If you plan on reading this book, and you have never read a Laymon book before, please notice that there is generally heaps of gore, really stupid characters, and lots and lots of sex. His literary cannon is likened to the early 80's slasher films... and that's a pretty good comparison. But if most of his books are close to "Friday the 13th" or "Halloween" or even "Sleepaway Camp" this one would be a lot closer to you bargain bin find, you know the type... no one has ever heard of it, there's a busty blond on the front of the case with a look of terror, and it appears that the whole movie was filmed for the price of a keg of beer.There are two different stories going on simultaneously in this book. First you have Gillian who has a habit of breaking into people's houses while they are away so that she can snoop, eat their food, and pretend she lives there. This habit is rather odd considering she owns her own home and has plenty of money. Still apparently she's quite pretty and has been doing this for quite some time. If you have read the back of the book, then you'll know that this time she's picked a serial killer's house...Then our second story, Rick and Bert (she's a girl, and of course she has huge boobs and a nice booty which Rick spends almost all of his free time staring at) well they are out camping in the middle of nowhere. Rick is a bit paranoid about the whole thing since the last time he went camping the woman he was with (his step-mom) was raped and killed. But he's back in the wilderness with a new found paranoia, a gun, and a bottle of whiskey.These two stories have nothing to do with each other until the very end, and even that's a shaky connection. The jumping back and forth between the two is very jarring, and although they all end up at the same place at the same time, you can't help but think that there was no reason to bring them together at all and that these should have been completely separated into perhaps two novellas. Because they end up together at the end, that puts seven, count them SEVEN psycho rapists/killers in this book if you don't count the local cougar population. This put me in the mind set of "Dear Lord, how many times are we going to go through this?" I also felt that this book had a striking similarity to Laymon's "Darkness, Tell Us" it even contains a fur wearing mountain man. On the whole I felt that this book could have used a few less bad guys and a little more umph. There is actually very little gore in this book, and the bit that is there is all seen after the fact. Sorry to all of Laymon's fans who are used to actually getting to "see" the murders, it doesn't happen in this one.So since the gore level is way down, that leaves the sex... and of course everyone is as horny as a teen. Laymon even threw in a few Lesbians for some reason, even though it had nothing to do with the story, but when does the sex in a Laymon book have anything to do with the story. On the whole our male lead "Rick" is a whiny paranoid who does nothing other than envision bad things happening, or stare and fantasize about the women he sees. He's quite boring. Bert is slightly more interesting, at least she has some energy... but we only get to see her through Rick's eyes so we're stuck staring at her boobs the whole time. Gillian was such a weirdo to me that I had a hard time reading about her... I mean after you break into a house and discover snuff films and torture devices, do you really hang around? Her sheer stupidity, combined with her constantly asserting how smart she was, made her a very obnoxious character.The overall body count in this was very low... and the book really doesn't kick into gear until after the first 200 or so pages, on the whole this was a very unsatisfying Laymon book, it almost seemed as if he were simply going through the motions. If this had been the first of his books I had read, I probably would not have picked up a second. If you are an avid Laymon fan and have run out of his other works, then you might as well read this one, but don't expect it to be the same quality.
When you pick up a Richard Laymon book, you can expect his female characters to be dealt with in certain ways. Their bodies will definitely be described in copious detail and it's likely they'll be raped or almost raped before the book is done. It's uncomfortable, but he wrote such fantastic trashy horror that one can get past it. This offering felt more uncomfortable than many of Laymon's other books, however. There was a strong focus on sexual violence throughout, whereas usually that is something more of a sideline. This novel paints all women as potential victims of rape, torture and murder, and all men as potential rapists and killers, with even the good guys being capable of wanting to do such acts, even if they don't go ahead. I still enjoyed this, just as I enjoy all of Laymon's books. They're the perfect example of the genre. But if you're sensitive to depictions of sexual violence, you should avoid this book most of all of Laymon's books.
Do You like book No Sanctuary (2003)?
Rick had a traumatic experience the last time he went camping but he decides to overcome his fear because his girlfriend Bert loves it. So they head off into the great outdoors unaware that perverts and serial killers have chosen the same destination.I found the panic and paranoia in poor Rick as the trip progressed to be part of what made this a tense and interesting book. The side story of Gillian, who breaks into houses to live in them while the owners are on holiday gets interesting when the house she picks belongs to a serial killer. You just now that some of the unsuspecting souls you meet on the trip are going to end up dying a bloody death as is the norm in a Laymon book and as usual I'm thinking 'bring it on!'
—chucklesthescot
This book was just one cheesy horror cliche after another, mixed in with ridiculous sex scenes. It was like a bad movie--you really want to leave, but the next part shouldn't be as bad, right? So you stick around and wait to see if it does indeed get better, or if it will reach another a whole new level of face-palming that you had hoped wouldn't exist, but you kind of saw coming. Then when everything's over, you stare sadly into space and say to yourself, "Did I really just do that to myself? Why? Is there something seriously wrong with me?" If you own this book, you might just want to save yourself the effort, skip the actual reading of this story and place it directly in the trash, all while staring angrily at a picture of the author and muttering, "YOU...YOU DID THIS..."
—Heather
This was a really great book. There were times where it seemed to drag on and I'd put it down for a few days, or a week. BUt the more I read, the less slow it got. It really picked up and had Laymon's signature gore and sex. I thought it had great character development and one of the best and most shocking endings I've read yet in a Laymon book. I would absolutely recommend it to others. I would love to see this book as a movie someday, but I fear Hollywood is only interested in creating ANOTHER Fast and the Furious and stuff like that.
—Reese Copeland
