The Keeper

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Description

Two sisters. One town. Terrible secrets.

Susan; beautiful, disturbed and living in squalor, she wanders around the town, mute and accusing, an object of lust, fear and derision, the town witch, the town's guilty secret.

Liz; years younger than Susan, in her last year of high school, worried about her looks, her weight, how popular she is, whether she will ever escape from Bedford and above all why her sister hates her so much. You see, she can t stop dreaming about Susan, vividly, horrifically. Dreams in which Susan tries to kill her, dreams from which she awakes strangely bruised.

It turns out that everyone in Bedford dreams about Susan Marley. And when she dies, betrayed by life one final petty time, a hail of destruction is unleashed on the town of Bedford that is more terrifying than any dream.

Reviews

'Akin to the more ambitious work of Stephen King...this effective debut promises great things to come.' -- Publishers Weekly '[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 '[A] brilliant debut, heralding the arrival of a major talent.' -- Tim Lebbon, author of DUSK and BERSERK "A dark and bracingly bleak tale of supernatural terror." -- Ramsey Campbell, author of SECRET STORY 'THE KEEPER kept me up, late into the night...I'm hoping for a whole shelf of novels by Langan.' -- Kelly Link, author of MAGIC FOR BEGINNERS 'Deft and disturbing... twists expectations into surreal surprises... hypnotic reading - an assured and impressive debut.' -- Douglas E. Winter 'An astonishing first novel...chilling, haunting, and so smartly written that the pages fly by like the wind.' -- Ray Garton, author of THE LOVELIEST DEAD '...The new author on the block is definitely a keeper...' -- Edward Bryant, Locus Magazine '[THE KEEPER] will scare the heck out of you.' -- OK! Magazine 'THE KEEPER's a smart, brand-new take on the haunted house story. In vivid, compelling prose, which runs from the wry to the lyrical, Langan here gives us nothing less than a sharply realized portrait of an American town in the death-throes of decay. Susan Marley is a subtle juggernaut of a character --and she inhabits the mind once you've finished like a dark, lingering smoke.' -- Jack Ketchum, author of OFFSPRING 'Sarah Langan is scary, very scary... She mixes in bits of Stephen King, Lovecraft, Poe and Peter Straub, then pours out a thoroughly original and nasty concoction all her own... For one truly creepy read, latch on to The Keeper. Your dreams will never be the same.' -- CLARION LEDGER

Author Bio

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.