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Title: One Rainy Night by Richard Laymon ISBN: 0-8439-4690-3 Publisher: Dorchester Pub Co Pub. Date: February, 2000 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.89 (46 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: We've Been Down This Rain-Soaked Road Before...
Comment: Richard Laymon's novel, "One Rainy Night" is about a mysterious black rain that falls over a town, turning its residents into bloodthirsty lunatics. As the night continues, those who haven't been infected by "the black rain" try to seek shelter and protect themselves from their former friends and neighbors, now turned homicidal maniacs.
Of course, this isn't the first time horror fans have seen this type of story. George Romero's film, "The Crazies" comes time mind first. The novel also reminded me, to an extent, of David Cronenberg's "Shivers" and is very reminiscent of Jack Ketchum's novel "Ladies Night".
Like those works, "One Rainy Night" doesn't waste any time getting into the action. Almost immediately, the ground-rules are set and the novel zips along at a fast pace. The book itself follows three different plot threads, causing the narrative to skip back and forth between the chapters.
Richard Laymon's writing style is simple and easy, making for a quick read. I couldn't put this book down. The characters were so well handled that I didn't want to stop reading, just to find out what happened next. In more than one instance, I actually found myself rooting for the some of the characters. That's how you know you've found yourself a great book... the author gets you so involved in the characters that you lose yourself in the story.
The book is full of memorable scenes and engaging plot twists that I never saw coming. Richard Laymon's aforementioned "B-Movie" influences are apparent throughout the story. Shades of "Night of the Living Dead" can be seen during a siege on a restaurant, and one attack on a house reminded me of a particularly disturbing scene in "The Return of Count Yorga". I guess it goes without saying that a book of this nature is bound to be violent, but Laymon really outdoes himself here. The gore scenes range from slightly queasy to Lucio-Fulci overkill. There were many times when I couldn't believe how far Laymon took the violence.
"One Rainy Night" is a great book. It's far from being a complex and intelligent horror novel, but then again it never tries to be. "One Rainy Night" is the equivalent of a splatter film... unashamed, fast-paced, violent, and anything but subtle.
Recommended to genre fans.
Rating: 3
Summary: Night of the Living Dead meets The Blob meets True Believers
Comment: If you are easily grossed out, this one isn't for you. Laymon takes readers on a campy ride through one fatal night in Bixby. A horrible racially-motivated murder leads to voodoo revenge plot. Hmmmm....
ONE RAINY NIGHT depicts graphic violence and sex underscoring the dark side that supposedly lurks beneath us all. Once the mysterious thick black rain starts to fall, townsfolk begin to run amuck. This is an easy read; I finished it in one sitting. You won't find any award-winning dialogue, characters or plot. Many things go unanswered here: what about the suffering of the murdered boy's family? how do a couple of people quickly figure out the rain's secret and accept it without question? why does 9-year-old Kara sound like my loveable elderly aunt? Laymon's typical ability to raise the hair on the back of your neck shines through however. If you are looking for deep-meaning horror with subtle twists: this isn't it! RAINY does what it intends: it gives you a few chills, has you racing toward the finish, but all in all leaves you with the feeling that you just spent an afternoon watching that low-budget horror film you've always loved. I enjoyed reading it; I love Laymon's writing in general. But don't pick this one up expecting to have to figure out the plot. It's simple: an eye for an eye, be careful what you wish for, and humans are just animals underneath the fancy clothes. Sometimes you want steak, sometimes you secretly pig out on cheeseburgers. This one is a fun, greasy cheeseburger: easily consumed, quickly forgotten.
Rating: 3
Summary: Too many loose ends
Comment: I'm not really a big fan of gore. I'd rather read a psychological thriller or a good old fashioned ghost story. However it's not the gore the reason I give the book a low rating.
Seen from a distance the plot is SO simple. You have this rain that makes people insane, some key characters manage to stay dry and live through the night in "Night of the Living Dead" style -locking up themselves, fighting with makeshift weapons. One of these characters has a theory of why the whole thing is happening and, as it turns out, it really WAS the reason.
What I really disliked about this book was a number of far fetched situations and some terribly loose ends. You have this rain that makes people stark raving mad, which is pretty well stated in the first quarter of the novel when the killings start out of the blue. But then these insane people start displaying intelligence, plotting against their intended victims. You have scenes where "crazies" run naked in the street holding knives above their heads, mixed with "crazies" that think "it would be better to drive to this other house so the people in the house I intend to brake into have no idea"...
Another loose end -probably the worst in the book- is the character of Sandy, who suddenly appears in the final third of the book, and near the end is the only one who inexplicably can control the effect of the rain on herself, up to the point where she leads the group that will eventually come face to face with what is causing the black rain.
Another one? You have Tom, Lynn and Casey in the restaurant, outnumbered, pinned to the floor, ready to be slain and all of a sudden their attackers are gunned down. Who gunned them down? Who knows.
Other really hard to believe scenes, like a mother telling the babysitter "it's ok to ask your boyfriend to come while we are gone" (yeah, right) helped in me not really liking this book, and, again, it had nothing to do with the gore.
A two and a half star actually.
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Title: In the Dark by Richard Laymon, Dean R. Koontz ISBN: 0843949163 Publisher: Leisure Books Pub. Date: September, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Island by Richard Laymon, Dean R. Koontz ISBN: 0843949783 Publisher: Leisure Books Pub. Date: March, 2002 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Darkness, Tell Us by Richard Laymon ISBN: 0843950471 Publisher: Dorchester Pub Co Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: Bite by Richard Laymon ISBN: 0843945508 Publisher: Leisure Books Pub. Date: June, 1999 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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Title: The Traveling Vampire Show by Richard Laymon ISBN: 0843948507 Publisher: Dorchester Pub Co Pub. Date: March, 2001 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
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