Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30384 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 309 pages

Customer Reviews

Not for everybody...
This is the first novel I've read by Richard Laymon (based on the recommendation in Horror: Another 100 Best Books). The Cellar is a fast-paced novel. It follows the classic formula: it starts out on a scare and begins the story proper. Donna Hayes gets a terrifying phone call: her ex-husband, Roy, has just been released from jail. Roy is a sociopath who had raped their daughter, Sandy. Donna immediately takes Sandy up the California coast with Roy hot on their heels. Their car breaks down (of course it does) in a small town whose one attraction is "Beast House" - a house "haunted" by an inhuman monster that slaughters anyone who enters after dark. (During the day, there is a guided tour - apparently the "beast" is good about not messing up the furniture.)

There are two horrors in this story - the "beast" and Roy. I found Roy to be more disturbing; so much so that you shouldn't read the book if you are squeamish. Roy is a sadistic rapist and much of his violence is directed at children. At times, I though I might have to skip over passages or stop reading.

The issue of "bad taste" does come up, but it is difficult to discuss bad taste in relation to horror because horror is in some ways all about bad taste. Laymon does not glorify Roy - the opposite, really - but it is just very painful to read what he does. The question of whether or not the scenes in this book belong in an "entertainment" is another, more difficult question.

Then, there is the "beast." Of course, there is more going on there than meets they eye. If you are good you will probably be able to guess where the ending is going before you get there. Depending on your temperament, you will find the resolution disturbing or silly.

Last of Laymon for me
I haven't finished reading this yet, but I've read enough to know that this is the last of Laymon for me. While the man's concepts are interesting, even promising, his writing is over simplistic and I find myself rolling my eyes at the unrealistic ways in which the characters are acting/reacting to their situations and their surroundings. The book starts with a triple murder at the famed Beast House, a tourist attraction that has been the site of numerous grisly murders over the years by the alleged beast. Jump to Donna Hayes, who receives a phone call informing her that her husband, who has been serving time for the rape of their daughter, has been released from jail.

Fearing that her husband will head straight for her and her daughter, Donna hightails it out of the apartment and makes a run for it, going as far as she can go until the car veers off the road in the fog. She finds herself in the town of Malacasa Point, home of the infamous Beast House. And this is where it takes a detour and never finds its way back.

While in town, she meets Judgement, a mercenary hired by a survivor of a "beast attack" to kill the beast. She is immediately drawn to him. I find this totally unrealistic and almost put the book down at this point. Here is a woman who has been sexually abused by her ex husband in sick and twisted ways, a woman whose daughter has been ravaged by the same man, a woman who fears that her ex husband might be on her very trail, a woman who learns that her sister and brother-in-law have been murdered (thus confirming in her mind that her ex husband knows where she is), and she decides that its time to pursue Judgement and start a relationship. In fact, she beds him shortly after finding out her sister has been murdered. Get real!! Grab your daughter, rent a car if your car isn't ready, and hit the road!!

This is the second Laymon book I have read where I find the characters behaving like they are totally out of touch with their surroundings and the events that are unfolding around them. If this is a sample of his writing style, I'll pass. And if you prefer to read about characters you can identify with, that you can root for and fear for, then I suggest you pass, too.

Worst book I ever read
It's the crappiest piece of work I ever had the displeasure to read. No character development, the writing is woefully dated. I also found the scenes of the child rape absolutely revolting, too detailed and felt it wasnt necessary to the story. Just crappy