Garden City High School graduate Sarah Langan's first novel, a suspense thriller called The Keeper, was released earlier this month to rave reviews, even comparing it to the more ambitious works of Stephen King. She credits her alma mater's English department with teaching her the fundamentals of literature upon which she has based her career.

The daughter of Dr. Peter and Carole Langan of Oxford Boulevard, Langan graduated in 1992 and currently resides in Brooklyn. For a short time, she also reported for this newspaper, Garden City Life.

The Keeper, Langan's debut novel, is set in Maine, where Langan attended college. She started the novel while a master's student at Columbia University's MFA fiction writing program. Currently, in addition to writing her third book, she is also a master's candidate in toxicology at New York University's School of Environmental Medicine. Her studies give her work a science-based background.

The Keeper has garnered praise from Locus magazine ("the new author on the block is definitely a keeper") and authors such as New York Times bestseller Peter Straub, Jack Ketchum and Kelly Link. Some even spotlighted Langan as a "sublime voice in the supernatural suspense genre."

A release party and reading for the novel took place Sept. 6 at Partners and Crime Mystery Booksellers in Manhattan and Langan also plans to give readings in Brooklyn and Long Island, which she visits often.

Langan's second book, Virus, will also be published by William Morrow. It's set for release in 2007 and is also a thriller. To learn more about the book and future readings, visit www.sarahlangan.com. Langan intends to give author updates on www.amazon.com. Those interested can also review The Keeper at www.amazon.com or Barnes & Noble online sites.