Brian Keene

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Common Knowledge

Birthdate: 1967-09-22
Gender: male
Occupations: author
Organizations: United States Navy
Awards and honors: Bram Stoker Award (2001)
Bram Stoker Award (2003)
Shocker Award (2004)
World Horror Convention Grand Master Award (2014)
Relationships: SanGiovanni, Mary (wife)
Short biography: BRIAN KEENE is the author of over twenty-five books, including Castaways, Ghost Walk, Dark Hollow, Kill Whitey, Unhappy Endings, Dead Sea, and many more. He also writes comic books for Marvel Comics and others. Several of his novels and stories have been optioned for film, one of which, The Ties That Bind, premiered in 2009. Also in 2009, another of his novels was adapted for the stage. The winner of two Bram Stoker awards, Keene’s work has been praised in such diverse places as The New York Times, The History Channel, The Howard Stern Show, CNN.com, Publisher’s Weekly, Fangoria Magazine, and Rue Morgue Magazine. Keene lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, son, dog, and cat. You can communicate with him online at www.briankeene.com.
Nationality: USA
Places of residence: York, Pennsylvania, USA
Associated Place (for map): Pennsylvania, USA

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Brian Keene has dissapeared from my Borders Horror Section... in Thing(amabrarian)s That Go Bump in the Night (August 2011)

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401 reviews

asukamaxwell 302 reviews

The Complex by Brian Keene

"𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘕𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘱𝘦. 𝘕𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘥. 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘺. 𝘚𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 "𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘦𝘴" 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘶𝘱𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘦 𝘝𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘈𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 show more 𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥. 𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬."

Living alone, without any significant others or dependents, author Sam Miller of Apt 1-D is about to end it all when he hears the screams outside. Through the course of one horrific night he'll come to know his neighbors: Stephanie, a young trans woman; Terri and Caleb, a young single mother and her little boy; Mrs. Edna Carlucci, a widow with no patience for nonsense; Shaggy and Turo, two unemployed thieves; Grady Hicks, an elderly Vietnam vet, and Javier Mendez, a serial killer (or savior?) known as The Exit.

It's been too long since I've read Brian Keene, and I'm so glad I picked this one up. I used the poster from the 2010 remake film "The Crazies," because Keene was inspired by the original Romero 1973 film of the same name. And if you have seen either film, you'll know that action starts almost immediately and never lets up. I had to read this in one sitting! The violence and carnage are brutal, and none of the characters are prepared for what was unleashed. They are not modern super heroes or trained Special Forces, just humans trying to survive. No one knows the cause of the insanity and I'm grateful that Keene kept it a mystery. Doing so left more room for dialogue, suspense and character interaction. I was genuinely invested and there's no hint who is going to make it or not. My only qualm is with Mendez. His backstory stands out, and I was hoping for something resembling a resolution. But one of the last lines of the book, I think, sums these folks up perfectly: "See us for who we really are..." After all, your neighbor isn't just a voice behind a wall, they may be the one who saves your life. show less

Apr 29, 2026

Carol420 5,416 reviews

Ghoul by Brian Keene

Three twelve-year-old boys that are looking forward to spending the summer in their hidden fort, doing what boys of that age do...eating junk food, reading comic books, and talking about girls. Things are right on plan until the boys are faced with having to battle monsters...both real life ones in their own homes and the ancient terror that has taken up residence in their town’s cemetery: a ghoul. I have always liked this type of horror because it’s such a definitive time in our lives. show more It's been many years, but I remember being twelve. Everything seemed larger than life, and even the smallest thing felt like the world as I knew it was surely going to end before I went to bed. At that age so much of our mortal existence depended on the adults in our lives. If something should have happened that you were sure was "Twilight Zone" fodder, something that threatened your stable young life, you could just tell the adults in your world that were surely put there to grant your every wish... (HA HA), and even though they never really believed it...they would try to make "IT" go away" and make you feel better. In horror stories the children are always to be believed, even if they tell their adults that there is a glowing, naked ghoul that is hell-bent on impregnating the women of the town...those that it isn't planning to have for lunch...in its lair right under the town's cemetery! That pretty much describes what the boys encountered in this story.... an overly excited, corpse-eating ghoul in the "home life" of two of our young protagonists, Doug and Barry. I won’t go into details because that’s for the reader to discover. You’ll go into this book expecting a "creature-feature" offering with only blood and carnage, but you will close the book with tears in your eyes and your heart torn in half. This author is very, very good at presenting this kind of story. He will take you on a journey with Ghoul, and it will be visceral, painful and emotional. If this is your first time with Brian Keene, consider this an amazing introduction to horror at its stellar best. show less

