2015 Reading Challenge Book 013 Dark Mountain

2015 Reading Challenge Book 013 Dark Mountain written by Richard Laymon

 BOOK TITLE-Dark Mountain
AUTHOR-Richard Laymon
FORMAT-Paperback
FIRST TIME READING-No
COST-$1

I discovered Richard Laymon back in 2008. After finding out about Jack Ketchum,I was buying any Ketchum book I found. While in the the closest thing we have to a local bookstore,which is a Books a Million store that is 60% Hallmark cards,20% dvds and the rest is books,I found the novella collection Triage. This collection had a theme. Each of the three authors was given this idea. A man enters a place of business with a gun and starts shooting. The three authors involved are Ketchum,Edward Lee and the late Richard Laymon. The collection was Laymon's idea. I read his novella and really liked it.

So my next trip to the used bookstore in town I looked hoping they might have some Laymon books. They had almost 12 and I bought the all. After reading 2 of them I realized I enjoy Laymon's style of horror and since that time if I find one of his books I will buy it.To me Laymon's style reads like a good 80s era B-horror film. Stuff that you would rent from the local video store when every copy of the Jason,Freddy,Michael or Leatherface films were rented out.But unlike those 80s B-horrors,Laymon has a much better batting average. I have read close to 20 of his novels. And only 2 of them I didn' t like.

Not sure what year it was,but I was in Dollar Tree. Looking for Pez,Garbage Pail Kids stickers,bubble wrap and seeing whatever books they had. I saw the familiar Leisure Fiction logo on the spine. Grabbed it and read the blurb on the back.The blurb sounded pretty good. An group of friends go camping. Run into a witch,accidentally kill her son.So she puts a curse on them.

Sounds like the plot of a good 80s B-horror film.Well this is the worst fully finished Richard Laymon book I have ever read. It takes almost 200 pages for anything to happen. Then right after that the lead female makes a down right stupid decision. From there until the end it feels like Laymon was trying his best to shock people. And it really doesn't work. After finishing the book for the first time I felt majorly ripped off. And this is after having only paid a buck for it.

 But I have a rule with books. I give each book 2 chances. If after a second chance I still dislike it I get rid of it. A few days ago I was wanting a horror book to read.Something that would be a light read. I gave Dark Mountain a second chance. It didn't get better. It didn't get worse. It just bored the fuck out of me. Which is something no other Laymon novel has done to me.

Dark Mountain by Richard Laymon gets a 1 outta 5.