The Woods Are Dark
by Richard Laymon

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Book Reviews of The Woods Are Dark

Book Review: Fast pace, rushed ending.
Summary: 4 Stars

The book revolves around a small town, whose inhabitants capture and then offer up unwary travellers to the "Krull"....the evil occupants of the nearby woods. The story centres on three small groups of such victims, bound and tied to the trees where the Krull will come for them, they must escape the woods before they are caught.

There is no doubt that the book is an exciting one, I am not the fastest of readers yet finished this in under two days. The chapters are short and each one changes to a different group, describing their fear and their efforts to escape, thus helping to maintain the quick pace and the sense of urgency that the book achieves so early on.

Typically, there is the obligatory Laymon sex scene, perhaps rather unrealistically between two characters that you honestly can't believe would (or indeed, considering their life threatening situation) should happen. However this is not a major fault and certainly doesn't spoil an entertaining read. On reflection though, you realise that in an attempt to speed up the book, there is little or no development of any of the characters, which is a real shame as many of them would seem to have interesting tales to tell. But little time is spent on such trivialities as we rush headlong into another fight to survive...never mind. A potentially fascinating sub plot of unrequited love between two best friends is skimmed over, leaving you perhaps just slightly unsatisifed over the whole thing...if your not going to explore it, don't put it in would be my advice.

It is this one dimensional approach, which is perhaps my only criticism of most of Laymons early books, that is its only drawback. There is a fascinating history of the local town and the Krull that desperately needs more detail, more depth, yet sadly it isn't delivered. The struggle to survive is well described yet in the end as the story hits climax it is rather like the end of a rollercoaster ride...a bit of a let down. What we build up to in 240 pages, is finished in 6...you get the feeling that Laymon really just wanted this book out of the way and quickly scribbled the end down, breathing a sigh of relief as he finished it.

I have perhaps been a bit too harsh on the book, it is rated a four and deserves it for the exciting pace and the copious amount of gore that features throughout. As long as you don't expect any real character development then you will deinitely enjoy this book....if depth is what you want then I would recommend some of his later work....particularly "The Midnight Tour"...now there you REALLY get to care about what happens to the characters, here, its kind of like watching the news, you feel sorry for the victims but don't really care as you don't know them......

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