Blood Games by Richard Laymon

since things are slow to start, I’ve decided to post two book reviews I wrote a few weeks ago

so I like horror novels, my favorite overall author in fact is Stephen King (which I’ll be sure to post some reviews of him eventually)

however there’s another horror author out there named Richard Laymon, who sadly passed away in 2001, apparently most of his books were only published in the UK, Australia and New Zealand (despite the fact that he was American) and a few years after his death a company called Leisure Books decided to publish some of books in America and have been doing so since 2002 (I think)

he’s not as good as Stephen King, he is a little hit or miss (I’ve read one book by him that just flat out sucked), but when he’s a hit he can be darn entertaining, he may not be high art, but he can craft an entertaining story

so anyway on to review of Blood Games, this is the first book by him that I’m reviewing because it’s the first book I’ve read by him in a while, but I’ve read plenty of others before, I’ll have to give those a re-read and review them at a later date

Blood Games is about a group of 5 women in their mid 20’s who befriended each other while in college and while there would engage in all sorts of mischief and pranks

after college they decided to get together once a year and go on a vacation of one of the group’s choosing (each person would get a turn), this year it’s Helen’s turn, a fat woman who likes horror related stuff and she chose to visit an abandoned lodge in the middle of the woods in Vermont, needless to say, things don’t go so well

one of Laymon’s strength is likable characters and Blood Games in no exception, unlike a slasher movie ala Friday The 13th he rarely uses “canon fodder” characters who’s only purpose is to get killed, instead he makes you care about the characters which only makes it all the more scarier when they’re in danger, you don’t WANT them to get killed

the story of Blood Games in interspersed with flash backs to the girl’s college years and even their previous vacations, these parts are pretty fun to read (especially the first flashback) and makes me wish the book was a bit longer and had more of them , by the end of the book you really grow to like the characters a lot

so there you have it, I would definitely recommend you check it out if you’re into horror, it was re-published in America in 2003 and I’m not sure if it’s out of print again, but it should be easy to find at any used book store (which is where I got my copy) and is available on Amazon I think