Helpful Score: 2
Richard Laymon books are in a class by themselves. As horrifying as Dean Koontz, but more shocking. As creepy as Stephen King, but more demented. I was deeply saddened by his premature death, but admit to wondering just how much more Laymon writing the world could have withstood. (Probably lots more, truth be told!) All that being said, this was not one of his better books. The premise is great: a group of people shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island are hunted by a crazed murderer. (Yikes! Turn up the lights!) But the narrator of the book is tough to warm up to, being a young man in his late teens who seems to have sex on his mind no matter what the circumstance. Being the mother of two healthy young men, I can accept this in the early stages of the book, but by the time the second male is murdered, leaving the narrator as the sole surviving male, I would think that his mind would have shifted more toward survival rather than sexual fantasies. In addition, [SPOILER ALERT] Laymon included the rape and torture of children (14-year-old twins) which the narrator finds somewhat erotic. While I finished the book, I just didn't find it to be up to the caliber of the other Laymon books I've read. Won't stop me from reading more of Laymon, but this just isn't one that I'd recommend.
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