Josh's sister, Julia, moves to London and isn't heard from for 8 months. One morning, her body is found cut to pieces and dumped into the Thames River. Josh and his girlfriend, Nancy, fly to England and attempt to find out what happened to Julia. The police are stumped and have no leads. They end up running into Ella, a psychic medium, while combing the neighborhood looking for anyone that might know Julia. Ella not only knew her, but she offers to conjure up her dead spirit so that they can communicate with her. After exhausting every other means to find her, to no avail, they reluctantly take up Ella on her offer. What they find is that there are doors to other dimensions and that an old Mother Goose nursery rhyme is the key that allows them to pass through the present London that they know and into other Londons that have different realities. Some are stuck in 1930's technology and the American Revolution never happened. Another dimension finds London at war with America during World War II time, except this is the American Revolution with Germany as England's ally. In each dimension, there are Doorkeepers called the Hooded Men that hunt down anyone that comes through the doors into the different worlds. As Josh and Nancy follow Julia's trail through a door into another dimension, what they find is pure terrror.The Doorkeepers is a great story and my first from Graham Masterton. He has a wonderful way of telling a tale that is vibrant and the characters are fully fleshed out. I found myself buzzing along through the story and not wanting to put it down. There are scenes in the Doorkeepers that are truly horrific and one that made me cringe in discomfort simply from reading it. That's the kind of unsettling that I love to discover when I'm reading horror. You'd think from that description that Graham pours buckets of blood drenching the story. This isn't the case. There is blood, but it takes you by surprise and kicks you in the gut when it springs out from the story instead of numbing you by reading page after page of it. Story and characterization is Masterton's trademark and it shows in the Doorkeepers. My only complaint is that ending felt rushed like he had a double-decker bus to catch and needed to wrap the story up before he missed it. Other than that, I really enjoyed my first dabble into experiencing Masterton and I look forward to my next.4 1/2 bloody doors out of 5You can also follow my reviews at the following links:https://kenmckinley.wordpress.comhttps://www.goodreads.com/user/show/5...http://www.amazon.com/gp/profile/A2J1...
This was the first novel that I read from Graham Masterton, and I was damn glad I chose to read it. Graham Masterton is a brilliant horror writer, perhaps the very best out there today in my humble opinion. The Doorkeepers is a spellbinding tale of alternative history and parallel universes, chocked full of the horrific elements that makes Masterton so good. The story starts off with a dead body floating in the Thames. The dead woman's brother, Josh, and his girlfriend Nancy travel to London to investigate the murder. Through some good sleuthing involving an old address, a psychic, and clues from a nursery rhyme, Josh and Nancy find a doorway that leads to a whole different kind of London which is frighteningly Puritanical in nature, and find themselves being hunted down by the Hooded Men.This leads to other doorways and other versions of London in what was a fascinating narrative that I could not stop reading. Masterton does a great job of weaving mystery and suspense, building intrigue as the story progresses. As a writer, I am continually wowed by Masterton's craftsmanship. His pace, his voice, his narrative structure are all so flawless. He is also a master of spine tingling terror and although this is more than just a horror novel, the scares never let up. All in all a fantastic piece of literature that I would unequivocally recommend.Carl Alves - author of Two For Eternity
What do You think about The Doorkeepers (2003)?
This is a wonderful book. What at first seems like a revenge story turns out to be so much more. Julia, an American, is murdered under mysterious circumstances in London, and her brother Josh (along with his wife Nancy) follow in her footsteps, hoping to find out what really happened to her. Along the way, they meet a medium named Ella who holds a seance for them. Shortly after, they discover a secret passageway to a parallel London, where the American Revolution never happened, and there are creepy hooded guys running around, enforcing God's law and harming as many "Purgatorials" (people from alternate universes) as possible. Things get absolutely crazy in this book, especially when the Holy Harp is brought into it. I have never read something more depraved than the scene with the Holy Harp, and I'm familiar with the work of Laymon, Ketchum and Lee. The ending is absolutely horrifying. This will satisfy your need for horror. Definitely.
—John Bruni
This book was AWESOME .... until the end made me shout WTF??!!The story is imaginative and exciting, with suspense and horror and thrills galore. I love the way Masterton blends actual historical fact with his mythos. Very thrilling for history buffs. A couple small plot things were left unanswered, but I was okay with that.Then came the epilogue. And what the hell is up with that?!Luckily, since it's an epilogue, I can choose to ignore it. So I will. If you read this book, you will want to know that the original publisher told the author at least 10 pages had to be cut to make it of "suitable length for library publication." He was moving house at the time, and you know how stressful that is, so he just agreed.Later he found out they cut what he thought was one of the most important sections of the story.So he has the deleted section on his website. You should definitely read it.
—Susanne
I don't read Graham Masterton because his books are life changing or great writing, they are pure entertainment. This book felt like it was cranked out because of a deadline or something of that ilk. First the editing was atrocious. There were missing words; There were sentences that were divided by a period, not even where a comma could go, just randomly inserted. Second, the premise of the book was that some protestants in a parallel universe were torturing and killing non protestants their big target was Catholics. Whenever anyone appeared in their reality they told people that they were rejects form purgatory and should be put to death. Problem is purgatory is a Catholic belief not protestant so anyone who believes the people appearing from the parallel world are from purgatory would be Catholic. Pergatory should not exist for the non-Catholics. This was a bit distracting.This won't keep me from reading more by this author, but I hope the next few on my bookshelf make a little more sense.
—Rebekkila
