The Keep: A Novel of the Adversary Cycle (Book 1) by F. Paul Wilson - Horror Thriller, Supernatural Suspense - Perfect for Dark Fantasy Readers & Repairman Jack Fans

This was the first book that I read by F. Paul Wilson, and it is still the best.The pacing, characterizations, and novel aspects of the Keep make it a book that I have re-read numerous times.If imitation is the most sincere form of flattery then the Keep wins. It was made into a movie (OK, not a great movie, but still a major release film), a comic, and a role-playing adventure for Dungeons and Dragons.Spoilers follow ...The premise of the story is that there has been a war between cosmic forces. The bad force is called the Otherness, and the good force ... well, the good force is just kind of neutral towards people. That is revealed in later books by Mr. Wilson.)There is a Lovecraftian feel to the concept, but it is probably most closely related to Paul Edwin Zimmer's series of books where he posits a world by world war between the evil, seven Great Ones and the forces of light and goodness.Long ago, during the first age (14-15 thousand years ago), the last battle raged on Earth between these forces using forces that would be described today as magic. In the end, there were only two champions left, Rasalom [Eeeeeevil] and Glaeken [Good]. Glaeken was imbued with many powers by the forces of good. Glaeken is able to defeat Rasalom in that pre-history, final battle, but Glaeken enjoys being an immortal demi-god. As long as Rasalom is not destroyed, Glaeken figures that he can continue to live forever. This turns out not to be the best plan though, because, unfortunately, Rasalom continues to come back. Think of the Black Plague ... Rasalom. Think of the Great Flood ... Rasalom. Yes, yes, there is a pattern here. At some point, prior to WW II, Glaeken is able to defeat Rasalom and inter him in a remote Keep.That will teach him!And for a few years ... all is well ...As the story begins, the Nazis are moving into a remote village and taking over a cursed keep. The entire keep is covered with metal runes that appear to be some version of a cross, but the reader comes to find out that these are psychic conduits for the power of good from Glaeken's magic sword's hilt.The Nazis move into the Keep and begin doing the bad things that Nazis do. Rasalom feeds off of the Nazis' evil acts and grows stronger, influencing the Nazis to do even more evil acts.Eventually Rasalom convinces the Nazis to release him and to remove the sword hilt from the Keep, releasing Rasalom into the world.Dum - dum - dum ...So, Glaeken is forces to fight Rasalom in a climatic battle on the walls of the crumbling Keep, and eventually slays Rasalom again.With Rasalom gone, Glaeken's immortality fades, the sword shatters, and the hero wins the mortal girl of his dreams; they go off to live happily ever-after.One of the best things about the Keep is that the author reveals the back-story gradually. The reader is given just enough information chapter by chapter to give the descriptions of the events additional meaning, but not enough to spoil the story.For example, when the Keep is first breached, Glaeken receives a psychic warning and he has to travel from the Greek coast up into the Carpathian Alps.Also, even the secondary characters do reasonable, logic things. When Glaeken attempts to enter the Keep across the drawbridge, the Nazis lay waste to him with submachine gun fire. Yes, that is what they would have likely done.All in all, a very good read!I highly recommend the Keep!Now an addendum ... since Mr. Wilson wrote this book, he wrote a whole series of follow-on books that eventually saw Rasalom reborn and (after nine books or so) casting a giant curse that would bring the Old Ones back to the Earth.In the original series, the final climatic scene finds the heroes from all of the various intermediate books sitting around a table in New York city with a reforged magic blade and the original magical hilt. Each of them slams the hilt onto the tang of the blade, and nothing happens ... until Glaeken does it, and then the sword lights up with holy fire.Glaeken, who is an old man at this point, staggers out to the biggest, baddest nearly hatching "Bad Thing"(TM) and destroys Rasalom's nearly metamorphosed Eeeeevil form.It was a wonderful end to a very fun series.At some point though, Mr. Wilson decided to introduce a new character, Repairman Jack, into the mix and started re-writing the whole series.Honestly, I am torn.I have read several of the Repairman Jack novels, and Mr. Wilson's writing has only gotten better over the years. Also, Jack makes a compelling character. While Glaeken was kind of a superman, Jack is more ordinary. He still exhibits close to supernatural abilities in some areas (e.g., resisting the uber-virus in Hosts), but he can get beat-up, feel pain, and even be killed.Mr. Wilson has hinted that Repairman Jack will play a critical road in the new final novel (to be released in 2012), but I am hoping that Glaeken does strike the final blow against Rasalom again this time around.[I was fairly bummed when Glaeken's bride from the Keep was revealed to be suffering from dementia in By the Sword. While reasonable, it was an unnecessary downer.]In service,Richthe Original Dr. Games since 1993