The Keep / F. Paul Wilson

The Keep

category: horror, author:

F. Paul Wilson

book 1 of The Adversary Cycle
published by Tor,
original copyright 1981, read in September 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Soft-core horror...

Not that there is such a genre. Not by that name, anyway. What I mean is, all the traditional elements of horror -- with no edge... no real nastiness.

Or perhaps I'm just inured to nastiness...

Beautiful virgin, heroically masculine experienced man, aged scientist, ancient evil creature from the prehistory of the world, an army of zombie minions... All the elements of a standard horror potboiler.

Luckily enough, I prefer to avoid the really nasty... If a book gives me nightmares -- I would rather not have read it. The Keep is easy to read, enjoyable, lightweight horror. A good book to read to pass the time.

There is, however, one more interesting aspect to this book...

The evil creature of The Keep feeds on human suffering. He enjoyed his time working with Vlad the Impaler. For those who live on human suffering, Vlad's antics would be just a light snack -- compared to the multi-course feast of Nazi Germany.

Yes, The Keep is set in WW II. German soldiers are killed -- horribly. Nazi storm troopers are killed -- nastily. The evil creature kills dozens of these soldiers (plus a few villagers). But...

But the evils of the evil creature pale into insignificance against the evils of the Nazis of WW II. Yes, it's human cruelty a clear winner.

The evil creature is trapped. If it escapes, it will grow huge and all-powerful, feeding on the human cruelty of Nazi Germany. That's a future threat, to add some suspense to the story.

The real horror, is what humans -- Nazis -- are already doing.

There are all sorts of ancient evil monsters, lurking in every shadowed and mysterious dark place of the world. Put one foot wrong and unspeakable evil will be released upon the world.

Avoid all the dark and hidden places of the world -- and there is still enough horror to fill endless books. Human-kind has a history of horror. Wilson takes an ancient evil... And adds Nazis, for a truly bloodcurdling -- though still lightweight -- chill of horror.

..o0o..

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