I'm writing this post to cover two books I've read this week, but also to introduce the works of an author who is new to me and whose work I will be continuing to read.
Richard Laymon was recommended to me by a regular in my work after discussing the fact I was reading a book on psychopaths (review to follow, naturally). The guy told me he loved Laymon's books and if I liked sick and twisted horror then I would too. Obviously I came home and downloaded a whole bunch straight away, jumped into bed with my kindle and got stuck in.
I started with Beware! and all of about three chapters in, two people and a dog have been murdered and the woman who appears to be the protagonist has been raped...twice. Well sir, you've got my attention. The books are so full of twists and surprises that I am going to find it really hard to talk about them without giving anything away. Safe to say, Beware! got me hooked and I couldn't wait to start the next one.
The stories seem incredibly realistic and yet have this aspect of fantasy that to me, didn't seem fantastical or unbelieveable at all. I could imagine it was real and an actual account of what happened. Laymon is very good and building up tension and anticipation without really doing much.
Certainly, in my next foray into his work, nothing really happens until the last 100 pages but I was so there and so worked up the whole time, just waiting for something to jump out and start murdering everyone.
The second novel was Night in the Lonesome October. It's about Ed, who is a 20 year old student and he's just been dumped. To deal with this he begins taking late night walks around town but soon learns the place is full of weirdos and trouble makers. I'm not kidding when I say that nothing really happens here - we follow Ed on his walks and he's not the most likeable of people so it's a bit...meh. But I couldn't put it down because I knew something was coming. I'll admit I was disappointed some routes weren't followed, explained or tied up more but I didn't NOT enjoy it.
On Goodreads, someone compared Laymon's work to bad 80s slasher movies - where people aren't exactly likeable and it's not the best acting and sometimes it takes a while to get going but all the way through, you're rooting for the "heroes" and waiting with baited breath for the serial killer to jump out and scare you. I think this is the most perfect analogy I've heard for the two books I've just read.
Now I can't wait to read more of his sick and twisted tales.
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