Creepers

By: David Morrell

Narrated by: Patrick G. Lawlor

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.

©2005 David Morrell (P)2005 Brilliance Audio

Critic reviews

"Morrell delivers first-rate, suspenseful storytelling once again." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Lawlor fills the listener's ears with heart-stopping terror. Definitely not for the timid." ( AudioFile)

Fun and exciting and then...

I loved the idea around this book; investigating an old house and finding out secrets...and the story stayed riveting three quarters of the way through..I wanted to know more aobut each mystery...but then it just seemed to just grind away...

Robert's Review

Over all its a Good story. The narrative is ok.
some of the people in the story are weak and really put of the reader. But it's worth getting.
I do recommend this book.

David Morrell fan

This wasn’t my favorite type of story but it was interesting enough to keep me listening.
I like his spy type novels but this had enough mystery of who, what, where to make it worth listening to.
I didn’t really like the narrator but found him more tolerable by slowing the speed to .90. It didn’t make the book longer but helped me tolerate his voice.

I learned a lot from this book

As a veteran, many thoughts were roused within. What ultimately won me, was the almost beheading being retold. Now, the whole story kept building with unexpected turns galore. The moral of the story contrasts one with traumatic experiences, allowing them to make him better, and the other allowing them to make him worse. Masterfully suspenseful. Narrator was perfect for the job.

well written

I really didn't know what to expect and every page had a surprise. scary but had to carry on listening

Great read

Creepers is a good story with some nice twist and turns. Just creepy enough to keep hard core horror readers interested but not much gore for the squeemish.

Couldn't put it down.

Right up to the, end the story kept me on the edge of my seat.

not horror = more like thriller

Don't go into this with the mindset of supernatural. this is just thriller that's just a step away from procedural

Great plot twists; wish there'd been more history

What did you love best about Creepers?

That it was continually surprising. It starts out almost like a Hardy Boys novel, with four young people and a college professor equipping themselves with flashlights, hardhats, etc., to go exploring inside an abandoned and dilapidated once-grand hotel in Asbury Park. But it turns into anything but -- and then it turns again, and again. Very inventive plot, with no dei ex machina and only a few elements that stretch credulity. I also really appreciated how -- unlike most thrillers -- it avoided being formulaic.

Who was your favorite character and why?

SPOILER ALERT: I liked the three guys from "Joisey." They weren't exactly nice or anything, but they were well-drawn, and acted with perfect logic in accord with their own agendas and characters. Also liked Amanda because of the way she kicked butt.

What does Patrick G. Lawlor bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Not sure he made it that different from reading it would be, but to me that's a good thing. I like an unobtrusive narrator, who doesn't use an overly dramatic voice for the scary bits or thrills, and who doesn't overdo the differences in the characters's various speaking styles. Someone who allows you to approximate the experience of reading the book in print. (I prefer to read in print, but if I limited myself to print books, I'd only have time to do a small fraction of the reading I do via audiobook.) I like how he performed the Professor's voice -- it was well-distinguished from the others' and fit the character perfectly.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

I dunno ... tag lines ain't my specialty. Off the top of my head: "Creeping through abandoned buildings at night ... Don't do it alone!"

Any additional comments?

I really wish there had been a lot more about the history of Asbury Park, and less emphasis on the fictional story and the thrill-a-minute/cliffhanging stuff. I had previously read Morrell's "Murder as a Fine Art," in which Thomas de Quincy becomes both a suspect and a sleuth with regard to a series of gruesome murders, and I think Morrell got the balance right in that book between the "history lessons" (about 19th C London, a series of 1811 murders known as the Ratcliff Highway murders, and 19th C police procedure as well as De Quincey) and the suspense/mystery/thrills. I had expected that "Creepers" would similarly get into all the gritty details of Asbury Park's history, but it was more of a quick survey course in the beginning.

But otherwise, a great story, nice narration -- highly recommended.

Great Story

I have read "Creepers" at least a dozen times, and this audiobook lived up to my expectations. The narration isn't perfect, but I thought Patrick Lawlor did a fine job. He still creates an atmosphere of creeping unease and anxiety.