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3.1 AVERAGE
3.1 AVERAGE
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
challenging
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Quite entertaining for a quick read but nothing spectacular.
Another book relying too heavily on sex, gore, mutilation, and genitalia, and not justifiably so. People go on vacation. People get kidnapped by evil villagers to sacrifice to massive inbred family who will eat them or rape them (the woman) or both. La la la, people die, and there is gore. The most interesting subplot is the burgeoning insanity of one of the characters, and how he becomes at least as mortifying as the villains; but again, he is the cause also of too much ill-used, ill-timed gore, sex, and genitalia. There is a random supernatural occurrence that makes very little sense, since most of the characters seem fully human. I've read too many books like this one of late, and I would prefer not to read another one.
2.75 stars?
This book has a fantastic opening scene that definitely drew me into the story. It started strong and remained gruesome and tense. But I felt like the consensual sex scenes were unrealistic and rushed and it was weird.
This book has a fantastic opening scene that definitely drew me into the story. It started strong and remained gruesome and tense. But I felt like the consensual sex scenes were unrealistic and rushed and it was weird.
Spoiler
The dad getting into rape and murder so quickly was .... I'd like to think unbelievable but maybe not.. I definitely didn't believe the chick fell in love with one of the people who initially captured her. Within like 24 hours no less. Beyond those things I did enjoy the read!
I started this book expecting a gross-out, mind-fluffy, fast-paced read. In the end all three boxes were ticked but ultimately the book was little more than the sum of its parts. I thought the characters were so thinly drawn as to approach no-dimensional, as oppose to two, which would have at least been something . The characters motivations were also fairly thinly sketched and not at all believable . I would say you couldn't make this stuff up, but this book exists, so...
In terms of scare factor, this book didn't really meet the mark for me either. Aside from a couple of genuinely horrific scenes I found the rest of the book to be pretty tame. I also found that I didn't care if a character died, because they were so poorly drawn.
In terms of positive aspects of the book, two of the female characters give the reader a glimpse into the lives of the people who dwell in the town, which ended up being more enjoyable than the action in the woods! Scenes particularly involving the younger of the two, while completely ridiculous, were nonetheless highly entertaining.
All in all, an occasionally entertaining, but ultimately unfulfilling, ride with precious few scares but plenty in terms of gross-out imagery and gore.
Read this if: You want a fast-paced, easy read, which has mild scares, some gross-out moments, but aren't looking for anything that remotely makes sense.
Spoiler
(sexy girls, virginal daughter-type, male rescuer, cannon-fodder family, etc - yawn!)Spoiler
(guy who has been sacrificing outsiders to forest monsters all of a sudden decides to jeopardise his and his families lives, because he thinks a girl is hot)In terms of scare factor, this book didn't really meet the mark for me either. Aside from a couple of genuinely horrific scenes I found the rest of the book to be pretty tame. I also found that I didn't care if a character died, because they were so poorly drawn.
In terms of positive aspects of the book, two of the female characters give the reader a glimpse into the lives of the people who dwell in the town, which ended up being more enjoyable than the action in the woods! Scenes particularly involving the younger of the two, while completely ridiculous, were nonetheless highly entertaining.
All in all, an occasionally entertaining, but ultimately unfulfilling, ride with precious few scares but plenty in terms of gross-out imagery and gore.
Read this if: You want a fast-paced, easy read, which has mild scares, some gross-out moments, but aren't looking for anything that remotely makes sense.
I have absolutely no idea what I just read.
I am partly fascinated. Partly appalled.
I will give Richard Laymon one thing - he definitely had his own style and followed his own rules.
I have no idea what to say! Part of me wanted to like it, yes, but the other part of me thinks this novel is completely inappropriate in so many ways and on so many levels. I just don't know what to say about it.
The town of Barlow has been plagued by a group of savages (??) that live in the surrounding wooded area. They have lived their for hundreds of years. Killers. Cannibals. Inbreeding so often that some of this group have become terribly deformed. To preserve their own families, the people of Barlow have been sacrificing strangers to the people in the forest. The Krulls. One night a group of strangers, who have been snatched from their lives trying to make it through town, decide to fight back.
I swear I have heard Laymon mention the Krulls in another book I read sometime at the end of the last year. I might be mistaken. If I'm not, it's interesting that he would bring up the same concept in two different books!
So, this is not safe for work. Please, keep this one at home and definitely don't read this if you're easily offended by a multitude of violent, disgusting situations.
I just don't know with this author anymore....
I am partly fascinated. Partly appalled.
I will give Richard Laymon one thing - he definitely had his own style and followed his own rules.
I have no idea what to say! Part of me wanted to like it, yes, but the other part of me thinks this novel is completely inappropriate in so many ways and on so many levels. I just don't know what to say about it.
The town of Barlow has been plagued by a group of savages (??) that live in the surrounding wooded area. They have lived their for hundreds of years. Killers. Cannibals. Inbreeding so often that some of this group have become terribly deformed. To preserve their own families, the people of Barlow have been sacrificing strangers to the people in the forest. The Krulls. One night a group of strangers, who have been snatched from their lives trying to make it through town, decide to fight back.
I swear I have heard Laymon mention the Krulls in another book I read sometime at the end of the last year. I might be mistaken. If I'm not, it's interesting that he would bring up the same concept in two different books!
So, this is not safe for work. Please, keep this one at home and definitely don't read this if you're easily offended by a multitude of violent, disgusting situations.
I just don't know with this author anymore....
This book was fast moving and pretty sickening, like everything he writes. He has this incredible talent for starting a book with a handful of 'innocent' characters that are exposed so strange atrocities and traumas, only to get in touch with their own sickening perversions. It reminds me that not everyone knows the evil they're capable of until they are given an opportunity.
I'm so sad that Laymon has passed and there's limited material to read... he was fantastic.
I'm so sad that Laymon has passed and there's limited material to read... he was fantastic.
This book had some really spooky parts — especially when the cannibalism starts. The villains in this book are awful, but some of the people we’re meant to be rooting for are even worse. Lander is awful and probably always has been. I’m not sure Laymon was thinking of anything’s besides boobs and nipples the entire time he was writing. The amount of unnecessary boob noticing and attention to nipples is baffling. Dude had a fixation.
3.5 stars
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The ending was a bit too open-ended for my liking and I felt things weren't necessary revealed in the way I would have hoped.
I enjoyed this one quite a bit. The ending was a bit too open-ended for my liking and I felt things weren't necessary revealed in the way I would have hoped.