to turn to a more typical thriller. Then when they were suddenly no longer the baddest guys in the room, it got almost worse. Not to say the book was bad, because it wasn't. It was just rather mediocre after a while. There were some interesting bits and I think what the other reviews say is true, the characterization was a little on the weak side. The plot was engaging enough and it ended fine, though I wish the beginning didn't start with the end. It would have started fine with the meeting at the motel. Either way, I rate this book 4/4 though it isn't likely I will read it again. ( )