Splatterpunk

Come Out Tonight - Richard Laymon 

                                                   

       This isn't my first time reading Laymon's Come Out Tonight but I can tell you that it's still in my top 5 Laymon novels and it was also the 2nd book of his I read. I was given a copy of The Stake many years ago because the woman who owned it didn't care for it and then years later a woman I worked with gave me my first copy of Come Out Tonight and I was instantly pulled into the story. What a story it is and I can see why some people would be turned off by Laymon's style. As I read it again, the shock and awe of Laymon's style still got me. This is not an easy novel to read and isn't recommended for those who dislike violence. Come Out Tonight starts off with a couple planning on making love but don't have any condoms. Duane decided to hit the Speed-D-Mart tpo pick some up but then the story takes a drastic turn when Duane fails to come back. When Sherry, his girlfriend decides to go looking for him that's when the story really picks up and we are thrust into a nightmare created by one of Laymon's most sadistic villians Toby Bones. 

       Toby offeres to help her look for Duane but soon things take a turn and Sherry is brutally attacked and eventually raped. Laymon knows how to write a decent story, but sometimes, his characters say and do things that make little to no sense, but the story is no damn good, you tend to forget just how implausible most of this. Come Out Tonight is Laymon at his brutal shocking best. He knows how to pace the his novels and keeps things moving at a brisk pace. Toby is a vile human being and Laymon gives us small glimpses of just how dangerous he is. It's one of his best villians and gives us clues as to why he's the way he is. Does it make it okay? Not at all, and while most writers would use this to gain some sympathy for the character, we have the exact opposite. Toby does things that you can't simply forgive and you want to see him taken down. 

         Come Out Tonight is extreme horror that plunges the reader into a nightmare that only allows you to catch your breath momentarily. There are some moments where characters do things that normal people don't do, but it's not something that detracts from the story. The violence and depravity Toby creates will no doubt make squeamish people thorw the book away in disgust but under that is a story of survival and revenge. While at times it seem unrealstic, it's still a novel that proves just how great Laymon was.