• Welcome to BookAndReader!

    We LOVE books and hope you'll join us in sharing your favorites and experiences along with your love of reading with our community. Registering for our site is free and easy, just CLICK HERE!

    Already a member and forgot your password? Click here.

Richard Laymon

That's a bummer about Blood Games, I haven't gotten to that one yet. Now it will probably go towards the back of one of my book piles.
I'm really getting into Darkness, Tell Us. It's got me held in suspense.
 
I'm into Body RIdes now. About 1/2 through. I'm enjoying it, but the problem I'm having with it, is that I just can't suspend my disbelief enough to swallow it. So, it's just entertainment on the bus, rather than a turn me inside out rip me to shreads chew me up and spit me out kind of thing. For that, I have to believe that what I'm reading not only COULD happen, but is ACTUALLY happening. And Laymon isn't taking me there with this book.
I like the character but SPOILER how can I believe that such a seemingly intelligent person such as Neil would allow an airheaded Valley Girl to have even touched the bracelet, much less, let her take body rides with it for such frivoulous reasons as tasting a milk shake without the calories?
I wanted to bop him on the head.
 
Yes, I read In The Dark. That was my previous book.
<<Is In The Dark the one where the girl (a librarian) has clues to find?>>
Yes, that's the one.
I found it intriguing and absorbing. And flawed. There is a boundary that I cannot cross, as far as suspending my disbelief, and this book crossed it - but just barely, and unnecessarily so.
SPOILER: I can believe there are weirdos that will entice pretty women into playing strange and dangerous games, I can belive that there are maniacs that will do just about anything. What I can't belive is that said maniac can move about unseen, know what people are planning or doing without being present, or enter peoples locked homes and write (or carve) messages on their bodies, without waking them up or leaving a trace.
As I said, it didn't trespass far into the impossible, but it did stick a toe into it.
Plus, as sombody said above, it's starting to bother me that there is a brutal rape in all his books.
And, his extended, detailed descriptions of sex - whether in the rape scenes or in love scenes - are embarassing. I'm no prude, believe me. But his descriptions of sex are so heavy handed, so ... as Stewart might say, "pulpy" that I cringe.
I'm getting turned off to this author. Island was the first book I read of his, and I liked it the best so far.
 
Island was the first book I read of his, and I liked it the best so far.
Click to expand...
Is that the one where the bad guy puts all of the people in cages? And the horny teen(a staple in most Laymon books) saves the day?

In the Dark and The Traveling Vampire Show have been my faves so far.
 
lenny nero said:
Is that the one where the bad guy puts all of the people in cages? And the horny teen(a staple in most Laymon books) saves the day?
Click to expand...
Yep. I really related to the horny teen. One out of two ain't bad.
 
Try Savage. Of all the Laymon that I read in my teens I thought this was his best. No monsters, no crazy stalkers playing games, and nothing supernatural; just one boy on the trail of Jack the Ripper.
 
Thanks for the link.

Since I've already posted my 2 faves, I'll tell you the 2 worst I've read by him, Bite and Among the Missing. I thought both of these were pretty wretched.
 
Well, I just finished Body Rides. What a dopey, unbelievable, shallow, waste of ink. After 300 pages I wondered why I was still reading it, but how can you give up on a book after 300 pages? So I went the distance with it. Bah.
Did anybody tell him (Laymon) that you can't do what they were doing in the book? I know, it's just a book. But a very bad one. Worst of all are the outlandishly unrealistic characters. And Leymon's detailed and repeated descriptions of sex make me cringe, they are so heavy handed. This book is dumb, dumb, dumb. I thought Laymon was on a level with King after reading Island (which I enjoyed tremendously) but then I had to give up on Blood Games after 100 pages, In The Dark was pretty good, but Body Rides was pathetic. I know people like The Traveling Vampire Show but I'm kinda sick of vampires and I'm really sick of Laymon. I've had it with this author. King is like Shakespeare compared with this hack (sorry, Laymon fans). I shouldn't have protested when Stewart tried to warn me off this goofball.
 
I think that some of Laymons stuff is good. I read Darkness, Tell Us which I thought was excellent and I've also read The Traveling Vampire Show. But I've found with almost all authors, you can't like every single piece of writing they publish. I also try not to become too over critical, after reading one that's not too hot.
I just ordered All Hallow's Eve, I'll have to let you know how it is.
 
I finished reading The Travelling Vampire Show this afternoon, and I really enjoyed it. I did think that the ending was a bit rushed, however, and there was a bit of an over-load of horniness (if that's even a word :p ), but it was definitely a fun, sometimes scary, book. I thought that Laymon's writing style was very refreshing - nothing fancy or flash, but just honest and straight to the point - although I can see how this could get rather repetitive. I was left a bit confused on how
Rusty turned into a psycho all of a sudden - beating up his little sister and then the revelation that he most probably was involved in an incestuous relationship of some kind. Did they explain something that I missed?
, but all-in-all, I still found it entertaining.

I most definately will be picking up another Laymon book - any recommendations? At the moment I'm swinging towards Night in Lonesome October, but does anyone else think another would be more appropriate? It seems as though I started with one of Laymon's best books, and I don't really want to pick up a dud and get put off him, because he does seem to be a reasonably talented writer. Savage isn't available at my library, I'm afraid, otherwise I'd be going for that next.
 
lenny nero said:
Try Night in the Lonesome October or In the Dark. Both of those I really liked.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the input, Lenny. I guess that I will go with Night in the Lonesome October first seeing as how it's on my TBR list already.
 
dont ever read BLOOD GAMES...damn boring with 4 little naive chicks wandering in the woods and staying in an abandoned lodge-----the story makes no sense at all..
 
Blood Games was awful (at least the first 100 pages) but I REALLY LIKED In The Dark, and also Island.
 
Avid fan

I love his writing and have been unable to find anything quite like it. In my collection i have the following books:
All Hallows Eve
The Woods are Dark
One Rainy Night
Dark Mountain
The Beast House
Funland
The Cellar
Beware
Flesh
Fiends
Dreadful tales
Night show
Resurrection Dreams
Alarums
The Lake
Savage
Midnights Lair
Darkness Tell us
The Travelling Vampire show
Endless Night
In The Dark
Come out Tonight
Among the Missing
The mIdnight Tour
Blood Games
Night in LOnesome October
Cuts
Triage
Once Upon a Halloween
Friday Night in Beast House
Madman Stan and other Stories
Out are the Lights
Island
Quake
Bite
No sanctuary
The Glory Bus
Amara
The Stake

Plus a number of anthologies containing his short stories.

Bye
 
Greetings..

I enjoyed reading Savage (read it twice actually), and Island. There's another book that I don't notice in the thread, "Out are the Lights". This's the first Laymon's book I read that hooked me to his other books as well.

cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top