A review by johnlynchbooks
The Woods Are Dark by Richard Laymon

3.0

I feel like I need to start this review off with this: If you're a Laymon fan, you likely know what to expect. If you DON'T know, the easiest way to describe this novel would be something akin to Wrong Turn. This is an extremely graphic novel in both the violence and the sexual material.

This is the story of two friends and a family of four who end up in the woods outside of a town called Barlow, and all hell breaks loose. There's no way to get into this without spoiling it, so what I'll tell you is this. The blood flows early and often. Laymon doesn't pull any punches here. This is a book where everyone get's their hands bloody, and it isn't just the bad guys doing the murdering and raping. The book isn't very long and it moves at a breakneck speed.

Overall, I did enjoy The Woods are Dark, however, I enjoyed it the same way I may enjoy a low budget slasher film. If characters speaking often about sex, rape, and graphic violence are something you want know part of in your horror than I'd stay away from this. That being said, this is the written equivalent of a Wrong Turn or The Hills have Eyes, and if either of those speak to you than this may too.