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74th out of 208 books
—
143 voters
The Keeper (Keeper #1)
by
Sarah Langan
Some believe Bedford, Maine, is cursed. Its bloody past, endless rain, and the decay of its downtown portend a hopeless future. With the death of its paper mill, Bedford's unemployed residents soon find themselves with far too much time to dwell on thoughts of Susan Marley. Once the local beauty, she's now the local whore. Silently prowling the muddy streets, she watches e...more
Paperback, 400 pages
Published
August 29th 2006
by HarperTorch
(first published 2006)
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Aug 29, 2007
John
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Someone I'd want to confuse...
Shelves:
ivereadthis
I don't know. The story seemed good, the characters were well developed, but it just went no where and the author, in her freshman attempt does manage to create a certain tension but the transitions are way too unbelievable in a book where on one hand the supernatural is subtle and on the other it attempts to be grandiose. Oh, and the ending completely falls apart. I managed to finish it but it was a difficult task.
My first book of the year turned out to be entirely unplanned--an impulse purchase at Albertson's when I went down there yesterday to pick up various staples. The Keeper is apparently a debut horror/suspense novel, and the blurb made it sound halfway interesting, so I figured what the hell.
There are a lot of oft-used tropes in this book: the run-down New England town, the creepy abandoned locale where nobody wants to go, the townsfolk full of secrets and in many ways just not right, the crazy yo...more
There are a lot of oft-used tropes in this book: the run-down New England town, the creepy abandoned locale where nobody wants to go, the townsfolk full of secrets and in many ways just not right, the crazy yo...more
Back in Horror's heyday, the masters (Straub, King, et al.) would crank out 500 to 800 page apocalyptic tomes, usually set in some small town filled with secrets, that never seemed to end. At the end of these novels, everything would blow up. I was never a huge fan, not because I didn't like horror (I love it), but because for me, horror works best with a tighter, smaller focus, with an emphasis on atmosphere (I'm a Ramsey Campbell fan). Give me dread over explosions any day. Langan's Keeper is...more
Having read Langan's second book (The Missing), I picked this book up soon after. After a few pages of reading I realised that I'd started the books backward & that this book was supposed to come before it. By the time I finished this book I was slightly glad that I'd read this one first. I do have to say that I prefer this book over the second one.
The book follows two sisters, the dreamy eyed Susan who wanders the town & frightens all of it's inhabitants as well as terminally depressed...more
The book follows two sisters, the dreamy eyed Susan who wanders the town & frightens all of it's inhabitants as well as terminally depressed...more
Goodreads Description- Some believe Bedford, Maine, is cursed. Its bloody past, endless rain, and the decay of its downtown portend a hopeless future. With the death of its paper mill, Bedford's unemployed residents soon find themselves with far too much time to dwell on thoughts of Susan Marley. Once the local beauty, she's now the local whore. Silently prowling the muddy streets, she watches eerily from the shadows, waiting for . . . "something." And haunting the sleep of everyone in town with...more
Mar 22, 2010
Linda
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Shelves:
suspense,
kindle,
death,
paranormal,
sisters,
survival,
2010,
horror,
sexual-abuse,
contemporary-fiction,
small-town,
families-in-crisis
The town of Bedford, Maine is dying, little by little. The paper mill is closed; families are leaving looking for better lives; the kids that live there cannot wait to graduate high school and get out. Liz Marley is one of those girls hoping to leave behind her family and sister Susan. Susan is the specter of the town; wandering around, not speaking to anyone and somehow invading the thoughts of all the people in the town. When Susan falls to her death in a terrible accident all the dark secrets...more
Well, I must say for my first enviromental horror story I found it very well written. It read in such a way (for myself) that I couldnt put it down till I figured out what exactly was going on. Now that I think on it...King wrote in such a way, I'm sure others have, but its King that comes to mind on something other than people who can bring about a happening (a place, a thing) that effects humans and the horror it brings. This time its a factory in a small town that has slowly leaked its posion...more
After reading and enjoying Sarah Langan's most recent novel, Audrey's Door, I decided to try her first novel, The Keeper. I didn't like is as much as Audrey's Door, but it wasn't bad for a first novel.
