Darkness, Tell Us

Shortly after my hiking trip, I finished this, my first Richard Laymon book (The pictorial link is below). I had heard things about the amount of sex in his books, and Darkness certainly did not disappoint. For about the first half, that was about all that kept it going. In fact, there was so much sex, talk about sex, thinking about sex, and innuendo alluding to sex that I felt like I was reading a romance novel instead of a horror one. That was uncomfortable.

I kept at it, though. Mainly I perservered because of the writing and characters. Both were well done, and that was nice. I have found a lot of characters annoying in the books I've read lately, which is frustrating. Darkness avoided that, and it has a passable plot too. It was not really a scary book, but it had a few creepy moments. The real killer was the end.

I won't give it away here, but suffice it to say that if you get that far -- and I'm talking to the last twenty pages here -- you will enjoy one of the most jarring sequences of violence you'll read this year. As I've said before, I'm not into violence for violence's sake, but the dying that happens here is quite satisfying.

I don't know that I would whole-heartedly recommend the book, but know that if you stick with it you'll be rewarded. And the ride there ain't too bad. I'm sure I'll be picking up so more Laymon in the future.