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Come Out Tonight

3.79 of 5 stars 3.79 · rating details · 1,055 ratings · 43 reviews

When a young woman's boyfriend diappears, she heads out to search for him--straight into the path of a psychotic killer.

Mass Market Paperback, 434 pages

Published July 30th 2005 by Leisure Books (first published 1999)

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Sep 10, 2011 Ali rated it 1 of 5 stars

(Don't read this unless you don't care about having major plotlines spoiled.) Richard Laymon is, it would seem, quite a controversial author among book-reading types of people. Some have showered praise on him, much the same way one would shower urine on their partner during a golden shower. (Good God, I used shower too much in that last sentence, but the analogy is too funny to pass up, so I'm leaving it, because I'm twelve.) From what I know, Stephen King and Dean Koontz are two of the people...more (Don't read this unless you don't care about having major plotlines spoiled.) Richard Laymon is, it would seem, quite a controversial author among book-reading types of people. Some have showered praise on him, much the same way one would shower urine on their partner during a golden shower. (Good God, I used shower too much in that last sentence, but the analogy is too funny to pass up, so I'm leaving it, because I'm twelve.) From what I know, Stephen King and Dean Koontz are two of the people who have done this, and Laymon is a personal friend of Koontz's, or was, before he caught himself a rather bad case of dead. Laymon, not Koontz. Others have dismissed his work as nothing more than violent pornography, or the adolescent fantasies of a sex-starved, sadistic, demented teenager who frantically wanks off in his bedroom to pictures of dead mutilated women on the Internet (okay, I made that last part up, but from reviews I've read, they might as well be saying that, so sue me). I personaally think it's somewhere in between. What I do know is that this book, along with The Lake, is what made me stop reading his novels. I finished this, picked up another book by him, read ten pages, and my thoughts proceeded as follows: "No more. No more. No more." Then I picked up Jack Ketchum's Peaceable Kingdom, which turned out to be one of the best short story collections I've read. But anyway, enough about me, let's talk about the book.

Before reading this book, I had read four others by him during the summer, and thoroughly enjoyed them, despite their flaws. Even though the book I am going to review is one of the worst horror novels I've ever read, I have to admit, the guy can write a good, suspenseful story that keeps you wanting to know what happens next.

Come Out Tonight begins with a 25-year-old substitute teacher named Sherry, getting ready to have sex with her boyfriend, Duane. She tries to put the condom on him, but it disintegrates due to its having been bought a few years before. As they are both quite hot to trot, Duane decides to go down to the Speed-D-Mart, which is open all night, and get fresh condoms. She tries to discourage him, but desperate horniness sends him down there anyway. He comes back five minutes later, and they have hot sex. Not really. There would be no point to the book if he did that. Actually, he doesn't show up at all, and after a while of waiting and wondering if he maybe decided to go and have sex with someone else, she goes out to try and find him. While looking for him, she encounters a student she had had in one of her classes with the unforgettable name of Toby Bones. He offers to help her find Duane, though it turns out that his motives are much more sinister, and involve a lot of rape and murder.

This would ordinarily be a pretty damned good story, but the enormous, gaping plot holes,, not to mention how unbelievable it is, simply kills it for me.

To begin with, we hardly know anything about Sherry. All we know is that she is 25, though she looks 19, has a boyish figure and small breasts, is a substitute teacher, and, well, that's it. (Laymon focusses quite a bit on her breasts throughout the book. If not for the gratuitous rape and violence, this book would pretty much be all about titties, titties, I sher love titties, don't you love titties, because I love titties. I guess one could argue that this is not really a flaw, as he is trying to explore the link between sex and violence in the mind of the antagonist, and that's a valid argument [It seems good ol' Toby is a boob-man; then again, so are approximately 99.9999% of all the men in Laymon's books, or at least, the ones I've read.] Still, there comes a point, at least for me, when I almost imagine the character as being nothing more than a pair of walking talking breasts because of how much he describes them in various states of arousal, coldness, etc.) Anyway, he doesn't give us any background on what kind of person Sherry is, or much about her past, or, well, anything which would make us give a shit about her as a person. All we know is what she looks like, and, if we are to judge by her actions throughout the book, that she is one stupid motherfucker. Her breasts aren't stupid, however. they just sit there on her chest and look all, you know, breasty, just like any good breasts should. More on that later.

All of the characters in this book are two-dimensional like that. We never get any information about anything besides the way they look (especially if they happen to have breasts, which are referred to over and over), and maybe a little bit about their hobbies. The only exception is Toby. We get a pretty good feel for why he is, you know, a rapist and murderer. I don't like him because he doesn't have breasts. Otherwise, I could hardly tell one character from another, unless they have breasts. The only thing which distinguishes the characters are their names. All the women, save for one or two, are stupid, passive, and motivated purely by sexual allure, or the lack thereof, and all the men, save one, are nearly insane, sex-crazed savages who have no qualms about committing any sexual deviance as long as it means getting their rocks off.

Next is the shere unbelievability both of the motives of the characters (and sometimes there aren't even any motives; they just do shit for no conceiveable reason), and the events. Two very good examples follow. After Sherry has been sexually assaulted and beaten by Toby, she gets away from him, and runs into a nearby restaurant. By the way, in her struggle to get away from Toby, he tears her shirt open, and her breasts are spilling out. Just thought you should know. Anyway, she goes into this restaurant, beaten, bloodied, with her shirt torn open and her breasts out. And no one in the restaurant says a single thing. You would think they'd be all over her, and those breasts, trying to help her, call the police, things like that. I know I'd do that if someone in her state came in. But they don't notice anything. They were probably too busy looking at her breasts. ("Hey, duuuuuude, look at the gazombas on that broad. Whoa, yo! Those are fuckin hot!" "Is that blood on her?" "I dunno, but look at those sweater meats! She even has red nipples!") In fact, she even
thinks it somewhat weird that there's one guy staring at her. Oh, and about calling the police. You'd think that the first thing she would do upon entering a place of safety is call the police. But no, she doesn't do that. Despite the fact that there are exactly zero things stopping her from dialling those three little numbers, she instead chooses to go into the washroom and clean herself up, later to walk out of the restaurant with the guy who stared at her before, and get captured by Toby soon after, brutally injuring her new friend in the process. She gets several such opertunities to call the police, and she just fucking doesn't, instead choosing to take him on herself without any aid and succor, and every time she doesn't call them, she gets more and more people in mortal danger. People fucking died because of this idiot's refusal to ask for help.

Later on, after being raped and left for dead by Toby, she is found by two teenagers, called Jeff and Pete. These are probably the least believeable of the characters. They find her, flip her over to look at her breasts, and, rather than calling for help, seriously consider having sex with her corpse. The only reason they don't is because she moves, and they realize she isn't dead after all. After she tells them about her situation with Toby, they say they will help her kill him, but it is implied that the only reason they're doing this is because they think she will sleep with them in gratitude. At the end of the book, it is implied that she has indeed started a sexual relationship with one of the boys.

Overall, though this is quite a suspenseful story, and was fun to read at times, all of the things discussed make it very difficult for me to recommend that you read it. If you like reading books with pointless violence and sex, or just want a quick read to kill an afternoon, I would suggest it for you. If, however, you are looking for a good horror novel with believable characters and a well-thought-out storyline, skip this one. I'd suggest you read something by Peter Straub, Stephen King, Douglas Clegg, Brian Keene, or one of the many other literate, intelligent writers out there who add books of substance to this particular genre.
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Sep 26, 2011 Timothy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Wow. If the world were filled with people like the ones in this book it would be a terrible place.
The main character is Sherry, a substitute teacher in LA. The book starts with her and her boyfriend having a sexual encounter. Unfortunately they don't have any condoms so he runs to the store to get some and never returns. Great way to start a story.

