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From multiple New York Times
best-selling author David Morrell comes a spine-tingling tale
of action, suspense, and terror.
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.
Balenger, the 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.
About Urban Exploration
“Creepers” is the slang term
for urban explorers: history and architecture enthusiasts
who share a keen fascination with exploring abandoned buildings
and tunnels. The Internet reveals hundreds of thousands of
urban-explorer contacts throughout the world. But for every
group that decides to publicize itself, there are many who
don’t—because urban exploration is illegal and
so unsafe it can be deadly. Authorities impose serious jail
terms and/or fines to discourage it. Creepers liken their
adventures to the covert-ops military expression for invading
hostile territory: infiltration. As www.infiltration.org indicates,
the objective is “places you’re not supposed to
go.”
David Morrell is the award-winning
author of First Blood, the novel in which Rambo was
created. With eighteen million copies in print, his work has
been translated into twenty-six languages. He is the author
of twenty-eight books, including such novels of international
intrigue as The Fifth Profession, Assumed Identity,
and Extreme Denial. His most recent publication is
the dark-suspense thriller Creepers.
He holds a Ph. D. in American Literature
from Pennsylvania State University and taught in the English
department at the University of Iowa. Noted for his research,
he is a graduate of the National Outdoor Leadership School
for wilderness survival as well as the G. Gordon Liddy Academy
of Corporate Security.
He is also an honorary lifetime member
of the Special Operations Association and the Association
of Former Intelligence Officers. He has been trained in firearms,
hostage negotiation, assuming identities, executive protection,
and anti-terrorist driving, among numerous other action skills
that he describes in his work.
Co-president of the International Thriller
Writers organization, he is considered to many as the father
of the modern high-action novel.
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