May 23, 202420 other reviews

coachtim30 322 reviews

The End of the World As We Know It: New Tales of Stephen King's The Stand by Christopher Golden

The Stand is in my top 5 books of all time. I don't read it every year like Brian Keene does, but I have read it a number of times. So, as you could imagine, I, like thousands of other fans, waited patiently with bated breath for this compilation of short stories honoring, and possibly expanding, the world that Stephen King created years ago. Sadly, for this reader, these stories, for the most part, were a series of Captain Trip-ups. As a former public school teacher, I'd have to grade this show more project as a "C" overall. To help me keep a running list of the ones I liked, I gave each author a grade after reading their story. Only 16 grades of "B-" or higher out of 34 stories. And, unfortunately, there were a few "D's" in there, too.
The ones that stood out for this reader were those by Jonathan Janz (overall best), Rio Youers, Robert Cargill (2nd best), Sarah Langan, Joe Lansdale, S.A. Cosby, Chuck Wendig, and Usman T. Malik. Those on the other end of the scale (which shall go unnamed) seemed phoned-in.
My disappointment (M-O-O-N, that spells "disappointment", laws, yes) stemmed mainly from the lack of any true connection with the novel and the characters. Oh yeah, there are plenty of references to dreams, Captain Trips, Mother Abagail, and The Walking Dude, but NOTHING about the other characters. It was stories about those characters that I was most looking forward to. (Maybe Mr. King would not allow that I don't know.) The only exception to the above was a story with Mother Abagail as the central character, written by Wayne Brady and Maurice Broaddus, which was just okay.
I don't want to deter any fan of the novel from picking up a copy of The End of the World As We Know It, just be ready for a different tack on the novel than you might expect. show less

½

Nov 25, 202514 other reviews

TLBarrett 2 reviews

Hole in the World (The Lost Level) by Brian Keene

If you are looking for a tense adventure into deadly territory with a large group of hapless fellow mortals than strap in, because that is what you get with Brian Keene’s Hole in the World. Over the past few years I have become a fan of Keene’s work which usually dwells primarily in the realm of supernatural horror. The Ghoul, The Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Dark Hollow are my personal favorites. I haven’t read his entire library; as when I enjoy a writer, I like to ration my show more consumption. When I received an early review copy of this book I was surprised to see that this book seemed more of a weird/sci-fi horror story.

Hole in the World imagines an airport shuttle full of people that end up in a strange new world. Without explanation, the survivors of the initial crash through dimensions must manage to survive in a jungle landscape that holds a wonderland like variety of horrors and deadly encounters. Keene’s excellent use of tense situations and visceral horror courses throughout this quick read. If that is what you want, then you will be satisfied glutting on the deadly story of strangers having to rely on each other and make split second decisions in the face of perpetual danger. However, if you are looking to connect to characters on a human level, or even follow a normal character arc of development you are out of luck with this one. There are so many characters in this group, none of which really rise to central protagonist. The first chapter introduces so many folks that you should prepare for flipping back continually just to remember who each one is.

This book acts as a kind of prequel or fun exposure to the universe Keene has written about in the Lost Level series. If you are a fan of those, this short read is a must. If you just want to watch one of the most entertaining storytellers working in the horror genre today play in a gruesome sandbox filled with unexplained phenomena, alien threats, killer plants and dinosaurs, then Hole in the World is right where you want to be.

I rate this book at three enraged dinosaurs. show less