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The Beast House (Beast House Chronicles #2)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 1,775 ratings · 69 reviews

The waxworks were so realistic.
Bodies torn and chewed. Blood blackly-encrusting open wounds. Flaps of skin hanging loose, clawed from the stripped, ripped corpses. Men, women, children, slaughtered, mangled...

The old woman who showed them round was well-practised in her grim, money-spinning take of the mysterious beast that has killed and killed again. Of course it was al...more

Published (first published 1980)

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Feb 22, 2008 Danna rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Time for another snack! I found this on the Friends of the Library bookshelf at Millwood when I picked up Deafening. (Now, having read it...) And what a terrible snack it was, like knowing you'll feel ill and vaguely guilty when you're done, but eating a whole bag of potato chips anyway. Think low-budget, late-night, Sci-Fi Channel creature-horror movie in book form. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who wasn't hung over and bored on an airplane returning home from a trip to Las Vegas.

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Dec 28, 2009 BarkLessWagMore rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Read The Cellar based on my husband's raving recommendation and thought it was really cheesy but I am a nitpicky crab. My husband, who is much nicer a person than I, says they get better as the series continues but we'll see . . .

I'm going to read this in December for Jare's 2009 Spills & Chills Release Challenge over at bookcrossing.com. This month the theme is monsters.

Laymon is hit or miss for me. The Traveling Vampire Show is one of my favorite books despite the fact that nothing all...more Read The Cellar based on my husband's raving recommendation and thought it was really cheesy but I am a nitpicky crab. My husband, who is much nicer a person than I, says they get better as the series continues but we'll see . . .

I'm going to read this in December for Jare's 2009 Spills & Chills Release Challenge over at bookcrossing.com. This month the theme is monsters.

Laymon is hit or miss for me. The Traveling Vampire Show is one of my favorite books despite the fact that nothing all that exciting happens until the very end. It's the characters in that book that hooked me.

The Beast House however doesn't feature characters I can latch onto in any way. There is a true-crime/horror writer and his protege attempting to steal a valuable diary from a buxom teenager and two ditsy women who are supposedly librarians who decide it will be a good idea to look up an old lover named Dan whom they haven't seen in five years . Who cares if he's married or worse yet bald and paunchy? They're supposed to be attending a librarian's convention in the town anyway and head out on a road trip wearing too tight t-shirts which attract the attention of every redneck with rape on his mind. Their virtue (ha, ha) is saved when two hunky young guys with absolutely nothing better to do come to their rescue. They all hit it off immediately, want to jump each others bones as well as become inseparable best buds. Awww. But wait! There will be no happily ever after for these dimwits. This is a Laymon novel not a romance. The chicks are still looking for Dan and their "search" for him leads them to the Beast House where the beast from The Cellar supposedly resides. I hope they all get boiled and eaten at this point because I am thoroughly bored. I'm quite a bit into this book and nothing at all has happened besides a little boob grabbing and some t-shirt ripping.

A little later: A few deaths have occurred and there is a clear distinction between the bad and the good characters but I'm still at the point where I could care less about any of them.

I have finally finished but admit to doing a lot of skimming to get through it. The majority of the book was deadly dull as we followed the aimless characters around as they looked for spooks and admired each others bums. A little action happens towards the end but it wasn't exciting enough to make up for the rest of the book. My husband says the last book in the series is better but I'm not sure I believe him.(less)

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Dec 28, 2011 Kasia S. rated it 4 of 5 stars

After thoroughly enjoying "The Cellar" I couldn't wait to get my hands on its sequel and it was a good read but too short in my opinion. The one thing I adore about Laymon, other than the crazy scenarios and large amounts of cringing gore is the character development. He spend a lot of time making me believe in all the new and old characters in this story and then took the last hundred pages making me sweat because their lives were always in danger.

The Kutch house and The Beast house still stand...more

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Dec 17, 2008 Melmo rated it 1 of 5 stars

I thought I'd give this book a try as I was wanting something new...well that quickly bit me in the rear. This is one of the worst books I've ever had the misfortune of reading and I'll be sure to steer clear of this 'author' in the future. I forced myself to finish it then promptly set it out as 'free' in the hall of my apartment building. Possibly someone might enjoy it, or maybe get some lining for a hamster cage out of it.

