The Keep: The Adversary Cycle, Book 1

The Keep by F. Paul Wilson was published in 1981 and became an immediate bestseller. A movie based on the book was released two years later. (We'll come back to that.) It's easy to see why the book hit the bestseller lists. It has all the right elements, including an intriguing premise, spooky supernatural happenings, a passionate romance, and a fast-paced, easy-to-absorb narrative style. Wilson says his inspirations for the novel were the works of Robert Ludlum, Robert E. Howard, and H.P. Lovecraft. As unlikely a mixture as that may sound, all of those influences are clear in the text.As the story begins, the young Sturmbannführer (Major) Erich Kaempffer, of the SS, has been chosen for an important post in Romania. He'll be in charge of opening a death camp in Ploiești -- a real feather in his cap! But before he can take up his post, the German High Command wants Major Kaempffer to look into (and resolve) a small issue of some concern. Captain Klaus Woermann, of the regular German army, has been posted to a small castle-like structure in the Carpathian Mountains, where he and his men are to guard a strategic pass from the Russians. Woermann's men, however, are being killed, one by one, each night, and he can find no answer to what's causing those deaths. The Captain has, therefore, asked permission to move his men out of the keep. This is unacceptable to High Command, and, therefore, Major Kaempffer has been tasked with investigating the matter and putting an end to the killings.Kaempffer finds this annoying for two reasons. First, it delays him from taking up his real work, which will advance his position in the party. Second, he has a history with Captain Woermann, whom he dislikes. The two men's distaste for each other adds an extra level of conflict throughout the book.Back when Woermann arrived at the tiny village in the Dinu Pass, he discovered that the keep was maintained by a caretaker named Alexandru and his two sons. Alexandru warned the Captain that he and his men would not be able to stay in the keep. When asked why, the caretaker told him that bad dreams drive people out. Woermann, of course, found this amusing, dismissed the warnings, and had his men begin setting up electrical lights and generators, weapons emplacements, and barracks in the keep. As for who owns the keep and pays for its maintenance, Woermann could find no answers.It is at first assumed that some kind of resistance movement must be behind the deaths of the German soldiers in the keep. When Kaempffer arrives, he uses brutal SS tactics to terrorize the villagers into giving up the rebels. But it becomes obvious that something else is in play when Kaempffer is confronted one night by the animated corpses of two of his own men.Woermann and Kaempffer learn from the local innkeeper Iuliu that a Jewish scholar from the University of Bucharest, Professor Theodor Cuza, is an expert on the history of the region and may be able to help them figure out what's behind the killings. Although Kaempffer is unhappy with relying on a Jew, the dying Professor Cuza and his daughter Magda, who takes of him, are quickly brought to the keep against their will.Cuza is highly resistant to the idea that he can help the Nazis in any way, but he becomes intrigued despite himself when he is brought a cache of books that had been found hidden in a small chamber in one of the walls. This is one of my favorite parts of the book, though it may pass right by non-fans of H.P. Lovecraft. As an in-joke on the author's part, all of the books and manuscripts that are brought to professor Cuza are directly taken from Lovecraft's work or other writers who participated in the Mythos-related writings. For those who are interested, here's the list:• The Book of Eibon "du Nord translation" (from Clark Ashton Smith)• De Vermis Mysteriis by Ludwig Prinn (from Robert Bloch as Mysteries of the Worm)• Cultes des Goules by the Comte d'Erlette (from Bloch)• The Pnakotic Manuscripts "in manuscript form" (from H.P. Lovecraft)• The Seven Cryptical Books of Hasan (from Lovecraft)• Unaussprechlichen Kulten "by von Juntz" (from Robert E. Howard as Nameless Cults)• Al Azif (from Lovecraft, original Arabic name for the Necronomicon)The Ludlum influence becomes obvious at this point in the narrative. When Molasar, the evil presence trapped in the keep, reveals himself to Cuza, he asks questions about the Nazis who have invaded his domain and soon proclaims his desire to drive them from Romania and to kill their leader, Hitler, in Germany. Of course, Cuza becomes eager to ally himself with Molasar and to help him escape the keep. F. Paul Wilson does a masterful job of compounding lies with deceits with trickery and then slowly opening the reader's eyes to what's really going on.Meanwhile, as these events transpire, in Portugal a red-haired man called Glenn has undertaken an arduous journey over land and sea to the Carpathian Mountains. In the course of his journey, it becomes clear that Glenn has not only an implacable will but superhuman strength. When he arrives at the keep, his mission is clouded in secrecy. He forms an uneasy alliance with Magda (who is a scholar in her own right), and eventually the two of them fall in love with each other. Together they will stand against Molasar (and Magda's father) in a battle with the highest stakes possible.Wilson isn't afraid to make use of some horror movie tropes that may make you shake your head at their cheesiness, but nobody said this was high literature. If you're in the mood for a good thriller with a side helping of the supernatural, this is a fun read. And, spoiler, don't worry, the Nazis in the keep all come to a hideous end.-----After reading the book, I decided to rent the movie on Amazon Prime because I was curious to see how it made the transition from page to screen. As I watched, I kept thinking F. Paul Wilson must have felt like he'd been stabbed in the heart. Michael Mann, who wrote and directed the film, threw out almost everything that was good about the book and turned it into a disjointed, incomprehensible mess. Avoid it at all costs.

