written by Richard Laymon
published by Leisure Books (July 2004)
ISBN: 978-0843951844
reviewed by Ty Schwamberger
09.08.2008
Endless Night, by the late and great Richard Laymon,
starts with a flurry of action and doesn’t let up until the last page. Books by a lot of great horror writers don’t
start with the action; instead like to build up suspense till all hell breaks
lose. Not with Laymon,
oh no. He keeps you on the edge of your
seat through out the entire book, waiting and wondering what will happen next.
This novel starts as a
single horror story, breaks into two and then ends up as one, again.
There is Jody Fargo, daughter
of LAPD cop, Jack Fargo. She is spending
the night over at her friend Evelyn’s house when killers break in. The group of killers, called the Krulls, doesn’t see Jody, making quick kills out of Evelyn
and her parents, but forget Evelyn’s 12 year old brother, Andy, is in the
house. Jody comes to the boy’s rescue,
killing a man in the process and the two escape,
barely.
One of the Krulls is Simon Quirt.
After the killings take place, Jody and Andy escape and Simon is left by
the murderous bunch to track them down and bring them back to the killer’s home
base. During the search for Jody and
Andy, Simon begins to tell his story into a hand held cassette player. He also tells the history of the Krulls in the process.
The book goes back and
forth between what Jody and Andy are up to and what Simon is doing to track
them down. All along, Simon thought he
only had Jody and Andy to deal with, but that was before he came face to face
with Jody’s father, Jack.
If you are a horror fan of
the grotesque, you will love this book.
There is a lot of action and gore to keep you happy but not enough to
wrench your guts. The book is quick
paced and very well thought out and written.
As in all Laymon books, the characterization
is superb and there is great dialog. The
only flaw I saw in the book is the last two pages. In my opinion, it could have been a little
bit more tightly wrapped up.
So, if you are a true Laymon fan or if you just want a great read from an awesome
horror writer, pick this book up. You
won’t be disappointed.
You might even get some
pointers on fashion in the process.