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Nov 15, 2010 Waven rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, horror-sci-fi, suspense, romance

This is my first Laymon and though I didn't hope for much (reviews warned me away from The Cellar and I expected little better here) I was still disappointed. As many other reviews note, the first hundred pages involve very little except drinking, sex, references to sex, and a rough outline of Beast House history. When the action finally shows up, it is predictable and uncreative; everything ends as expected. Equally unfortunate, every sex scene is described in minute detail while only a couple...more

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Jul 15, 2009 DJMikeG rated it 3 of 5 stars

While not as brilliant as the last Laymon novel I read, "Endless Night", this is a fun, fast read. I wouldn't recommend it as a first Laymon novel, because nothing scary happens for the first third of the book. If you're a Laymon fan, you know what this fiendish imagination can do, so you patiently read through the boring beginning, waiting for the mayhem to begin. When it does, it really takes off, with the last 150 pages or so of the book being as suspenseful, action packed, disgusting, gory a...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Jason rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is the second in a series but I read it first. Perhaps that's why I felt rushed into the story. It certainly didn't read like a stand alone book. Regardless, the happenings in The Beast House were told well enough for me to appreciate the tale. The ever elusive beast seemed more perverted than scary but I still wouldn't want to meet the thing face-to-face. The keepers of the monstrosity were more terrifying than the creature itself. Showcasing human cruelty is Laymon's talent so I wasn...more

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Oct 03, 2011 Reese Copeland rated it 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed the book. You get a lot more detail of the beast, and how they came to be. You get more of the story of Maggie's involvement in the Beast House. I had a tough time putting the book down because I just found myself wanting to know what happens next. Initially, the first half of the book, you don't really learn the fate of the characters from the previous book in which you're just left hanging. But, well after half way through the book, it starts coming back to them, which was kin...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

Starts out pretty bland. It gets a bit more interesting once they start exploring the beast house, and I enjoyed this book more than I did Laymon's The Traveling Vampire Show, but it's still pretty meh. Other than feeling bad for Janice, I didn't really care about any of the characters. Hardy is so unlikeable that he's not even believable.

I haven't read The Cellar, so I don't know how that affects my view of The Beast House. After this, I'm not sure I'm willing to try another Laymon book.

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Mar 13, 2013 Brian Schwartz rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror

I was disappointed to find out after I was well into THE BEAST HOUSE, that it was the second in a three part trilogy based on Beast House. The first, called, THE CELLAR, tells the story of how Donna and Sandy came to be there. The third, called THE MIDNIGHT TOUR, tells what happens to Sandy, her brood, and the Beast House.

It worked well as a stand alone novel. Laymon is not much on character development. Tyler, Nora, Abe, and Jack, are really developed only as much as needed to propel the story....more I was disappointed to find out after I was well into THE BEAST HOUSE, that it was the second in a three part trilogy based on Beast House. The first, called, THE CELLAR, tells the story of how Donna and Sandy came to be there. The third, called THE MIDNIGHT TOUR, tells what happens to Sandy, her brood, and the Beast House.

It worked well as a stand alone novel. Laymon is not much on character development. Tyler, Nora, Abe, and Jack, are really developed only as much as needed to propel the story. Not much is given to development of Sandy in this book, probably because she was developed in THE CELLAR, as was her mother, Donna, who plays just a bit role in The Beast House.

Since the foursome were new editions to the story, it’s obvious they weren’t developed in the earlier novel. Tyler’s sudden discovery of her desire to rekindle an old flame seems more spontaneous than something over which she has been brooding. The instant emotional attraction the couples develop is also given superficial treatment. Just a bit more interaction between them before they fell in love would have made them more credible characters.

Gorman Hardy is developed enough to make him unlikeable, but he’s too simple. His thinking is simple, his motives are simple, and he doesn’t plot. He just acts one event at a time. A more devious Gorman Hardy would have added to the book.

Janice is the best developed character of the book. Her thoughts, emotions, and planning make her a rich character. Since she is the one who ultimately writes the story of what happened to her in Beast House and it is she who stays in Malcasa Point to run the motel left to her, we must believe this well developed character has a role in the next novel.

Laymon’s writing reminds me very much of John Saul, who writes stories driven entirely by plot. Like Laymon, Saul develops his characters just enough to propel the story, but even Saul provides deeper characters than Laymon.

According to various websites, Laymon wrote particularly violent and gory horror. I didn’t find Beast House that gory or violent – certainly no more so than anything Stephen King writes. I found The Beast House to be a fast paced novel that was a bit thin on character and completely lacking in meaningful subplots.

I write of Laymon in the past tense because, unfortunately, he died of a heart attack in 2001.

Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable book. I may even pick up the first and the third books to round out the trilogy. (less)

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Apr 25, 2008 Kristen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

After having read "The Cellar" I'll admit that I did not have high hopes for this book. Not that "the Cellar" was terrible, it just didn't live up to its potential. "The Beast House" does a little better, not much, but there is definite improvement. First of all, as readers we now know the layout of the Beast House and what is actually going on there. This makes it a little harder for him to build suspense. I actually found the most suspense in the hope that the ending wouldn't be as bad as the...more After having read "The Cellar" I'll admit that I did not have high hopes for this book. Not that "the Cellar" was terrible, it just didn't live up to its potential. "The Beast House" does a little better, not much, but there is definite improvement. First of all, as readers we now know the layout of the Beast House and what is actually going on there. This makes it a little harder for him to build suspense. I actually found the most suspense in the hope that the ending wouldn't be as bad as the last book.

In comparison to the first book, Laymon has made little progress in making 3 dimensional characters. Once again everyone is ready to sleep with just about anyone within a matter of minutes after meeting them. With this being the second book of his that I have read, I am curious if Laymon has written anything that did not involve either rape or attempted rape. I would be concerned if I was his psychiatrist that he seems to think that all men are either glowing yet dumb good guys, or sick demented rapists and murderers. Then the women are all either sex obsessed idiots, or sex obsessed murdering psychos. It's a very strange world that one enters into when reading a Laymon book. I suppose the good thing is that it is easy to tell who you are supposed to root for.

The story in this on is simple enough; a horror writer with no morals comes to the tiny town of Malcasa Point to write a story on the Beast house. He is lured there by one of the survivors of the first novel, a young girl working at the only motel in the town. She has found a diary which tells the origin of the Beast House and wants a cut of the money from the novel. Also heading into town are two librarians who are apparently very good looking, because you have to read about it constantly, they are saved from a random highway rapist by two ex-military men who seem to be wandering aimlessly about. The four of them shack up together and immediately fall madly in love. They meet up with the unscrupulous horror writer and are commissioned to enter the Beast House.

The novel has a lot of winding this way and that... I suppose to build tension, but everyone knows where it will end. Who will fall in love with whom, who is going to live and who is going to die. The whole book plays out exactly like the reader expects it will. Even down to cleaning up the messy ending of "The Cellar" and giving some redemption to the characters left hanging in that novel. Unfortunately with the poor characterization, this just reads to me like the "Cellar" with a different ending. All of the women are interchangeable. Abe could be Judge, with a simple "search and replace" of the character names. The only difference between this book and the last is that the ending is exactly what the reader expects.

My opinion of this is the same as that of the Cellar; a quick read, okay for a plane trip... but not a must read(less)

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Feb 02, 2013 Carl Alves rated it 2 of 5 stars

Being that I’m a really big fan of Richard Laymon, I wanted to like this book. Unfortunately, it did not deliver. In the story a group of people come across a tourist attraction in Malcase Point where an old building has was figures commemorating the victims of the Beast, a victim living in the cellar. The visitors don’t necessarily believe in the Beast, but in the process they are targeted as victims. Without going into too much detail that would spoil things, the plot line is fairly prepostero...more

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Jul 05, 2011 Melissa Bennett rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This was my 2nd Laymon book. The first book (Endless Night) was a page turner. It kept me glued to the book the entire time. Although I wasn't really terrified, it was still intense. I couldn't wait to get my hands on another Laymon book. Unfortunately, this one was nothing like the first book I read. It was slow, the romance between two of the characters seemed forced and cheesy, and it was not scary at all. I think there might of been 30 - 40 pages throughout the book that I actually enjoyed....more

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Mar 06, 2013 Adrianna rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was much better than The Cellar. The best part of the book was towards the end because it had a good action sequence. Wish Laymon would have killed the fat pig author with a little more gusto. I could have read some real blood and gore when it came to that nasty character. Even though I was offended by the sex in the first book I would still recommend reading The Cellar and this follow up The Beast House. They're a good weekend read in between cleaning the house.

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May 09, 2010 chucklesthescot rated it 2 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Laymon fans

Shelves: horror, fiction

Back at the Beast House! The usual mix of misfits that you don't really care about and hope they all die, descend upon the town with the famous Beast House, now doing more trade because of alleged recent murders and missing people. Now another group of people are preparing to sneak into the house at night to uncover the secrets of the beasts and see if the stories in the old diary written by the house owner are actually true. Oh you stupid people...
The Beasts are a great invention and I like th...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: other-fiction

HORRIBLE!!! Warning... Do not read this book! It is a complete waste of time. I read this not realizing it was the middle of a series but that is not why I hated it. The characters have no depth at all. There is about zero plot. Basically it is pornography with a bit of horror mixed in. I would say there is a graphic sex scene every couple of pages and this is not an exagerration. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with a sex scene in and of itself but this book goes way over the top. Wa...more

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Apr 12, 2012 Melanie rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I'm at a loss with this review because this book was in a way so bad it was good! It has a lot of needless violence and sex and points where it was like a mix of horror and porn. It was a mindless guilty pleasure to read, and I do feel guilty for admitting that I read it and remained entertained. The writing style is not great by any means but the cover kind of tells that you won't be reading the Grapes of Wrath. If you are looking for some good nonsense to read I would recommend this book.

