Helpful Score: 8
I was introduced to Richard Laymon by my mother-in-law. In The Dark was so good, I started looking for others. I found the Island and wow... this book is awesome. I won't spoil it, but let me tell you that I have yet to read an ending to a book that had me say "No way!" for weeks afterward.
Helpful Score: 5
A cruise, a shipwreck on a deserted jungle island, and a loose maniac bent on murder. What else can you expect from LAYMON. It'll keep you up at night to finish it.
Helpful Score: 5
WOW, this book was AMAZING! I read it in two days, couldn't put it down! Very well written, great story... definitely a non stop thriller, you can't wait to see what's going to happen next, or how it ends!
Helpful Score: 3
Another great RIchard Laymon tale. When Rupert Conway set out on a cruise with seven other people, he planned to swim a little, get some sun and relax. He certainly didn't plan to get shipwrecked. But after the yacht explodes, thats exactly what happened, he and his shipmates were stranded on a deserted island. Luckily for them, the island has plenty of fresh water and enoug food to last until they get rescued. Luckily for Rupert most of the castaways are attractive women. But that is where his luck runs out, because they aren't alone on the island. in the jungle beyond the beach lurks a maniac, a killer with a murderous heart, a clever mind and a taste for blood. If your a Laymon fan you'll really enjoy this one!!
Helpful Score: 2
Richard Laymon books are in a class by themselves. As horrifying as Dean Koontz, but more shocking. As creepy as Stephen King, but more demented. I was deeply saddened by his premature death, but admit to wondering just how much more Laymon writing the world could have withstood. (Probably lots more, truth be told!) All that being said, this was not one of his better books. The premise is great: a group of people shipwrecked on a seemingly deserted island are hunted by a crazed murderer. (Yikes! Turn up the lights!) But the narrator of the book is tough to warm up to, being a young man in his late teens who seems to have sex on his mind no matter what the circumstance. Being the mother of two healthy young men, I can accept this in the early stages of the book, but by the time the second male is murdered, leaving the narrator as the sole surviving male, I would think that his mind would have shifted more toward survival rather than sexual fantasies. In addition, [SPOILER ALERT] Laymon included the rape and torture of children (14-year-old twins) which the narrator finds somewhat erotic. While I finished the book, I just didn't find it to be up to the caliber of the other Laymon books I've read. Won't stop me from reading more of Laymon, but this just isn't one that I'd recommend.
