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Remembering this I looked forward to tucking into this older title of his, published in 1993, entitled 'Endless Night'. It is a story about Jody Fargo, sixteen years old and spending the night at her friend Evelyn's house, when a group of killers break in. She witnesses her friend being ... Read review
Advantages: The first person narrative can be quite funny at times Disadvantages: Most of the rest of it
A couple of days ago I was scanning my bookshelves for something to read. I couldn't make my mind up whether to go for a crime novel, or sci-fi or even something a bit technical. In the end I opted for a book by Richard Laymon. A few years ago now I had read one of his called 'Island' about a group of eight people who become shipwrecked on an, you've guessed it, island with a deranged maniac on the loose which I had really enjoyed.
... ...title of his, published in 1993, entitled 'Endless Night'. It is a story about Jody Fargo, sixteen years old and spending the night at her friend Evelyn's house, when a group of killers break in. She witnesses her friend being kebabed by a spear and escapes the house but not before rescuing the only other survivor from the building; twelve year old Andy Clark. What follows is the desperate attempts of first the gang and then just a single member ... more
A couple of days ago I was scanning my bookshelves for something to read. I couldn't make my mind up whether to go for a crime novel, or sci-fi or even something a bit technical. In the end I opted for a book by Richard Laymon. A few years ago now I had read one of his called 'Island' about a group of eight people who become shipwrecked on an, you've guessed it, island with a deranged maniac on the loose which I had really enjoyed.
Remembering this I looked forward to tucking into this older title of his, published in 1993, entitled 'Endless Night'. It is a story about Jody Fargo, sixteen years old and spending the night at her friend Evelyn's house, when a group of killers break in. She witnesses her friend being kebabed by a spear and escapes the house but not before rescuing the only other survivor from the building; twelve year old Andy Clark. What follows is the desperate attempts of first the gang and then just a single member as they try to murder the two children for witnessing their atrocities. Simon Quirt (for he is the lone member) is left to mop up the mess and 'see to' the kids or it is his family who will pay the ultimate price. But he is looking forward to running into the girl again because he has plans for young Jody…..
What follows is some of the poorest writing I have read in a long time; at least since I read Ben Elton last. Neither of the main two characters come across as real people as they flit between emotions depending on the situation. I mean, I know young boys usually only have one thing on their minds (and most men too) but surely having seen your family disembowelled and only just escaped death yourself the last thing on your mind would be what a sixteen year olds chest feels like. Or maybe I'm just being naive. Jody herself even goes through a stage in the novel when she could almost be falling in love with a 12 year old! Even the language they use is all wrong. Whoever has heard teenage kids saying things like 'Cripes' outside of a George Lucas directed Star Wars episode.
The killers in the book, The Krulls, are an even thinner creation. Their transition from teens to sordid murderers is almost laughable as is the way they wear the skins of earlier kills in place of clothes while out 'having fun'. Even dabbing the foul smelling waste from a rotten corpse as aftershave is just ridiculous.
To add to my list of dislikes is the fact that sometimes the timescales in the book just didn't seem right. One minute a woman is just getting out of the shower and in the next minute she is dressed and made-up for the day. No woman I have ever met can get ready at that speed even if they had already decided on what they were going to wear! And the book is called 'Endless Night' where, should the story span a single night would be fine, but as it spans four or five then this just makes the title obsolete.
The author also spends a lot of time sticking a thumbs up to the NRA (National Rifle Association) as he has folks wearing their gear, talking of gun ownership and even taking the young kids out shooting Pepsi cans in the desert whilst the grown-ups(?) stand there brandishing shotguns and machine guns.
The one thing I did like about the tale was that it was written from two perspectives. The story from Jody's and Andy's point of view is written in the third person whilst Simon Quirt's is written in the first person giving you insights into the mans sick and twisted mind. I liked these chapters from Simon's point of view as he laughed and joked about his exploits, obtained great pleasure from disposing and mutilating bodies and enjoyed dressing up as a woman complete with dead woman's scalp for hair but those from the kids were really poor.