There is something wrong with Susan Marley. The residents of the small town of Bedford, Maine cross the street when she approaches and blame her for all their problems; especially for the terrifying things that dominate their dreams. But it's not just Susan, the whole town is haunted thanks to its...more
There is something wrong with Susan Marley. The residents of the small town of Bedford, Maine cross the street when she approaches and blame her for all their problems; especially for the terrifying things that dominate their dreams. But it's not just Susan, the whole town is haunted thanks to its...more
I've read two of Langan's books--Audrey's Door and The Missing--and thought they were excellent. I just couldn't get into The Keeper. There was not one character that I felt was genuine, and I hated them all.
The characters are two-dimensional, and even the town drunk and dedicated sheriff couldn't make me care for them.
The characters are two-dimensional, and even the town drunk and dedicated sheriff couldn't make me care for them.
2 likes · like · see review
Rain and zombies come to a small town in Maine. Scary stuff. But why do things like this always happen in Maine? I tell you what... I read this book while on vacation in Utah. Someone should write a horror novel about a small town in that state. Snow and zombies in Park City. That would really be scary.
2 likes · like · see review
Dark, creeping horror come to the town of Bedford, Maine, in this novel that has shades of Stephen King all over it. Not that it is derivative or could have been written by King, but there is a similarity in the slow-building atmosphere of gloom, the use of multiple points of view, and the increasing pace of freaky and supernatural events, all building to a crescendo of destruction and death and, well, you get the picture. If you don’t, I suggest you read the book, as it is well worth your time....more
This book is both a disturbing and fantastic read. I found myself reading it in large chunks, staying up til 4 in the morning for two reasons: 1) It was 'un-putdownable' and 2) it got to me so much that I wanted to get through it as quickly as possible, like getting blood taken!
I thought I had a dark and twisted mind but Langan takes the biscuit! In fact, reading her work has inspired me to let loose even more with my own writing...
Overall, it's a must-read but not for the faint-hearted. It wil...more
I thought I had a dark and twisted mind but Langan takes the biscuit! In fact, reading her work has inspired me to let loose even more with my own writing...
Overall, it's a must-read but not for the faint-hearted. It wil...more
One of the saddest horror stories I've read. Essentially a ghost story, the ghost in Sarah Langan's excellent debut novel is a twenty-three-year-old woman long ago abandoned (and in the case of her father, abused) by her parents, slipping into dementia sometime after high school. She wanders the town and is a known fixture in the local bar and on the sidewalks, where she ambles along, not speaking, giving everyone in town a real case of the creeps.
The other ghost is the town itself, once known f...more
The other ghost is the town itself, once known f...more
I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, I did not. The characters were deep and detailed, but I felt like there was no follow through on the story itself. The middle to the end seemed rushed, and most of what was written was just fragmented sentences and repeating the same thing. "She hated her family. She loved her family. She wanted to kill them. She wanted them to live." Just sentence after sentence of opposites like that. Those aren't actual quotes because I already returned the book...more
With advance accolades coming from the likes of Straub and Ramsey Campbell, it’s easy to be caught up in the promotional blitz of such a book – even easier to be let down against the backdrop of such hype. But Langan doesn’t disappoint with a debut so entrancing, so unnerving, and so downright chilling that readers will feel as if they’ve witnessed the birth of a bona fide classic and the beginning of a literary career of the King-Straub-Campbell caliber by the time they read the final sentence....more
This is my second Langan read, after Audrey's Door, and I do think Langan's stories have a particular flavor. Troubled young women struggling with mental illness are featured in both. Both books are quite dark and can be difficult to read at times. There are definitely moments in both of them that are gut-wrenchingly sad. But Langan writes in a readable style that keeps me going throughout no matter what. She shines at character development. People in her books are very realistic and many times,...more
1 like · like · see review
2.5 Stars
A dark tale of a small town and it's inhabitants. The story is focused on the Marley family, a defunct paper mill, and how the residents of this depressing small town get caught up in horrific events. The story fits somewhere in between a witch tale, a ghost story, and a family drama.
