The Beast House / Richard Laymon

The Beast House

category: horror, author:

Richard Laymon

published by Dorchester,
original copyright 1986, read in August 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

Eight out of ten? Well... If you like stereotypical horror, sex -- consensual and otherwise, scanty clothing and sudden death -- this is a very good book!

"What you need," Nora said, "is a good ..." The very first sentence of the main story includes a word which does not belong in a friendly blog. And the story continues in that great low vein.

There is another type of horror novel, the horrible horror. The horrible horror (my own phrase) is one where the aim is, apparently, to leave the reader with a nasty memory: violence, death and a nasty ending. Laymon often provides a twisted ending but it is usually satisfying. The Beast House is typical Laymon:

Sure, "the beast" will rise again. That's almost a given, for horror. But it's not a threat to the survivors of this book. There are happy endings all round, with a strong likelihood of happy ever after. The monster survives? No worries -- that will be a problem for a new group of characters.

I like a happy ending. Laymon provides a happy ending. Beast is happy for heroes and even happy for the beast. Laymon's Island was happy... in a somewhat warped fashion. Laymon does not leave you with nightmares of the story after the final chapter...

What more can I say?

If you enjoy sex, horror, violence and a happy ending, read The Beast House. If you think that that all sounds rather awful, well, there are plenty of other good books in the world :-)

..o0o..

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