Stephen King says that 'if you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat'. Well I'm sorry Mr. King but there must be a different Richard Laymon out there because this just wasn't any good. Maybe I am doing the bloke an injustice, after all I really enjoyed 'Island' but, as I read that many years ago, perhaps my reading tastes have just grown up.
Advantages: Exciting throughout Disadvantages: Not for the fainthearted!
Endless Night is in my opinion one of the best two or three novels Laymon has produced. It tells the story of a girl, Jody, who is staying the night at a friend's house when a gang break in and kill the rest of the family (a typically violent premise for a Laymon novel!). Jody escapes along with her friend's little brother, and they spend the rest of the novel being pursued by one of the killers. The great strength of this novel is that it never ... ...There is no setting of scene, or tiresome introduction at the beginning: the action starts from the very first page, and I don't think it's physically possible to put the book down before the end of chapter seven! If you want an example of an unputdownable book, try this one. ...
philsammie 12.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Endless Night - Richard Laymon
Advantages: A lot of good characters Disadvantages: The killer's chapters are dull
Endless Night is a good book although it had enough potential to have been a lot better. A large amount of the story was told from the killer’s perspective, especially about his past which was mostly disgusting. Most of this wasn’t really necessary to the plot and was probably only there for shock value which got a little boring after a while. I found myself skipping through these parts to get to the exciting bits in the story, of which there were ...
Claire102 28.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Endless Night - Richard Laymon
Advantages: Easy understandable Disadvantages: none at all
"Endless Night" was the first book I ever read by Richard Laymon. And it just got me going form there. At first the book was that thick I couldn't possibly finish in time to return it again. But as I started flipping the pages, it just struck me how good of the writing was in this book.
Laymon writes as if in real life, not concentrating on the scenary, but on the conversation and the surrounding things. It certainly makes you scare and want to ... ...also knowing this would spoil the surprise. "Endless Night" was based on a girl and a boy how they fight through some mad maniac psychos, which the story at the end had a twist about a killer, how that he had survived.
Very good book to start with if you just got to know Laymon. ...
xuan007 13.07.2000
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Endless Night - Richard Laymon
Advantages: Blood,Gore and non stop action, typical Laymon Disadvantages: Not for the faint hearted
Endless Night is one of the most disturbing books written by Laymon, the story begins with a bunch of serial killers who break into houses and slaughter everyone in it. Jody Fargo is a sixteen year old daughter of a cop, who is having a sleepover at her friends when the killers break in, they massacre the entire family but Jody along with her friends brother Andy manage to escape. The story follows two different angles, one from Jody's escape and ... ...Simon Quirt who is one of the members of the group who slaughtered Andy's family, they call themselves the Krulls and are the sickest bunch you will ever read about. Jody and Andy are the first to ever escape from one of the killings by the Krulls and must be caught, Simon is assigned to hunt them down and to slaughter anyone who gets in his way, which he does with great pleasure. Follow the story of Jody and Andy on the run from Simon, can he be ...
steve0967 07.12.2006
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Endless Night - Richard Laymon
Advantages: Very good read,very graphic Disadvantages: none
Endless Night was by far the best richard laymon book i have read, if not the best book i have ever read. He is a very graphic writer so this is not for the squeemish. I however love the detail he gives. He really puts a picture into your head and you really get to know the characters.
Its a great read and you will probably find that once you get into it you wont be able to put the book down as your on edge all the time about whats going to happen ...
SuperTasha 02.09.2008
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Product Information for "Endless Night - Richard Laymon" »
Product details
Type
Fiction
Genre
Horror
Title
Endless Night
Author
Richard Laymon
ISBN
0747209332; 0747243670
Manufacturer's product description
Jody is sleeping over at her friend Evelyn's house when killers break in. She escapes the house with the only other survivor of the massacre, Andy, Evelyn's twelve year old brother, but she has to kill a man to do it.
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