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Серия самоубийства на тийнейджъри в едно тихо градче край Ню Йорк се превръща в сензация за жълтата преса. Не остава назад и „Ню Йорк Стар“. Тази тема е като гилотина за Джон Уелс, защото собствената му дъщеря се е самоубила на 16 години. Но трагедията с тийнейджърите разпалва поредната му жестока схватка с шефовете на вестника и полицията. Защото в градчето броди Смъртта в човешки образ и всички старателно я прикриват. Не и от Уелс, обаче. Независимо от всичката болка на света, той е ловец на истини. Тъй както другите са ловци на хора.
След „Жега“ и „Сурово правосъдие“ това е третият роман на Кийт Питърсън /псевдоним на Андрю Клаван/ от поредицата за Джон Уелс.
След „Жега“ и „Сурово правосъдие“ това е третият роман на Кийт Питърсън /псевдоним на Андрю Клаван/ от поредицата за Джон Уелс.
176 pages, Paperback
First published February 1, 1988
97 people are currently reading
181 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 4, 2022
Another great Andrew Klavan mystery. He never has let me down for pure reading pleasure.
January 26, 2024
Perhaps 25% of this book was interesting enough to keep me going to the end. Featured, I suppose, is the career of news reporting and how it can put the focus on the reporter vs the predicaments humans find themselves in when loved ones die and reporters report. John Wells is the reporter who things happen to, and I didn't care for him so will not carry on with the series.
Thank goodness I bought this one on sale for $1.99, not the usual price of $7.99.
Thank goodness I bought this one on sale for $1.99, not the usual price of $7.99.
January 28, 2022
I enjoyed my quick trip through this crime novel. Lots of vintage Klavany Goodness touches throughout: dialogue that rings authentic, highly imaginative and disturbing quasi-supernatural scenarios, leggy blondes, snappy, humorous observations and asides, and then those unexpectedly moving passages of pain and trauma, love and loss, that just sear into the heart. Even with all the good stuff inside, though, this one did not hang together as tightly as a typical Klavan.
A couple notes on what did not quite work for me:
Other than those picayune points, the fact is: A Klavan novel is a Klavan novel, and I like all the Klavany Goodness I can get. I will surely read the next 3 John Wells novels in this 4-book series.
Fun fact #1: Another favorite author, Alex Berenson, ALSO wrote a series of John Wells novels. These are spy-thrillers, rather than crime-detection. So I will be reading his first John Wells novel next. Oh, the bliss!
Fun fact #2: I like how Andrew Klavan, an author I follow on this site (and, obviously, adore) rates all his books as five stars on Goodreads. That always makes me smile. I love him.
A couple notes on what did not quite work for me:
Other than those picayune points, the fact is: A Klavan novel is a Klavan novel, and I like all the Klavany Goodness I can get. I will surely read the next 3 John Wells novels in this 4-book series.
Fun fact #1: Another favorite author, Alex Berenson, ALSO wrote a series of John Wells novels. These are spy-thrillers, rather than crime-detection. So I will be reading his first John Wells novel next. Oh, the bliss!
Fun fact #2: I like how Andrew Klavan, an author I follow on this site (and, obviously, adore) rates all his books as five stars on Goodreads. That always makes me smile. I love him.
October 26, 2022
Edgar Award nominated Keith Peterson mystery, spotty but with patches of brilliance
The Trapdoor is a 1988 John Wells mystery novel by Andrew Klavan published under his Keith Peterson pseudonym. It was nominated for an Edgar Award in the Best Paperback Original category. While it didn't make the cut, Klavan is a two-time Edgar Award winner for other novels and recipient of many other awards and honors. Having read Klavan's personal biography and his second novel, Agnes Mallory, I assume he used his pen-name to distance himself from his first two novels which he describes as a bit pretentious and an attempt to be taken seriously as a young author.
Despite the Edgar Award nomination, I found The Trap Door to be spotty at best, with patches of pure brilliance mixed with patches of clunky descriptive prose, improbabilities, and awkward plot devices. I realize these John Wells novels were meant to be both stand alone and part of a series. And as three of them were published in one year, 1988, I assume this one--from its tone--was meant to be the first.
I may be wrong.
