Book Review – No Sanctuary by Richard Laymon
After being referred this writer, the first book of his didn’t go down well, but ever open-minded (yes, I am!) I thought I would read another for balance.
Not bad...
The tale follows a couple hiking in the mountain forests somewhere in the US, and their paths cross with a rag-tag bunch of people including fellow hikers, lesbian students and rampaging, hormonal men and boys. Throw in a side story of a wealthy girl who gets kicks out of staying in stranger’s houses while they are away, it suddenly takes a turn when she inadvertently breaks into a serial killer’s house.
This book was considerably better than my last read, and as I approached the end I thought I had it figured out and would come to a seemingly predictable, nevertheless thrilling, finale. But then just short of the end he ruined the whole effort by throwing in an irrelevant character which not only appeared stupid, but unlikely, and then a small series of unlikely side stories were thrown in a amateurish attempt to bring the storylines back together. The ending, typically gruesome and graphic in his style was a good wrap, although I am again amazed at this writer’s deep seeded obsession with sex…and angry sex at that.
Overall not bad, but the crazed mountain man-come-preacher ruined the whole book, especially with his pet cougars and it is the only real part of the book that sticks to mind. But you know what? I am ready to read another…I am sure he has one real doozie in his collection somewhere and I will eke it out. Stephen King and Dean Koontz really rate him, but on what I haven’t found, yet.
the alfmeister 