Laymon Is God

 Beware! - Richard Laymon 

                                                 

      Richard Laymon is not only one of my favorite authors, he's also a huge influence on my own writing. Beware! is one of his earlier works and it shows in the early going. It's almost as if he wants to make up for the past mistakes of The Woods Are Dark by tapping into mainstream horror and it almost works The problem with Woods was that the failure wasn't his. His publisher gave him a crappy cover and hacked away half of the book. He has a distinct, almost frenetic writing that pulls you in from the opening paragraph. What it lacks is the usual Laymon trademarks, it more than makes up for in plot and pacing. Beware! is an updated version of the Invisible Man, but here, there's nothing redeemable about the guy. He uses his invisibility to create as much mayhem as possible. Laymon has created a villian that is truly evil and as the novel goes on you get a front row seat at just how evil he is. For someone who has never read a Laymon novel, this would be a good place to start. His usual trademarks aren't yet in place and while the novel does include some cringeworthy moments, it's still a great read. 

       He's not yet near the ultra-violent stage yet which makes this an interesting read and not as gritty or even violent as his later novels. His characters do sometimes behave in ways that make you scratch your head in bewilderment but it doesn't take anything away from the novel. It's still a great twist to the classic question of what would you do if you were invisible and adds a bit of depth to the idea of somone unpleasant being granted the powers. Add in the creepy cult as a clever plot device and you have something unique. Sadly, this wasn't his break into the mainstream it should have been, but there are far too many areas here that would turn of casual horror fans. It does include scenes of rape, and murder, but again, when you read later novels you can almost see that he gave up on mainstream success and just wrote what he wanted without caring about who he offended. Richard Laymon never achieved the mainstream success he could have, but Laymon novels aren't going to ever be accepted by most horror fans. 

       Beware! is a classic early novel that once more shows his growth as a writer. He creates stories that stick with you and drift into dark places. It's here in the dark where the best stories exist, it's where you're going to find that sometimes, the real monsters are out among you and soemtimes, they're invisible. Laymon is the kind of writer you either love or hate. A search of his reviews will show this clearly, but those of us who are fans are loyal and fly the Laymon flag every chance we get. Beware! is a great gem that sadly slid under the radar, but it's a great novel and one that shows just how great Laymon was. 5/5 stars