Suffice to say this is the story of a New York City court journalist who gets assigned to write a human interest piece on a series of teen suicides in a rural county of New York. The journalist, John Wells, lost his own daughter to a suicide following his divorce from his wife. This episode caused the haunting nightmare sequence that gives the book its title. Wells is convinced that his editor purposely gave him this assignment to drive him from the newspaper.
The assignment turns complicatedly and Wells comes to believe some of the suicides were murders meant to hide several town secrets. The occasional dips into nightmare and seemingly dreamlike moments are the book's highlight. Other aspects are awkward plot devices that give the novel a chunkiness (for lack of a better word). I was quite disappointed with the speed in which this wrapped up and the missed opportunity to have accomplished the same thing by letting one of the bad guys commit suicide himself. Seems to me Klavan/Peterson missed a chance at giving the plot a more ironic and "just" ending. The way things concluded were too neat to me, the ending left me feeling a bit like, "Did I miss something?"
Andrew Klavan fans will probably enjoy this, as will those who like not-quite-cozy mysteries set in the 1980s. I personally have a distaste for stories about journalists solving crimes and engaging in fisticuffs, but this was set in 1988 when journalists had a lot more testosterone and street cred. That being said, the action scenes in this novel are clunky and left me dissatisfied.
I find it odd that Klavan/Peterson, a NYC Jewish writer who was also a journalist, should have a main character in a series named John Wells. Because fast forward to the early 2000s and another NYC Jewish journalist named Alex Berenson would use the name John Wells for his twelve part thriller series about a CIA agent in the War on Terror. Was Berenson doing this as a paean to Klavan/Peterson? Who knows.
Read this if you must; but it weaves back and forth between brilliance and pedestrian in my mind.
The Trapdoor is a 1988 John Wells mystery novel by Andrew Klavan published under his Keith Peterson pseudonym. It was nominated for an Edgar Award in the Best Paperback Original category. While it didn't make the cut, Klavan is a two-time Edgar Award winner for other novels and recipient of many other awards and honors. Having read Klavan's personal biography and his second novel, Agnes Mallory, I assume he used his pen-name to distance himself from his first two novels which he describes as a bit pretentious and an attempt to be taken seriously as a young author.
Despite the Edgar Award nomination, I found The Trap Door to be spotty at best, with patches of pure brilliance mixed with patches of clunky descriptive prose, improbabilities, and awkward plot devices. I realize these John Wells novels were meant to be both stand alone and part of a series. And as three of them were published in one year, 1988, I assume this one--from its tone--was meant to be the first.
I may be wrong.
Suffice to say this is the story of a New York City court journalist who gets assigned to write a human interest piece on a series of teen suicides in a rural county of New York. The journalist, John Wells, lost his own daughter to a suicide following his divorce from his wife. This episode caused the haunting nightmare sequence that gives the book its title. Wells is convinced that his editor purposely gave him this assignment to drive him from the newspaper.
The assignment turns complicatedly and Wells comes to believe some of the suicides were murders meant to hide several town secrets. The occasional dips into nightmare and seemingly dreamlike moments are the book's highlight. Other aspects are awkward plot devices that give the novel a chunkiness (for lack of a better word). I was quite disappointed with the speed in which this wrapped up and the missed opportunity to have accomplished the same thing by letting one of the bad guys commit suicide himself. Seems to me Klavan/Peterson missed a chance at giving the plot a more ironic and "just" ending. The way things concluded were too neat to me, the ending left me feeling a bit like, "Did I miss something?"
Andrew Klavan fans will probably enjoy this, as will those who like not-quite-cozy mysteries set in the 1980s. I personally have a distaste for stories about journalists solving crimes and engaging in fisticuffs, but this was set in 1988 when journalists had a lot more testosterone and street cred. That being said, the action scenes in this novel are clunky and left me dissatisfied.
I find it odd that Klavan/Peterson, a NYC Jewish writer who was also a journalist, should have a main character in a series named John Wells. Because fast forward to the early 2000s and another NYC Jewish journalist named Alex Berenson would use the name John Wells for his twelve part thriller series about a CIA agent in the War on Terror. Was Berenson doing this as a paean to Klavan/Peterson? Who knows.
Read this if you must; but it weaves back and forth between brilliance and pedestrian in my mind.
