Creepers: A Novel

On a cold October night, five people gather in a run-down motel on the Jersey shore and begin preparations to break in to the Paragon Hotel. Built in the glory days of Asbury Park by a reclusive millionaire, the magnificant 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. Frank Balenger, a 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.