Keep On Keepin' On

by Amy Shearn

When Halloween comes around this year, forgo the tired old horror movies and curl up with National Book Award nominee Jennifer Egan's new novel The Keep (Random House, $23.95). There hasn't been a creepier book in a while. Narrated by a mysterious inmate in a maximum-security prison, The Keep follows a pair of reunited cousins renovating a castle somewhere in Eastern Europe. Ancient castle veined with secret passages and dungeons? Check. Spooky old (possibly shape-shifting) baroness who refuses to leave the tower? Check. Backstory involving the tragic death of twins, which somehow contains echoes of a terrible incident in the cousins' own past? Check plus. Egan's sly sense of humor and zingy way with dialogue keep things even more interesting. When one character asks, "So how would you define this conversation?" the other shoots back, "It's an acknowledgement of the chasm between us." (Ouch.) Part gothic romance, part ghost story, and peppered with Egan's startling insights into the role of communication and loneliness in contemporary life, this is one brainy page-turner that will have you leaving the lights on at night.

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