April 7, 2020
The Trapdoor is an early Peterson novel, it is the first of a series of four books following John Wells, reporter for the New York Star...the book takes place in NYC & the Catskills I believe. The Trapdoor is really good...Wells is for all purposes a PI/Detective, but here a tough aging journalist....like a lot of first novels the ending comes together rather quickly, but other than that I highly recommend it, it's a page turner...I plan on reading the other three in the series...3.5 outa 5!
December 30, 2021
Andrew Klavan is a great at describing the scene and emotion of a story and his plots are exciting and full of twists that surprise even the most observant. In Trapdoor big city reporter investigates a spate or rural youth suicides, is it murder. Must read to find out. Beware once you start its hard to put down.
November 28, 2021
I enjoyed meeting the characters in the book, and I will read another. I did figure out some of the plot, so 3 stars. A decent read.
December 11, 2025
Headline Blues & Small-Town Lies: A Reporter Fights Back
Andrew Klavan (writing as Keith Patterson) opens his John Wells series with a crackling, atmospheric mystery in The Trapdoor. This is a novel that expertly blends the visceral thrill of a crime story with the intelligent, process-driven satisfaction of journalism noir.
Our guide is John Wells, a veteran crime reporter for the New York Star, whose old-school, truth-first ethos puts him on a collision course with his new boss, Robert. Their clash over the direction of modern media isn't just background—it's the catalyst. As punishment, Wells is exiled from his beloved city beat and sent upstate to Grant County to write a perfunctory piece on a teenage girl's tragic suicide. It's a bureaucratic demotion, a professional slap in the face.
But in Grant County, the "trapdoor" in question isn't just a physical detail of the case; it's a perfect metaphor for the hidden darkness Wells uncovers. What is presented as a simple, if sad, suicide quickly splinters under his skeptical gaze. The local authorities are a little too calm, the evidence a little too neat, and the townsfolk hold their secrets tight. Wells, armed with nothing but a notebook, a sharp mind, and a refusal to quit, begins prying at the seams of the official story.
Why This Mystery Shines:
· The Protagonist: John Wells is a triumph—a grumpy, principled, and deeply relatable hero. His voice is weary but witty, his methods tactile and tenacious. You feel every frustration and every small victory.
· The Vibe: Patterson/Klavan nails two distinct atmospheres: the sharp, competitive tension of the newsroom and the oppressive, secretive quiet of a rural community hiding a rot within. The sense of place is a character itself.
· The Intellectual Puzzle: This isn't a mystery solved by car chases (though there's tension), but by legwork, interviews, and connecting disparate dots. Watching Wells think and investigate is the core pleasure.
· Timely Themes: Beyond the whodunit, the story wrestles with relevant themes: truth vs. convenience, urban vs. rural distrust, and the vital, embattled role of a free press asking uncomfortable questions.
Final Verdict:
The Trapdooris a masterclass in classic mystery storytelling. It’s a compelling, character-driven tale about a man fighting for a story—and for his own purpose—against forces that would rather he just go away. Smart, suspenseful, and deeply satisfying
Andrew Klavan (writing as Keith Patterson) opens his John Wells series with a crackling, atmospheric mystery in The Trapdoor. This is a novel that expertly blends the visceral thrill of a crime story with the intelligent, process-driven satisfaction of journalism noir.
Our guide is John Wells, a veteran crime reporter for the New York Star, whose old-school, truth-first ethos puts him on a collision course with his new boss, Robert. Their clash over the direction of modern media isn't just background—it's the catalyst. As punishment, Wells is exiled from his beloved city beat and sent upstate to Grant County to write a perfunctory piece on a teenage girl's tragic suicide. It's a bureaucratic demotion, a professional slap in the face.
But in Grant County, the "trapdoor" in question isn't just a physical detail of the case; it's a perfect metaphor for the hidden darkness Wells uncovers. What is presented as a simple, if sad, suicide quickly splinters under his skeptical gaze. The local authorities are a little too calm, the evidence a little too neat, and the townsfolk hold their secrets tight. Wells, armed with nothing but a notebook, a sharp mind, and a refusal to quit, begins prying at the seams of the official story.