The most amazing thing about this book is the characters fears of contacting the authorities. Missing boyfriend? ok I could see looking for him yours...more

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Feb 25, 2012 TJ rated it 1 of 5 stars

As a long-time fan and veteran reader of Richard Laymon's novels, I felt compelled to write this review of "Come Out Tonight" primarily as a warning to those who belong to his legion of followers. Comparing this to the 20 or so Laymon novels that I've read, this book has some of the most unbelievable and shallow characters to ever come from Laymon's vivid imagination. The plot is decent enough and certainly follows Laymon's recipe of fast-moving action combined with generous amounts of gore, sex...more

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Feb 04, 2009 Chris rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: horror, 2009

The book is separated into two parts, which I read in two separate sittings. The first half of the book follows Sherry as she ventures out into the strange night of L.A. to look for her boyfriend, who went out to the Speed-D-Mart and hasn't come back in about 45 minutes. Sherry discovers his van, but no boyfriend. She also discovers a young, formidable guy named Toby Bones who helps her search for her missing boyfriend. In typical Laymon style, the book begins to get sprinkled with red herrings...more

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Sep 02, 2012 Rei rated it 3 of 5 stars

Feel kinda crappy if I gave him 2 stars for this one, but I can't give more then 3. I loved the start of it, it was good and well done. But after she gets (presumably) killed and dumped, and the two teenagers come along, I didn't like it as much; zoning out and not paying much attention to the words after that.

I do love Laymon, and he's produced brilliant books, but this one just seems to go up and down with its story. I dunno; it's a good start, then goes a bit crappy, then alright when Sherry...more

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Dec 14, 2008 Jamie rated it 3 of 5 stars

Can you say 9-1-1? What is up with these people suffering brutal attacks and not calling the police?! And why was Sherry so quick to believe the worst about Duane? She evidently knew him a good deal better than Toby Bones so why would she believe some angst ridden teen-age hood over the man she was just contemplating having sex with?

But... and this is big one...it is a Laymon and while it's not his best it does have its requisite amount of blood, death, sex and breasts lol
It was completely far f...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Daniel Ray rated it 3 of 5 stars

Richard Laymon’s insane COME OUT TONIGHT is an entertaining read that explores teen lust in extreme ways. The central character, Sherry, is the object of affection for several characters, providing hugely different results. Toby, the villain, is a chunky overweight teenager who is so obsessed with Sherry that he goes on a mass killing spree to win her affection. He’s a very revolting character, written with perverse glee that only Laymon could provide. We also have Pete and Jeffrey, who are equa...more

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Nov 19, 2009 Amy rated it 2 of 5 stars

This is probably my least favorite Laymon read to date and I've read quite a few. It wasn't the sex and violence that turned me off, but the total idiocy of each and every character! Egads were they stupid! They weren't in the backwoods of nowhereville, but smack dab in the middle of L.A. for crying out loud! Granted, the phones were out, but that just wasn't a good enough excuse for me. The whole situation was utterly unbelievable. Toby Bones should not have gotten away with all that mayhem so...more

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Sep 19, 2007 James rated it 1 of 5 stars

having read a couple other of richard laymon's books, i sort of knew what to expect with this one. his 1988 book, "resurrection dreams" was the first book of his that i read, and i enjoyed it. it was the story of a woman returning to her hometown only to have the man that stalked her in high school attack her and try to subject her to his necromantic experiments. it was a quick read and not a horrible one (though i didn't necessarily have a taste for some of the more exploitative scenes). his 20...more having read a couple other of richard laymon's books, i sort of knew what to expect with this one. his 1988 book, "resurrection dreams" was the first book of his that i read, and i enjoyed it. it was the story of a woman returning to her hometown only to have the man that stalked her in high school attack her and try to subject her to his necromantic experiments. it was a quick read and not a horrible one (though i didn't necessarily have a taste for some of the more exploitative scenes). his 2001 bram stoker-award winning novel, "the traveling vampire show," was the second book of his i read, and it started off as a bradbury-esque tale of growing up and the transition from childhood to adulthood catalyzed when a roming band of vampires roll into town. though a bit more vulgar and violent than anything ray bradbury has ever written, it didn't lose me until the end, when all of a sudden, one of the characters that we're led through the whole book to like (or at least, understand why he's the main character's best friend) is all of a sudden revealed in the last 20 pages of the book to have done some horrible things to his little sister. it was very distracting, very disheartening, and very disgusting. that said, when 90% of the book was decent, I had hopes for this one.