The story was quite slow to start, as it didn't really pick up until half way through. The author took quite some time to establish the characters, which was good for characterization, but boring for plot....more
A dark tale of a small town and it's inhabitants. The story is focused on the Marley family, a defunct paper mill, and how the residents of this depressing small town get caught up in horrific events. The story fits somewhere in between a witch tale, a ghost story, and a family drama.
The story was quite slow to start, as it didn't really pick up until half way through. The author took quite some time to establish the characters, which was good for characterization, but boring for plot....more
3 stars. The Keeper is, at its essence, about a dying town. All the rest is allegory in the form of supernatural, with a bit of scape-goatism thrown in for effect. I enjoyed it for its originality, but felt that the ending was a bit pat. (view spoiler)
Langan's writing is engaging enough, and I would be interested to read more of he...more
Langan's writing is engaging enough, and I would be interested to read more of he...more
I picked this up because of the recommendation on the front cover by Peter Straub. His Ghost Story was won of the books that enthralled me as a 14-year-old heavy reader. I guess I have matured over the past 30 years because the genera did not grab me like it used to. I like uplifting and while [spoiler!] then ending gives a somewhat happy ending, it shows the warts of a town all to closely...especially if you have ever spent much time in a very small town. I love small towns, but they all have t...more
A very Stephen King-esque offering from Sarah Langan. I mean that in the best possible way, too. The story follows the flawed inhabitants of a dying mill town in Maine. Central to the story is a young woman who walks in a circular path around the town, haunting peoples' thoughts and invading their dreams. Creepy.
I liked Langan's writing style and overall I liked the story. Some elements were predictable and I'd go so far as to call some of them cliche, but the character of Susan Marley was so we...more
I liked Langan's writing style and overall I liked the story. Some elements were predictable and I'd go so far as to call some of them cliche, but the character of Susan Marley was so we...more
"The People in This Town Were Like Strange and Varied Songs":
Individual Autonomy vs. Communal Ties
in Sarah Langan's The Keeper
Christopher Snyder
April 12, 2013
Little Red Schoolhouse
(undergrad vers.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 1 -
¶ Under the guise of a horror novel, Sarah Langan's The Keeper
(2006) explores the horror within us all: Sartre's “other people.”
By, of, and for them, the churning unease in the face of the
“other" — any “other,” any at...more
Individual Autonomy vs. Communal Ties
in Sarah Langan's The Keeper
Christopher Snyder
April 12, 2013
Little Red Schoolhouse
(undergrad vers.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
- 1 -
¶ Under the guise of a horror novel, Sarah Langan's The Keeper
(2006) explores the horror within us all: Sartre's “other people.”
By, of, and for them, the churning unease in the face of the
“other" — any “other,” any at...more
I think Good horror novels need to contain sleeper images; the reader thinks that the scare is contained within the paper and ink, not realizing until after the book is closed what the author wormed into her brain. Read It and try looking at a storm drain in the same way after that. The Keeper by Sarah Langhan makes good use of her gift of the sleeper image. She’s skilled in imprinting the oogie-boogie in your mind to revisit you even after you think you’ve left the town of Bedford, Maine behind...more
Why does so many bad things happen up in the Maine/New Hampshire area? I think I am going to avoid going there. LOL.
Susan Marley lived through a horrific childhood - just barely. People she trusted betrayed her and the things she did to protect her little sister went unnoticed and unappreciated. These incidents gave birth to an unstable Susan who strikes back at those around her in the only means she can - their dreams. As the rains fall, the little town begins to drown both figuratively and li...more
Susan Marley lived through a horrific childhood - just barely. People she trusted betrayed her and the things she did to protect her little sister went unnoticed and unappreciated. These incidents gave birth to an unstable Susan who strikes back at those around her in the only means she can - their dreams. As the rains fall, the little town begins to drown both figuratively and li...more
I'll start, and you finish', the woman said. 'Once upon a time there was a little girl and she was very unlucky She was born in a haunted place where nothing ever died.'