Why This Mystery Shines:
· The Protagonist: John Wells is a triumph—a grumpy, principled, and deeply relatable hero. His voice is weary but witty, his methods tactile and tenacious. You feel every frustration and every small victory.
· The Vibe: Patterson/Klavan nails two distinct atmospheres: the sharp, competitive tension of the newsroom and the oppressive, secretive quiet of a rural community hiding a rot within. The sense of place is a character itself.
· The Intellectual Puzzle: This isn't a mystery solved by car chases (though there's tension), but by legwork, interviews, and connecting disparate dots. Watching Wells think and investigate is the core pleasure.
· Timely Themes: Beyond the whodunit, the story wrestles with relevant themes: truth vs. convenience, urban vs. rural distrust, and the vital, embattled role of a free press asking uncomfortable questions.
Final Verdict:
The Trapdooris a masterclass in classic mystery storytelling. It’s a compelling, character-driven tale about a man fighting for a story—and for his own purpose—against forces that would rather he just go away. Smart, suspenseful, and deeply satisfying
April 21, 2021
John Wells è un giornalista che si occupa di casi da 'Tribunale' per il New York Star e quando in una piccola contea succedono omicidi senza un perché, il suo capo Cambridge vuole la storia per avere maggior vendite.
Purtroppo una volta che Wells è sul posto e parlato con i vari testimoni, qualcosa gli dice che non tutti sono suicidi ma che qualcuno abbia ucciso per coprire altro.
Chi sarà o saranno gli indiziati di questi effimeri delitti?
Il nostro giornalista e il capo di polizia Bird cattureranno il colpevole?
Nonostante la trama e i personaggi ben descritti, non mi ha tenuta col fiato sospeso come dovrebbe essere un thriller e con un finale a dir poco scontato e banale, questo secondo il mio punto di vista soggettivo.
Purtroppo una volta che Wells è sul posto e parlato con i vari testimoni, qualcosa gli dice che non tutti sono suicidi ma che qualcuno abbia ucciso per coprire altro.
Chi sarà o saranno gli indiziati di questi effimeri delitti?
Il nostro giornalista e il capo di polizia Bird cattureranno il colpevole?
Nonostante la trama e i personaggi ben descritti, non mi ha tenuta col fiato sospeso come dovrebbe essere un thriller e con un finale a dir poco scontato e banale, questo secondo il mio punto di vista soggettivo.
November 23, 2022
A noir detective in a hunting mystery with many twists and turns
I really enjoyed following John Wells through the twists and turns of the story. Andrew Klavan's writing feels so immersive. I usually see plot twists ahead of time but the pacing and writing are so good that I was surprised more than once. I look forward to reading more of Klavan's books.
I really enjoyed following John Wells through the twists and turns of the story. Andrew Klavan's writing feels so immersive. I usually see plot twists ahead of time but the pacing and writing are so good that I was surprised more than once. I look forward to reading more of Klavan's books.
November 7, 2025
Wow!
The man can write! Aside from a well-crafted story, the real pleasure is the author's talent for description. His depiction of a fall mountain countryside is poetry, especially in this time of poorly-written, often AI generated material. The entire work has the feel of a 1930's black and white noir movie. An absolute pleasure to read.
The man can write! Aside from a well-crafted story, the real pleasure is the author's talent for description. His depiction of a fall mountain countryside is poetry, especially in this time of poorly-written, often AI generated material. The entire work has the feel of a 1930's black and white noir movie. An absolute pleasure to read.
July 19, 2019
Good, fun read.
January 7, 2020
Terrible writing, clunky and childish. Plus the writer is a misogynist, anti-feminist and it comes across quite strongly in how he writes about women.
Red flags guys, avoid this novelists books.
Red flags guys, avoid this novelists books.
November 25, 2022
Entertaining read, if a bit dark. I like the way Klavan writes.
December 31, 2022
Not bad. Not great either, but not bad.
July 25, 2023
This is not Klavan's best storyline, but I still enjoyed his easy flowing writing style and world oulook through his main characters.
August 9, 2025
great book
Love the writing style, crisp, fast yet lots of depth. The character was beautifully developed highly recommend this book to you
Love the writing style, crisp, fast yet lots of depth. The character was beautifully developed highly recommend this book to you
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January 2, 2013AKA Keith Peterson
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews