The Lake

by Richard Laymon Narrated by Stephanie Brush

Overview

Leigh is a beautiful girl, eighteen years old, headstrong and rebellious. All she wants from her summer by the lake is a chance to relax and have some fun. And that handsome boy she just met certainly looks like fun. But her summer fling will lead to terror. That night in the old abandoned house will haunt her nightmares for the rest of her life. Eighteen years later, Leigh's daughter, Deana, doesn't know much about what happened to her mother all those years ago, and she doesn't particularly care. She too is looking for fun. What she finds instead is a shadowy figure out for blood -- and his own twisted kind of fun. Killing Deana's boyfriend is just the beginning. Before he's done, both mother and daughter will be plunged into a whirlpool of fear and madness, from which death is the only escape.

Editorial Reviews

bn.com

The Barnes & Noble Review
The Lake -- one of several unpublished novels left behind by horror master Richard Laymon (Flesh, Funland, The Traveling Vampire Show, et al.) when he passed away in 2001 -- is an unabashedly erotic and brutally violent thriller that follows the lives of a single woman and her wild-child daughter and chronicles the unspeakable horrors they must face in order to survive a perceived family curse.

When Leigh was a teenager in the '60s, she was an anti-establishment hippy with a talent for getting into trouble. So her parents decide to ship her off to Wisconsin to spend a summer with her aunt and uncle. The fearless -- and oversexed -- Californian quickly hooked up with a naïve local and, during one of their secret trysts, witnessed his accidental death. Leigh became pregnant and now,18 years later, she watches as her daughter, Deana, experiences a horror similar to her own. Deep in the woods with her boyfriend, Deana watches as he is murdered by a stranger. Are these two bizarre deaths related, and if so, how?

Although it is not on a level with Laymon's earlier works and is mired down by an occasionally implausible plot, The Lake is, nonetheless, a fast-paced, absorbing, and downright creepy read that may appeal to fans of psychological thrillers by authors like Dean Koontz and Peter Straub. Paul Goat Allen

Publishers Weekly

When Laymon (Island, etc.) died in 2001, he left behind numerous unpublished novels that Leisure has been issuing. This one is good but not great, combining the savagery of his earlier work (Beast House, etc.) with the spooky wonder of his later books (The Traveling Vampire Show, etc.). As the story begins, we see Candyman, a serial killer, at work, then observe teen Deana West watch in horror as her boyfriend is mowed down by a car driven by Candyman? The narrative then flashes back 20 years to a summer Deana's mother, Leigh, spent in rural Wisconsin; this, the strongest section, details eerie, erotic nighttime forays by Leigh and her lover, a weird local boy, that result in the boy's accidental death. Back in the present, Leigh gets involved with a cop who's a wolf in sheep's clothing, and she and Deana, who's taken to nighttime jogging and who herself gets involved with a mysterious neighbor and his odd, psychic sister, are menaced by the driver of the car that killed Deana's boyfriend. The plot is too complicated, although Laymon does tie all the strands up in a messy knot; but what counts here, as usual for Laymon, is the white-hot pacing, the rivers of blood (which will dismay mainstream readers) and, above all, the memorable evocation of the fathomless mystery of the moonlit hours. (Sept. 2) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

From the Publisher

White-hot pacing (with) rivers of blood…Memorable evocation of the fathomless mystery of the moonlit hours.”  —Publishers Weekly on The Lake

“If you’ve missed Laymon, you’ve missed a treat!”   —Stephen King

“No one writes like Laymon.”   —Dean Koontz

“The master of stomach-churning violence.”  —Kirkus Reviews

“Laymon is, was, and always will be king of the hill.”  —Horror World

Product Details

BN ID:	2940169755084
Publisher:	Books in Motion
Publication date:	11/15/2006
Edition description:	Unabridged

Videos