Customer Reviews

Beware!

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I don't know about you, but to vision... fingers coming from nowhere and suddenly clutching your ankle while your in the dark -pretty much did it for me! One of the many themes, is that someonewho has the ability (can't tell you how) to be invisible! But, the fun part is when & how the other characters find out! This book was unlike any of his others! I've always been a Laymon fan, and even when you think you know what is coming it's always a pleasure to see how he's going to get you there. (as I'm sure you know if you've read any of his other books - his characters never go about things the easy way.) BEWARE... was an easy read. However, it was amazing to see just how many plot twists and challenges he had occur in such a short amount of time. I think that if you've read Laymon before, you should check out BEWARE. It's not like any of his others and it will surprise you. If you haven't read Laymon before BEWARE is a nice short one to start out with. But beware, as BEWARE quickly becomes a book you will not want to put down.

There are a few authors which I can't stop myself from finishing their books within a day or two from starting them. Richard Laymon is one of those authors. His books, and Beware is another that fits the pattern, are so exciting and engrossing that I can't put it down despite the late hour. Plus it is just a quick read. I look forward to reaching one of Laymon's book in my "to read" stack.

This novel involves Lacey Allen, a newspaper reporter in a small town who happens upon a series of attacks and murder in a local market. When the attacker takes a special liking to Lacey and follows her home, her life is quickly turned upside down. First she's taken hostage in her own home and tormented by the attacker who has gain mystical powers. (I won't relieve what or how so as to no spoil the surprise.) Then she escapes, finds help with an author of action books, is followed again by the attacker, and suffice to say there is more adventures and excitement culminating in a spectacular and frightening conclusion.

The only thing that I had a problem with in the book was the appearence of Scott, the action book author, and Dukane, Scott's friend. Their appearence was a little too convenient of a plot device. It wasn't that bad of an event but it was a bit too nice of an event to happen. Other than that which is very easy to overlook there were no issues. I would very highly recommend the book to everyone. Well, some of the descriptions are kind of intense so if you don't like sex or violence, skip it. But everyone else shouldn't miss it.

This was one of the craziest books I have ever read, the sheer magnitude of fantasy driven plot and violet scenarios mixed with black magic and the usual Laymonesque inappropriate behavior made it for an entertaining read but it was the weakest from all his works so far. I am a huge fan so I will not pass up a chance to read anything by this gentle man who wrote crazy stories, my favorite so far has to be "Island" which I read when on a trip to Poland years ago, I left it there and had to get another copy, now that was an exquisite book but twice as big as this one. For a short and off the beaten path type of a tale, of a local reporter being chased by her high school stalker, who tangled up with some very bad people and turned invisible with their magic, well one can imagine what a horny[...] will do with this great power, and he sure does, with chuckles and horror, his tale is very interesting, to say the least. Laymon let the reins of his imagination flow and it showed, I never knew what to expect and it was a fun albeit gruesome at times read.

The book is quite short, I read it in a few hours but the ups and downs and the smooth dialogue guided it well into the ending which was excellent, I think it saved the book in my eyes into a 4 star rating, I would have otherwise have to give it 3, but somehow the end was tricky and very, very suspenseful, but little abrupt - maybe one can say explosive. Laymon's books pop out every few months even though he's no longer with us and they shock and thrill, they jolt me but they are easy to read (despite the craziness) and the man was a good story teller, his ideas were truly his own, and I miss him, I wish he could have lived to be an old man surrounded by his own works with plenty of fans supporting him.

For a fast and little icky read, this is a fun book but like I said, not his best. I still adore him; after all I read from him he can do no wrong.

- Kasia S.

As a horror fan, Richard Laymon is an author whose work I have been tempted to buy on more than one occasion.He has a huge fan base, and the people who love him really love him. This is the second book by him that I have attempted to read, the first being In the Dark, a book I put down after a couple hundred pages. More on that further down. Fortunately, this book was just a few hundred pages, and I was able to force myself through it to the end. If I didn't have a goal to read 25 books this year and had already spent a few days on this, I would have dropped this book, too.

Beware is a book about a female journalist who is stalked by an invisible killer. I was intrigued by the plot, and it was on sale at Amazon for the Kindle for a buck. I recently received a Kindle as a Christmas present and am somewhat obsessed with it, so I am always on the lookout for cheap, good books to download. I am glad I only paid a buck for this one.

I was debating whether I should rate this book 1 or 2 stars, and I almost gave it 2 for the premise and the beginning alone. When I first started the book, it was incredibly interesting. Laymon's writing is clear and engaging, and I felt his style fit this type of book. Lacey, the main character of the novel, started out likeable enough (I like that she fought her invisible stalker in the beginning.), and what was happening to her was interesting. I kept turning pages to find out what would happen next. Beware felt like a ghost story at the beginning, and I liked that.

That's about all I have to say good about this book, though, and there were too many things that left me wanting to drop it altogether. I had to force myself through the last half of it. I'm afraid I don't have the time to list everything I didn't like, so I will just discuss the three main things that irked me.