my hopes were completely dashed within the first 40 pages of the book. a) the story wasn't interesting and definitely didn't warrant a 434 page book (it was a pedestrian and exploitative tale of violence, stalking, rape, and revenge). and b) even more so than either of the other books of his i've read, it was completely despicable and even the characters we're supposed to like and follow aren't totally likeable. in fact, they're all rather stereotypical, and it just kind of showed me that laymon clearly had no hope for the good in humanity at all (or at least, believed strongly in the concept of alterior motives...either that or he himself was a despicable person).

anyway, i really didn't like this book at all, and it makes me incredibly sad that i have several other laymon books on my shelf to read (all sent to me from the leisure books "horror-book-of-the-month" club). do yourself a favor and don't even think twice about this book.

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Mar 26, 2013 Sian Thomas rated it 5 of 5 stars

i absolutely adored this book, first of many i feel. the main protagonist was great but you didnt half feel sorry for her from the point that she met "him". What an absolute git! no wonder he never had a girlfriend. what a nutter!, but an excellent bad-guy. this book did make me feel quite sick in some places and i had to turn the page quickly to try and get past the really gory parts. i was reading it on the bus at one time and i literally went "EURGH!" out loud.

love, love, loved it!

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May 11, 2013 Isabella Ellis rated it 2 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Oct 26, 2009 Emma rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: My mum started reading it once...

Recommended to Emma by: Woolworths for selling it so cheap

Shelves: richard-laymon, horror

*little spoilers*

The story, on a whole, was completely unbelieveable. It's as if Richard Laymon sat down and thought "What if I wrote a book and in it all decisions made by just about every character in it is the wrong one".

What's with the tubby girl enjoying the rape? Just because a person isn't stick thin or doesn't look like a supermodel does not mean that she wants to screw/get raped by some bloke from her school that she sort of fancied. Utterly stupid.

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Jan 05, 2013 Butterblume89 rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011, thriller

Ein junges Paar in einer heißen Sommernacht. Alles wäre perfekt, wenn da nur nicht dieser mysteriöse Mann wäre, der die beiden schon seit geraumer Zeit beobachtet, der alles über sie weiß – und der beabsichtigt, auf fürchterliche Weise Rache zu üben … Ein Geheimtipp und zugleich ein geheimer Bestseller: In den USA und Großbritannien ist Richard Laymon seit Jahren einer der bestverkauften zeitgenössischen Horror-Autoren. „Rache“ gilt als sein zentrales Werk: nicht nur ein Roman - ein buchgeworden...more

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Jan 06, 2013 Jeremy Boatwright rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very simplistic in nature. I'm a follower, so I read it. I never read book reviews until after I read the book, because I like to have a clear head before an opinion. Kinda like Steven king. People read his books because he wrote them. Take " Cell" for example. That book was fucking terrible. I mean really, cell phones causing people to be zombies or something. He is the only author I know who's movie adaptations are better than the books. Green mile, stand by me, shawshank misery, maximum overd...more

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Sep 05, 2011 Mark rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

A terrible novel - the idea works, but the execution is way off, as Laymon attempts to pad out an overlong novella into an overlong novel. I read the sequence where the two lads find the naked heroine, expecting it to end long before it did, as they - and the writer and reader - ogled over her form. The gore works, it's good fun, but the lewdness makes you feel grubby after a while.

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Jun 28, 2011 William M. rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror

Although this is one of Laymon's weaker efforts, it still has plenty of his trademark goodies -- violence, suspense, gore, and sex. The big problem with this one is the believability factor. Characters react in ways that seem ridiculous, but it's a fun read, nonetheless. For new readers of Richard Laymon, I'd first try "In The Dark", "Island", or "The Travelling Vampire Show".

