February 2015 Group Read: In The Dark by Richard Laymon

[Kasia]

Hey, that's always better than forcing yourself through something boring. 93% zomg.. my eyes are trying to read ahead of me..

[Kasia]

Finished, not bad actually.

[Nate]

Kasia wrote: "Hey, that's always better than forcing yourself through something boring. 93% zomg.. my eyes are trying to read ahead of me.."

Oh yeah, it was a lot of fun. The ending was definitely not what I expected. spoiler: (view spoiler)[I thought Mog would have more back story or logic to his plan revealed. But I thought the random-seeming nature of events went well with the rest of the book's tone. And I've enjoyed dreaming up theories on Mog since I finished. (hide spoiler)]

[Kasia]

What an excellent comment Nate, I can't agree more. The (view spoiler)[ not knowing until the end who it was made me think up all sorts of theories, I even suspected Jane herself to maybe have a dual personality doing it herself, or on purpose, the stuff done to her skin while she slept.. crazy, or Mog being her ex or something, someone mentioned, I payed attention to all people introduced. (hide spoiler)]

[Nate]

Right on, Kasia. (view spoiler)[The dual personality thing crossed my mind too! And of course, I suspected Brace up until the end of at least being a partner. I half expected Jane to find an envelope at some point labeled Brace. Good stuff that Laymon used to keep us in suspense the whole time. It sure didn't feel like a 500 page book to me. (hide spoiler)]

[Kasia]

I'm slowly working on my review now, it actually made me want to write one, usually I just plunge into the next book (reading a short story by Crouch now). I'm glad to hear I wasn't the only one with the supposed idea about who it was :P

I actually gave my mom this book to read many years ago, hearing it was tamer, now I wonder if she laughed at me as she read it but she said it was great lol. She's usually reading an old Follett or something.

[Nate]

You know, I've had similar experiences. Loan a book to someone and tell them, this one is pretty tame. Then reread later and go holy crap, not as tame is I remember lol

[Vicki Willis]

I am at 68% right now and am feeling crazed myself to continue...

[Jack]

I'm such a slow reader, I'm just at the Paradise Club part now. I feel that the story's just hitting it's stride, I'm looking forward to what comes next.

[Kate]

A reminder that Richard Laymon passed away Feb 14 2001. A sad day for horror fans.
I think it's wonderful that so many are still discovering and appreciating his work.

[Dani]

Kasia wrote: "Dani wrote: "It's my birthday, so Justin I'm gonna drink and read. :)"

Happy Birthday Dani, may the champagne/beer whatever you love flow as you glide through those pages!"


LOL, thanks & I'm a vodka girl (hee hee). :)

[Dani]

Joel wrote: "Dani wrote: "It's my birthday, so Justin I'm gonna drink and read. :)"

Beware of paper cuts!"

Dude, happy to report no paper cuts or hangover! I am a bit bored with a new book I am reading, so hopefully I can finish it off tonight (minus the booze). :)

[Nate]

Kate wrote: "A reminder that Richard Laymon passed away Feb 14 2001. A sad day for horror fans.
I think it's wonderful that so many are still discovering and appreciating his work."

Indeed. Thanks for the reminder, Kate.

[Kasia]

Kate wrote: "A reminder that Richard Laymon passed away Feb 14 2001. A sad day for horror fans.
I think it's wonderful that so many are still discovering and appreciating his work."

Oh I had now idea it was today of all days, so bittersweet, thank you for mentioning this!

[Andy]

Wow. I didn't know it was Valentine's day. One the the greats of the genre taken too soon.

[Addy]

65%(view spoiler)[I was just wondering why mog paid Jane twice. Once he paid her with the envelope in the car and then after her stay with the stranger, he paid her again. Shouldn't the first envelope been payment for being a slave to the stranger? Maybe I missed something (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki Willis]

Addy wrote: "65%[spoilers removed]"

Me too Addy...
(view spoiler)[ I was really confused too and tried to go back through the envelopes and how the payment thing worked. But then I read on and got distracted by the next insane thing, so I let it go. (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

Yeah. I was just curious if anyone else thought that was confusing. Lol. Anyway, hoping to finish this soon. I need to know who mog is! Did u finish Vicki?

[Jack]

I'm about 200 pages in, and I know people have had quite a lot to say about the faults the book has (the dampness of clothing, loving the showers, etc) and I see them, but I don't find any of it bad enough to put me off the story at all. I'm really getting into it now - the Paradise section really caught my interest, and the assignment after that I thought was very interesting.

Yeah, I'm enjoying it. Mild spoiler (view spoiler)[ I think right now the only gripe I have is Jane's sudden obsession with the money she receives. That sort of came out of nowhere. Maybe if there'd been a bit of set up to this, for example her ex leaving her with massive debts or something like that, it would be less jarring and a more natural hook for her to overlook how fucked up her tasks are becoming. (hide spoiler)]

[Vicki Willis]

I finished it over the weekend and actually loved it. :) I thought it was a great book with a great ending. All the conversation about it was a good read as well!

[Kathy]

Finally finished it, liked it, but I wish there would've been more detail on the characters.

[Addy]

Wow! Haha! This was a great read. Had me til the end. (view spoiler)[I wish there was more about this mog guy. He's almost supernatural. Wish there was more about how he became. I totally believed she had killed mog and then when brace couldn't remember what happened and when Jane realized someone emptied her gun I thought brace was involved. Boy, was I wrong. At least brace stayed true to Jane:) (hide spoiler)]

[Kasia]

Nice Andy, you did it!

As per MOG (view spoiler)[ To me he looked and sounded like Gollum from LOTR (hide spoiler)]

[Addy]

You know, that's a good comparison Kasia!

[Jack]

54% - taking a peep...

[Maxine Marsh]

Addy wrote: "Wow! Haha! This was a great read. Had me til the end. [spoilers removed]"

Yes Addy, (view spoiler)[ I thought for a moment that Brace was a bad guy, I was so relieved that he wasn't, there would have been no coming back from that one for Jane (hide spoiler)].

[Jack]

I'm in the part with the 'gala time' clue. Holy fuck!

[Jack]

Well I missed the deadline for this story, still have 50 pages to read so I'll finish it today. Anyway this was my first group read and I really enjoyed it. hope to join you all on future reads!

[Jack]

Well I missed the deadline for this story, still have 50 pages to read so I'll finish it today. Anyway this was my first group read and I really enjoyed it. hope to join you all on future reads!

[Andy]

Hi Jack. I'm at 85% and pushing to finish so I can start March reads. I can't wait to find out who MOG is.

[Andy]

Finished. The last quarter of the book was great!

[Andy]

To Sean:

I hated the first Laymon book I read. It didn't help that it was The Woods are Dark which might be his most over the top perv-horror parody. Going in, I was excepting a horror novel, and had no idea how campy and overtly sexual and gory the book was going to be.

Many Laymon fans have commented in this thread that this was not his best work. You should give him another try. The Traveling Vampire Show was the Stoker for best novel.

A lot of the time Laymon's appeal is that he's so bad he's good (many would argue great). Other times, he is so good he's great.