Product Description

Built on the Upper West Side, the elegant Breviary claims a regal history. But despite 14B's astonishingly low rental price, the recent tragedy within its walls has frightened away all potential tenants . . . except for Audrey Lucas.

No stranger to tragedy at thirty-two—a survivor of a fatherless childhood and a mother's hopeless dementia— Audrey is obsessively determined to make her own way in a city that often strangles the weak. But is it something otherworldly or Audrey's own increasing instability that's to blame for the dark visions that haunt her . . . and for the voice that demands that she build a door? A door it would be true madness to open . . .

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #87972 in Books
• Published on: 2009-10-01
• Released on: 2009-09-29
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 432 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780061624216
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Langan's lackluster third horror novel follows emotionally stunted, mentally ill Audrey Lucas as she moves into the Breviary, which seems the perfect Manhattan home for an up-and-coming architect. Rent is cheap; the building's Chaotic Naturalism architecture is rare and intriguing; and it lets Audrey get away from her troubled first romance. After learning that the apartment's last occupant drowned her four children before committing suicide, Audrey still opts to stay, but as apparitions and the building's other residents urge her to build a door, her sanity begins to slip. What follows is a slow, uninteresting story full of dead-end digressions, with nothing to keep a reader engaged. Langan (The Missing) knows how to write strong prose, but the story lacks punch and likely won't even appeal to fans of haunted houses. (Oct.)
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Review
"Langan's idiosyncratic blending of supernatural horror and character-driven, psychological insight proves captivating and pleasurably bone-chilling." (Booklist )

"Akin to the more ambitious work of Stephen King...this effective debut promises great things to come." (Publishers Weekly )

"Assured...Langan's characters come brilliantly to life...this is horror on a big scale, akin to the more ambitious work of Stephen King...this effective debut promises great things to come." (Publishers Weekly )

"Sarah Langan's debut novel THE KEEPER kept me up, late into the night. Do I bear her a grudge? Of course not! I'm hoping for a whole shelf of novels by Langan, and many other sleepless nights." (Kelly Link, author of MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS )

"[THE KEEPER] will scare the heck out of you." (4 stars! --Lindsay Hunter, OK! MAGAZINE )

"[A] distinct and juicy flavor all its own. THE KEEPER begins what should be a very fruitful career." (Peter Straub, New York Times bestselling author of IN THE NIGHT ROOM )

"...[I]nnovative, sharp, and absolutely chilling..." (Brian Keene, Bram Stoker Award winning author of Ghoul and Dead Sea )

"[THE MISSING is] as engrossing as a dagger poised at one's throat." (J.C. Patterson )

"Sarah Langan is one of the bright new hopes of horror - and intelligent, literary, ambitious author capable of scaring the ever-loving crap out of her readers." (Romantic Times BOOKclub )

"It's the only horror story I've read recently that finds adequate metaphors for the self-destructive properties of anger." (New York Times Book Review )

"A dark and bracingly bleak tale of supernatural terror. Its brooding atmosphere comes as much from the social and psychological as from the ghostly, and best of all, from the quality of the prose." (Ramsey Campbell, author of SECRET STORY )

"A subtle, bleak tone and well-drawn characters elevate this one above the pack." (--Rue Morgue )

"Deft and disturbing, THE KEEPER twists expectations into surreal surprises. Sarah Langan's tale of haunted lives and landscapes is hypnotic reading - an assured and impressive debut." (Douglas E. Winter )

"THE KEEPER is a brilliant debut, heralding the arrival of a major talent. This disturbing, spooky novel is written by someone who knows about dread, and imagery, and fear, and who knows that a good ghoststory needs soul." (Tim Lebbon, author of DUSK and BERSERK )

"Believable characters, deft writing, and an intriguing take on the haunted-house tale." (Romantic Times BOOKclub )

"A beautiful, suspenseful novel... that sets out to do exactly what it should: scare the reader with a combination of well-crafted prose and page-turning velocity." (Baltimore Sun )

"A genuine creepfest that recalls, in the best way possible, the early work of Stephen King..Langan has the control of a pro..this solid sophomore effort proves that the uncanny ability of The Keeper to burrow into readers' heads and stay there was no fluke." (Publishers Weekly (starred review) )

"...The new author on the block is definitely a keeper..." (-Edward Bryant, Locus )

...Combines a witches brew of toxic styles, mixing in bits of Stephen King, Lovecraft, Poe, and Peter Straub, then pours out a thoroughly nasty concoction all her own. (Madison County Herald )

"Echoes of Stephen King resound throughout Ms Langan's rich depiction of a mill town...the first fruits of a most promising career." (Washington Times )

About the Author

Sarah Langan received her MFA in fiction writing from Columbia University. She studied with Michael Cunningham, Nicholas Christopher, Helen Schulman, Susan Kenney, and Maureen Howard, among others, all of whom have been instrumental to her work. The author of The Keeper and the Bram Stoker Award-winning The Missing, she is a master's candidate in environmental medicine at NYU and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Customer Reviews

Good Old Fashioned Haunted House Story, Brrr
This is a good old fashioned haunted house story. Audrey is a woman with problems. She's coming from a bad and a sad past. She finally finds a man she can love and instead of accepting his proposal, she turns him down, she's not sure why. She wants a change, she's looking for a place to live, New York is expensive, don'tcha know. Then she sees an ad for a room in the Breviary.

Audrey is an architect and this building is an architect's dream. All the other buildings built in this style have come down, it's a miracle, she thinks, that this one is still standing. And the rent, so cheep. But the neighbors, save one, are old and creepy, but the neighbors are not the only tenants in this building.

After the first couple frights I might have moved, but Audrey sticks it out. Will she be scared plenty? You betcha. I got quite a few frights out of this story too. If you like early Stephen King and Dean Koontz or if you were a fan of the Late Richard Laymon's, you'll like this book. Read this one when you're all alone on a dark night. Brrr.

Very, very scary
Audrey's Door is an absolutely first rate novel of suspense and horror. It is so thrilling to discover a new favorite! I've always enjoyed writers like King and Straub, and thought that someone as good just wouldn't come along in my lifetime. This author may prove to be worthy of joining the list of excellent horror writers. Not since I first read Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House have I succumbed so totally to the mood of this genre.

The storyline? A young woman with a sad past and bright future finds a surprisingly low cost rental in Manhattan -- a beautiful building (and she is an architect) with an interesting history, a huge apartment with cathedral ceilings, stained glass windows, 50-foot hall way, and all for just $999 a month! What a steal! But wait! It seems that terrible things may have happened in that apartment rather recently, and in the building throughout its history. I guess that is a typical opening to many books of this genre -- but, trust me, in the hands of this artist, there are some interesting twists and turns in the story, and all the characters are drawn beautifully -- really filled in so that each one is a fully realized person in the story.

I loved the main characters, with all their flaws -- Audrey, with her obsessive compulsive disorder and shame about her personal history, her wonderful boyfriend of India Indian heritage, her crazy mother, her boss... all of these are just great characters.

I hope this book gets all the attention it deserves! I plan to take a weekend in the near future and read all of this author's books!

A great thriller
This novel is a great thriller that leaves the reader wandering what those sounds and shadows are in the dark. I'll admit that it gave me nightmares one night. Throughout the story the reader learns more about the narrator's history while wondering if she's about to follow the same path as her mother. While there was plenty of mystery and revelations, I did figure out one major plot point, but even so, that didn't take away from my enjoyment of the novel as it remains a well-written page-turner.