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

This book was recommended to me by a friend because she loved it, so I was so scared I'd hate it and upset her. Luckily it's easy to see why she loves it so much!The plot is fast paced and creepy from the beginning. Not just because a mysterious force is killing soldiers but because we get to see inside the minds of murderous Nazis; a quite destrubing experience.I love the way this book is written. The author builds a palpable atmosphere that kept me wanting to read more and thoroughly spooked. The setting is described beautifully, the characters well developed and easy to relate to. The mythos behind the keep and the creature within is intricate and revealed slowly to keep the reader guessing. I poked a few holes in it at the half way point which were satisfyingly filled as the book went on.The only problem I had was with the female character, the only one in the book. It's the old cliché of a male writer writing a female character poorly, and it begins with her description. When Magda is introduced to the reader we learn that she has long hair and then, over two whole paragraphs, we learn that she has magnificent breasts. That's all the reader gets. Two whole paragraphs about her chest!As if that weren't bad enough, when the narration switches to her point of view, there is bearly a moment when she isn't thinking about men. I don't really understand it. The reader is told she is an accomplished musician and scholar and her relationship with her father is wonderful. Yet, apparently, she spends half her time thinking about men. It bothered me immensely.I will definitely look into more books from the author because, other than the female character, I really enjoyed the writing style and the book over all. Thanks to this book, I'll think twice before following any secret passage ways in castles!!!

Beginning in Warsaw, 1941, this novel combines a Second World War story with Horror, creating a good mix of genres. Erich Kaempffer is a member of the SS and has just been promoted to become Commandant of Ploiesti – a new concentration camp in Romania, which is set to rival Auschwitz. Kaempffer is a dedicated man, who delights in murder and violence and also hopes to make himself a personal fortune. However, before he can set off to his new career, he is asked to visit a small army detachment, stationed in the Alps, shortly north of Ploiesti. There have been frantic messages from their commanding officer, Captain Klaus Woermann, saying that they have suffered losses and asking permission to relocate. Kaempffer is asked to go and see what is wrong before being allowed to take up his new position.Of course, Woermann is known to Kaempffer, and their past history is one of conflict. As such, and with a much more lucrative post ahead of him, Kaempffer is keen to investigate, solve this issue quickly, and move on. The message from Woermann states, “Request immediate relocation. Something is murdering my men.” Imagining the problems to be partisans, Kaempffer sets out for the Keep. This turns out to be a perfectly placed tower, with endless crosses embedded into the walls. Two of Woermann’s men, thinking treasure is buried somewhere within the Keep, have accidentally released something of malevolent evil, and terrible power, which is now free to kill and to keep on killing.Despite all evidence to the contrary, Kaempffer insists the problem is something that he can solve with force. Eventually, he and Woermann track down Professor Theodor Cuza, an academic who has studied the Keep for most of his life, and bring him, and his daughter, Magda, to the Keep to help him solve the mystery of who is killing Woermann’s men. Also, there is another man, who is travelling across Europe, on a mysterious mission involving the Keep. There is much irony in the fact that Cuza is Jewish and his own faith is also tested in this interesting novel. This is a horror novel which has a very interesting setting and characters. A good read, this is the first in the Adversary Cycle and is followed by “The Tomb.”

I read the Keep after being amazed at the movie made by Michael Mann, and starring Scott Glenn, and Sir Ian Mckellan.Well the book had me hooked.It follows a very similar plot to the movie, but I felt was much more absorbing for a horror book, it felt like a Brian Lumley/Shaun Hutson/Lovecraft style of horror story.The Plot centers around an entity that is accidentally awakened by a group of German soldiers who take over a keep.Once released the entity does what such entities do and kills without remorse, and we find that there is a stranger who is "awoken" to fight the evil.Its very atmospheric and shows what traditional horror should really be, especially in the period of time that the film is set, i.e.. during the second world war.Though indications are a setting in Transylvania, this isn't about Dracula or vampires, thankfully. Though I suppose you could draw parallels in places between Dracula and Van Helsing, but I didn't really think that reading it.

The Keep sounded like it had all the ingredients that I would like in a vampire/horror story.This inc.the German army during the 2nd world war taking over a mysterious keep in Romania as a vantage point. Immediately soldiers start dyeing and the German command send an Nazi SS death squad there to help sort the problem out. It becomes clear that it might well be a super natural problem and the only person they think has the knowledge to help them is a Jewish Professor who is crippled by an arthritic type disease and is cared for by his daughter. So the SS have to enlist the help of 2 Jews whilst an unseen evil carries on ripping the throats out of the soldiers.So you get the picture and the book starts very well and carries on in quite a unique way with this exciting blend of characters and i enjoyed it a lot, particularly how the tables of power turn from the very unpleasant Nazi SS to the Professor and his daughter.Then a stranger turns up carrying a strange long thin box on horse back who knows the history of the keep and it's dark secrets.The book then starts being very predictable and almost feels like it was finished by a different person or was done in a great hurry.It losses the creepiness it had in the first 2/3rds and it's atmosphere and I felt became rather boring which is a shame. I've given the book 3 stars although I feel it deserves 2&1/2 stars.Having said that ,it's certainly not the worse book I've ever read, just a shame about the latter part of the book.

Ancient evil terrorises remote Nazi outpost: I picked this up in a second hand book store years ago, not expecting too much. I have since re-read it several times. It's a cracker of a horror tale combining the immortal struggle between good and evil, with an unexpected take on the vampire myth; all appropriately set in a spooky old Eastern European keep against the backdrop of WW2. I had no idea, until Recently that it was one of a series but will now be checking out the other titles by this author. Thoroughly recommend for horror fans.Update: I have now read two other novels by the same author - they seem to be pretty popular so check out the Repairman Jack books if you feel inclined, but don't expect the same level of satisfaction that The Keep delivers. Not in the same league in my opinion.