Nobody, I mean nobody, writes like Richard Laymon, does. For the past two years, I’ve been on a Richard Laymon kick, sticking my nose into any of his books I can get my hands on, and between reading and reviewing other writers and their works, when I have nothing on my plate to review, It’s been a Laymon novel that I pick up to fill in my reading void.
To be honest, I cheated myself out of getting to know Laymon’s work earlier in my life. In High School, when I really first started reading horror, I was all about Stephen King, Clive Barker and John Saul. Never once did I venture to grab a book by someone other than those writers, and in the mints of all the great writers, King, Kootnz, Rice, Barker and so on was one of the world’s best writers who went unnoticed. Sure, I knew the name, but never felt the need to read outside of my comfort zone when it came to horror. It was not until I discovered writers like Brian Keene that a whole new door was opened to me. In fact, it is Keene whom I credit for introducing Laymon’s work to me. It’s just unfortunate that I did not discover his work sooner.
Another unfortunate event is the passing of Mr. Laymon in 2001. Some of his greatest work was done later in his life with The Traveling Vampire Show being one of them. However, Laymon is probably best known for his Beast House series. The first book, The Cellar, introduced the story and the origins of the beasts. The second book, The Beast House, expanded on the legend. The Midnight Tour defined the story as a whole and took the legend deeper than any fan of the series would have expected it to go. I’ve read the books and I craved more after reading The Midnight Tour. Little did I know that there was another story that Laymon wrote toward the end of his life: Friday Night in Beast House.
Originally released just after Laymon’s death, Friday Night in Beast House is a story that lets the legend live on. It’s not a long, detailed story like the first three books, but the story is a simple tale of the many disturbing things that take place in Beast House after the sun has set and the curious sneak their way into Beast House after it is closed. In this short story, a young boy is asked by a girl in school to take her out on a date, but this is no ordinary date. In order to impress this girl, he must get her into Beast House after it closes. He does so, and the two come into contact with something that they thought was just a legend. The book also contains the story The Wilds about a man who walks deep into the mountains and surrounding forest and mentally and psychically becomes wild in his own mind and starts to kill anyone that comes into contact with him.
Friday Night in Beast House is a book that you really can only appreciate if you have read the Beast House trilogy. It’s a simple, straightforward story with a bit of a twist at the end and one that is also kind of shocking.
While Richard Laymon is no longer with us, his great stories will continue to draw in readers new and old in the years to come. He has left plenty of unpublished material that his wife has had published posthumously, and Leisure Books will be releasing more of Laymon’s work well into 2011.
This is the second book of Richard Laymon’s for which I have had the honor or writing a review. The first book of his that I read and reviewed was Cuts, a book that peaked my curiously about the man who was the greatest horror writer that I never discovered. Since then, I can’t stop reading Laymon. My rather large collection of books has become a lot bigger as I seem to be gobbling up every Laymon book I find in the bookstores. Trust me when I say that if you have never read a Laymon novel, you are more than just missing out on a great story, but you are missing the works of one of the best horror writers that ever lived. To all the new readers out there who are so starstruck reading these books like Twilight and want to find something darker to feed their need for horror. You can always go with King, Koontz, Barker and Rice, and that would be the safe bet, but passing on Richard Laymon is one mistake you don’t want to make. The man is a legend of horror who has left his mark on the genre.
– Horror Bob
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
