The Lake [NOOK Book]

absorbing crime thriller

As a teen, Leigh was a rebel protesting the Viet Nam War so her parents decided she needed a change of scenery sending her to her uncle an aunt¿s home in Wisconsin where she met studmuffin Charlie Payne. Leigh chased after the shy man who was intimidated by his mother until she finally caught him. They made love in an abandoned house, but as Charlie was leaving he fell through the floor, hit his dead, and died. His mother claimed Leigh killed her son, but the police ruled it an accidental death. She returned home pregnant.---- Eighteen years later Leigh¿s daughter Deana is on a date with Allan when a man carrying a cleaver and wearing a chef¿s hat chases after them and kills the lad. The culprit is the former chef at Leigh¿s restaurant, who was recently fired. Macer, the detective in charge, becomes romantically involved with Leigh. When the police catch Allan¿s killer, Leigh feels safe, but she soon will learns she is wrong because someone is coming for her and her daughter.---- Richard Layman is a Bram Stroker award winning horror novelist who proves he can switch genre gears by writing a fantastic thriller as well. From the very beginning, the action explodes and just accelerates beyond warp speed and yet allows for a strong believable relationship between mother and daughter even when stress threatens to destroy it as both want to protect the other. The story line is loaded with surprises so that the audience never knows what will happen next. This totally absorbing crime thriller wlil have readers enthralled and unable to put it down until the last page is turned.---- Harriet Klausner

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

Love it

Love this book

twisted book

but the twists and turns kept me reading

Review for English Class

The Lake by Richard Laymon is an intense horror novel that nearly forces you to keep reading it. At the beginning, the main character, Leigh age eighteen, is sent to her aunt and uncle's home in Wisconsin because of the Vietnam War. There she meets a very shy boy, who she ends up making love with in an old abandoned beach house. While there the boy, named Charlie, falls through the floor, hits his head, and dies of his injuries. She later returns home pregnant with her daughter Deana, whom ends up being kidnapped, but is later rescued by Macer, the lead investigator.
Character descriptions in any book/novel are very important for the reader to get an accurate picture of what someone looks like. The four characters that I am going to describe are Leigh (as a teen), her daughter Deana, and Deana's deceased father, Charlie. First is Leigh, She is a typical eighteen year-old. She is rebellious in all forms of the word and does exactly the opposite of what her parents tell her to do. Next, is Deana's deceased father Charlie. Charlie is a very shy man who is at first intimidated by Leigh's' mother. His is a man that is neither, extremely well built, nor does he have a lot of fat on him. He is a typical average man. Finally, is Leigh's daughter Deana. She is introduced as an eighteen year-old girl that is making the same mistakes that her mother does except she does not get pregnant and the boy that she is with doesn't die.
"The knife slicked down Verna's Torso, jerking a little going past her breastbone. The candy man slowed down then dug in deep, opening her guts like she was a sheep in a slaughterhouse" The narrator says this.
In my opinion this is the most important passage because it portrays the kind of writing that will be throughout the novel. It leads the reader to believe, that if there is a murder so early in the novel, then there will be many more to come. It is important to understanding the novel because death and fear is a major part of the entire novel. Throughout the novel people are killed like they are "sheep in a slaughterhouse."
The fifth and final section of my review is going to be a Questioning and Considering section. First, "Do you strongly agree or disagree with any points in the book?" There is one point that I do strongly agree with in this book. That would be the point that no matter how "good" a person seems they can always turn out to be something completely unexpected. Second is, "Are there any serious errors?" While reading this novel I did not see find any major errors in the writing. Third, is "Are there any new and unusual ideas?" The only thing that I found unusual about this book was the very graphic detail of each and every murder. At some points it seemed like too much and it became disturbing. Finally is, "How does this book relate to your life or the lives of people I know?" I don't think that this novel relates to me at all because I don no t know anyone who was killed.

I think it could be a movie

I disagree with all of the bad ratings below. Richard Laymon did an excellent job with this book. No it is not one of his best books but I rate it probably 7 out of 10 if you compare it to his other work. I guess you just have to be a fan. The book kept me guessing and I was shocked at the ending. I believe it should have been a movie.

Weirdo

This was one of the worst plots I have ever read. The story is lustful to the point of lacking relevance and the characters are not 'real'. I could not identify with any of them because they just flat 2-D people. Not depth of story and no depth of characters. Parts of the story never tie together and leave the reader saying...'What was that about?' and 'Who thinks like that?' I would not recommend this book to anyone out of shame of having read it. The author seems like a weirdo.

A good read

I liked this book, even if part of it was pretty obvious and easy to figure out. The story started off strong then flagged a little in the middle, but soon picked up steam again. I had a little bit of a problem believing the timeline, though, and the plausibility of the crux of the book happening in the space of less than 2 weeks. But that's just me.

Don't waste your money

This is my first book by this author and it may be the last. The beginning is very long and drawn out. The second part of the book is better but the end is still predictable. There's a part of the book that does not have anything to do with the plot and is just bizarre. It does not add anything to the story and should have been left out.

Even the Title is Weak

Richard Laymon, the king of lustful prose obviously had no intention of signing off on this work as ready for publishing. The Lake reads more like an outline and is difficult to follow. The logic of the actions of the characters is virtually unexplainable. Even the title seems like a work in progress and frankly, the publisher should be ashamed. Sometimes the best decision is to leave work in the can and certainly The Lake would be better off remaining in the scribbled format that the genius Laymon intended it to stay.

A Thrilling page turner

I just finished this book and it was a thrill ride. It kept me focused on what happens next. Not every book keeps me wanting to stay up late to finish, but this one did. I will try other books from Richard Laymon.

ANOTHER GREAT BOOK BY LAYMON

I just got done reading this about an hour ago and I have to say that it was awesome! The story is really interesting and keeps your attention just like he always does. I hope they keep coming out with more books by Laymon. He is the greatest!

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