Friday Night In Beast House: Novella Review
Grade: C
Now don't get me wrong-Richard Laymon has written some great novels and short stories, but they are, to me, usually hit-or-miss. Friday Night In Beast House falls somewhere in the middle; there were some things I liked in it, there was some things I hated in it. Laymon can write, but still this one seems as if it could have been left in a trunk and nobody would have missed it. The book starts off with a simple enough premise-boy likes girl, girl will go on date with him-if and only if he can sneak her into Beast House, the infamous hell house where many people have died in gruesome ways at the hands of brutal brain-washing creatures of the cellar below it. The plot is simple and straight-forward, yet Laymon seems to have to have turned the plot of a short-story into a short novel. Most of the book is spent explaining how Mark, the main character, sneaks into Beast House all so Alison, his date, can have her own personal midnight tour through the house. By that time the book is almost over, and the Beast we do see terrorizes them a little, and then the book's over. The ending is terrible too-I expected more from a writer like Laymon. But I have to admit-although the climax is weak and the dialogue contrived and cheesy, Laymon does keep the novel moving along. Personally speaking, this would have made a fine chapbook-not a work this long. It's still (kind of) fun to read though, since it's Laymon we're talking about here...
...and the art included isn't half bad too. (Nice job on the quality of the book Cemetery Dance!) And for those of you who are hesitant to pay the big bucks for the Cemetery Dance edition, never fear-Leisure books has published it and another novella, The Wilds (also available from Cemetery Dance) in a mass market paperback available now.
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