Susan Marley is crazy. Betrayed by her family and friends, she stopped speaking when she was a teenager and wanders mute through the streets of Bedford, Maine. And everyone in town dreams about her, although they don't talk about that, and try not to think about it either. But although Susan is the townspeople's scapegoat, things...more
Susan Marley is crazy. Betrayed by her family and friends, she stopped speaking when she was a teenager and wanders mute through the streets of Bedford, Maine. And everyone in town dreams about her, although they don't talk about that, and try not to think about it either. But although Susan is the townspeople's scapegoat, things...more
She's been compared to both Stephen King and Peter Straub (and, for the record, I'd say she leans a little more toward the latter than the former), but if The Keeper proves anything it's that Sarah Langan has developed a voice all her own. With a poetic sensibility she creates a haunting atmosphere and chilling imagery without ever bogging down the narrative. In fact, though it may seem almost aimless, the plot comes together like a dark mosaic, piece by piece, until the whole is revealed.
The Ke...more
The Ke...more
This book is a hard one to describe. It's set entirely in a small city called Bedford, Maine. Its inhabitants are mostly lower middle class, small town people. They drink, they gossip, they work. Recently their main source of income, the paper mill, was shut down, leaving many of them jobless and with very little to do. Most leave, but some stay. Haunting the town is Susan Marley, a clearly crazy girl who, quite frankly, creeps everyone out. Roughly halfway through the book, Susan dies. Then, sh...more
Story:
Bedford,Maine is a ghost of its former self. Once a bustling mill town that era has finally came to an end whith the company who ran the mill moving on to greener pastures. With the last source of employment drying up, the town teeters on the brink of oblivion. In this limbo the mysterious Susan Marley wanders the town and the residents dreams. When anyone looks at her they seem to rember things that they would rather forget. Susan Marley has a secret and soon that secret will bring peopl...more
Bedford,Maine is a ghost of its former self. Once a bustling mill town that era has finally came to an end whith the company who ran the mill moving on to greener pastures. With the last source of employment drying up, the town teeters on the brink of oblivion. In this limbo the mysterious Susan Marley wanders the town and the residents dreams. When anyone looks at her they seem to rember things that they would rather forget. Susan Marley has a secret and soon that secret will bring peopl...more
At first, I was going to give up on this book because it seemed so very odd. I couldn't piece together what exactly was going on. But the story between Bobby and Liz made me stick it out. In the end, I was still thinking that it was probably one of the strangest books I've ever read... very Stephen King-esque. BUT... it was good, too. A bit hard to follow, but worth the read. I can totally see this book as a movie. In fact, I think it would make a better movie than book.
I have mixed feelings about this book. Very Stephen King-esque: small town in Maine with a lot of dark secrets; ghosts that do horrible things; killing main characters. It seemed she was trying for a more literary novel, but didn’t achieve that goal, but neither did it fit comfortably into a popular horror novel format. Also, took way too long to get started; the pacing and sequencing of the chapters was awkward.
So horror appears to be when bad things happen to everybody despite anything good or bad they've done in life--in short, pathos. But the writing in this is excellent with some beautiful metaphors and a highly readable narrative style. And unlike Frankenstein, this one has an overall theme of forgiveness and redemption. Langan does manage to turn one of the pathos stories into a tragedy, which in itself is excellent proof that she knows how to write. So few writers know true tragedy anymore ...
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Sarah grew up on Long Island and went to college in Waterville, Maine, where she published her first story, "Sick People". She got her MFA in creative writing from Columbia University, and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
In addition to writing novels, she is also pursuing her Master's in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology at New York University.
Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding...more
More about Sarah Langan...
In addition to writing novels, she is also pursuing her Master's in Environmental Health Science/Toxicology at New York University.
Bram Stoker award winner for outstanding...more
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“The sight of her made him understand why he'd lost his faith in God.”
—
1 person liked it
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Apr 13, 2008 07:37am