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Apr 09, 2012 Eric rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-from-library, fiction, horror

This was better then The Cellar; you could tell he'd grown a bit as a writer. Are the characters a bit hollow who do silly things for lame reasons? Sure. Is there more T&A and B&G? You bet. That's what Laymon does. It is what it is. The books aren't deep and will never be confused for high-quality literary works, but they're good popcorn reading, the novel equivalent of a summer blockbuster movie.

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May 24, 2011 Pat Dreadful rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2011

The Beast House is an extremely solid entry into the Beast House Chronicles. I love how the whole series is tied together in very subtle ways. It is like returning to a childhood vacation spot and seeing a landmark that triggers a wave of memories. If you were turned off by some of the more intense subject matter found in The Cellar, then give The Beast House a try. It is a much more accessible entry point into the Beast House Chronicles.

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Mar 29, 2011 Carrie Carpenter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Reading people's comments always fires me up. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion which is how it should be and I write in many reviews very simillar things. Richard Laymon was a cheesy,gory,creepy misunderstood author. Yes most of his books in fact 95% of them are all the same,sex, gore murder,torture etc. That is what he writes that is what he does best. If you don't like it don't read it. He was cheesy and full of cliches yes but again that was him. You either love him or hate him. I fo...more

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Apr 22, 2013 Dan Perrott rated it 3 of 5 stars

I read the first book of the trilogy just before starting this. The first was quite good, very gory and left me disturbed for a few days. This book was alright, I thought it was a bit slow , nothing much happened until the end. Worth a read if you like laymon, other than that its not worth it.

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Jun 12, 2012 Ken rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Pretty average as far as I am concerned.

I read back through several of the other reviews and they ran the gamut from "Richard Laymon is the second coming of Christ" to "this book sucks, nothing but pornography and gratuitous sex". Well, it was neither.

Just a pretty average horror novel.

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Apr 24, 2013 Elizabeth Nesbit-comer rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The Beast is back and so is the creepy house open to visitors to see the wax remains of the victims. This is a quick gory read. The people who run the Beast house are far scarrier than the Pale skin, big dick with teeth Beast.

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Jun 18, 2011 Erin rated it 3 of 5 stars

Still adament that I would never have gone in the house, even if it was wax bodies. The discriptions alone made my stomach turn. If your Into Horror and Gore than this book is for you!

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May 03, 2012 Adriana Noir rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Laymon at his best. I actually found this one to be more twisted and depraved than the first book. One thing is for certain: whenever the beast appears, chills are inevitable. The characters were better developed and more believable in their actions this time around, too. Horrific and one gripping horror read!

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Oct 04, 2009 Jessy245 rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book was better than The Cellar, which is the firs book in this series. It was action packed from the start. There is a lot of sexual situations, so beware, but at least there is no little girl in this one. I would recommend it to the non-squemish.

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May 21, 2013 Aaron Edgell rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a fun, b-movie of a book and I enjoyed it much more than The Cellar. This is my fourth Laymon book and, so far, he's had more hits than misses.

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Dec 29, 2008 Wayne rated it 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was a good book, but I was very curious as to what the beast was. Laymon tells you where it comes from but not really what it is.

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Jun 07, 2011 Bobby_G rated it 3 of 5 stars

The Beast House series starts out as a fairly good read, but the follow on books get tired with the Beast theme.

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Apr 06, 2012 Hatchetgabby rated it 4 of 5 stars

Wow, what a ride,it was nice to get some background info on the beast and the characters were easy to love.

(view spoiler)...more

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About Richard Laymon

Richard Laymon was born in Chicago and grew up in California. He earned a BA in English Literature from Willamette, and an MA from Loyola University. He worked as a schoolteacher, a librarian, and a report writer for a law firm, and was the author of more than thirty acclaimed novels.

He also published more than sixty short stories in magazines such as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, and Cavalier,...more

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The Beast House (Beast House Chronicles #2)

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