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Dec 24, 2012 Ashley James rated it 4 of 5 stars

Another great read by Laymon. Anyone who has read Laymon knows what to expect shocking images left in your mind many sexually explicit, to mark that as a negative is wrong as thats laymons style. I really enjoyed this book similar to blood games and endless night which are 2 of my favourite novels. Love Laymon and always will great Novel.

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Jan 04, 2009 jody rated it 3 of 5 stars

I thought this was pretty good but it contains a lot of sexual assault. Looking at other people's reviews this is common with his books. I'm glad to see that someone else was also irritated that people in these books don't call the cops. I know it is to keep the story going but so annoying!

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Feb 03, 2010 Angie rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shelves: did-not-finish

This is the first book I tried to read where I didn't like any of the characters. The characters were so unrealistic that it made the book seem very shallow. The suspense and shock factor could have been good if the characters were even a little bit believable. I did not finish this book.

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Apr 16, 2012 Mentat rated it 3 of 5 stars

this one is either-or. Either you like it for its simplicity and action, or you become disgusted with apparent lack of motivation behind the protagonists' doings or undoings. I must've been in the mood to read it, so I liked it more than I didn't. Not boring for me, not boring at all.

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Aug 02, 2007 Samantha rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: richardlaymon

I think I must be getting bored of Laymon, all his stories seem the same to me...girl gets raped, another girl gets raped, of what a surprise, another girl gets raped.

I don't have anything against him adding rape to EVERY story, but most of the stories themselves aren't very interesting, this book started off so well, with a missing persons theme going on...then once you found out what happened (which was quite near the beginning) the rest was just a chase and rape theme *yawn*

I've never thought...more

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Feb 12, 2013 Jenny Lockey rated it 2 of 5 stars

I hadn't read any Laymon for a long time. And now I know why. It was... Ok. There were parts where the story dragged and parts where the action was great. I felt like the ending was rushed as the build up seemed to take most of the story. I didn't see the point in the end chapter at all. Not his best, in my opinion.

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Nov 09, 2011 Tina rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 13, 2013 Terry rated it 1 of 5 stars

Sometimes a book is so bad, the characters so shallow, combined with an idiotic plot that I just have to give up on it. This book exceeded all those requirements

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Mar 16, 2009 DJMikeG rated it 1 of 5 stars

This is a truly terrible book. Unreadable. Some of Laymon's writing is great, but this is straight up garbage.

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Aug 22, 2010 chucklesthescot rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: Laymon fans

Shelves: horror, fiction

Sherry's boyfriend nips out to the store and when he doesn't come back, her search for him leads her to be abducted and raped by the psychotic loser Toby who has killed her boyfriend because he has an obsession with her. If she doesn't do what Toby says she knows he is going to kill her and he also has his eyes on other possible victims.
This was one of my favourite Laymon books, filled with the usual sex and violence that you expect, but with a good plot and a much better selection of character...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Roxanne rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012-reading-challenge, crime, laymon, ng-paperback, non-graphic-novel, own, serial-killer, thriller-suspense

I found it difficult to choose between 3 stars or 4 stars so I thought I'd be generous. I did enjoy this book but parts of it were a bit frustrating, mainly the lack of intelligence of some of the characters. I believe the story could have been a lot shorter as it was quite drawn out, I did lose interest at one point but as I got back into the story I didn't lose interest a second time. I decided to give this book 4 stars mostly because of the ending. In my opinion the ending was the best part o...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Joe Stamber rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, read-2013

Laymon's characters and plots are usually (well, always) ridiculous. Come Out Tonight beats ridiculous to a pulp and then dances on its grave. You know the kid in Friday 13th who says, "I'll just go and check the wood shed (in the dark, on my own)"? Well, the characters in Come Out Tonight make him look like Einstein. Utterly preposterous. But after all, it's Laymon so what can we expect? In a scholarly mood, I may have given 1 star. With a belly full of Jack Daniels and lungs full of the finest...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Laurie Carrico rated it 4 of 5 stars

I would get so aggravated at this woman! Lol. Fast paced horrible night

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Dec 25, 2008 Rustinajo rated it 2 of 5 stars

Richard Laymon is one sick puppy!

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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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