1) Sex. I'm an adult, and I have no problem reading a sex scene or even a few in books. Reading Richard Laymon makes me feel incredibly dirty and awkward, though. If I hadn't read a good chunk of In the Dark by Laymon, I'd probably think it was just the nature of this book (An invisible person stalking you can be incredibly sexual.), but I think it's the author. In In the Dark, Laymon wrote scenes about the main character's panties sticking to her leg, and her nipples brushing against various fabrics she wore. The same kind of thing was in this book. His female characters touch themselves, and think about their underwear and breasts a lot, and it's all very awkward for me. Lacey was raped several times in the novel, and while I think Lacey's feelings of revulsion and of having been violated were appropriate, she later takes the opportunity to look at her rapist's penis, noticing how "thick and heavy" it looked. This kind of description just turned me off from the novel. I know this is terrible to say because Richard Laymon is deceased, but Richard Laymon comes across as a pervert through his books. :/

2) Convenience. Too many things in this book were convenient. I think authors are allowed to take liberties in writing fiction, but there comes a point when the reader is going to say, "Oh, come on." I rolled my eyes several times throughout the book. A character Lacey meets at a hotel she is hiding from her invisible stalker at happens to be good friends with a guy who is investigating the voodoo group who made her stalker invisible. Turpentine just happened to be in a nearby garage when they needed to remove paint from the invisible killer's skin.

3) Character inconsistencies. I really liked Lacey at the beginning of the novel. She seemed independent, daring, tough, and set on solving the problem of her invisible stalker herself. As soon as a man entered the novel, however, she started cowering behind him and wanting to be protected. After her rape, Lacey was repulsed by the idea of being touched by another man, but as soon as she meets Scott (literally a day after being raped), she grows hungry for him and eventually sleeps with him. I think the latter inconsistency may be a result of the first big pet peeve I listed in this 3-item list.

Needless to say, I will not be reading this book again. I want to say I won't be reading another Richard Laymon book, either, but oh my god, the premises for some of his books sound so good. I have my eye on one about Jack the Ripper. Must stay strong.

This is Laymon's most recent re-release (as of Nov 08). This feature story is shorter than most standard Leisure books, coming in at about 266 pages. The rest of the book is a teaser for "Dark Mountain" which is being re-released in March of 2009. I am not sure if this original story was published while he was alive or if it was one of the many that was dug out of some mysterious safe and published after his death.

Short Summary: Lacey is a reporter for the local paper in a small town. When something strange begins happening at the market she, along with several other townsfolk go to investigate. What they first assume to be vandalism quickly escalates into murder and rape, with a trail of bodies piling up and no sign of a killer anywhere. When things get even worse for Lacey, she goes on the run...

Though the book started out okay, by the time I got to the end, I was ready to put it down. I quite enjoyed the opening, when I believed our problem to be a malevolent ghost. Then they brought in the voodoo and I sort of nodded and thought, okay a little voodoo can cause the ghosts, I can live with that. But then we crossed the line and just kept on going... when the reality of what was being sold to me came about... I was pretty well beyond my ability to suspend my disbelief. You can add too much fantastical crap into one novel and end up with garbage. I won't say this became utter trash, but I really wasn't happy with the outcome. I remember reading in a screenwriting group that you can only have 1 truly magical bit in a story and have people buy it... that you can have aliens, or you can have mermaids, but you cant have aliens AND mermaids or the audience won't remember what they've seen. That's pretty much where this novel failed to me. We had Voodoo cults/government groups? We have sacrifices, we have invisible people, we have random good guys who pop up out of nowhere and just happen to know a guy already working on the case, there is just too much for me to have to choke down to believe it...

I'm not sure where in the scheme of things Laymon wrote this novel, it's not his best and it's not his worst. There are plenty of rapes, and naked women... not so much gore as one might expect with a serial killer/rapist and a handful of Voodoo sacrifices. Mostly we just have a sadistic rapist and a bunch of naked women and a whole lot of running around. I think what disappointed me was that I was really excited about the beginning when I thought it was going to be a ghost story. Now I have read the original Jules Verne book that he took this idea from, and I have to say... that Laymon's treatment really didn't impress me at all.

His characters are still stiff and unbelievably one sided. The woman does a lot of running, screaming, trying to fight back, and getting raped anyway. The men are either complete dolts, or they are sadistic rapist murderers. And when Scott and his buddy come onto the scene, I couldn't help but roll my eyes and think "how convenient." In fact I found myself thinking that quite a bit through this book. Still, it's only 266 pages and if you are a Laymon fan, you won't be able to get your fix again until March of 09. For rabid Laymon fans, I would say go pick this up and get your fix. For first time Laymon readers, I would start somewhere else because this is nowhere near one of his best works.

I like Laymon. He is one of my very favorite authors. I rate his books into three categories. Don't miss.......Well worth the time......I'd read it because it's Laymon. Beware goes in the I read it because it was Laymon. If you are a fan, please read. You'll enjoy it and we can't wait for him to write more. If you are trying to make up your mind about the author....read another book with more reviews and a high rating. If you're reading him for the first time...try one of the following; Island, One Rainy Night, The Traveling Vampire Show, In the Dark, or Flesh. These I place in the "Don't Miss" category.

Beware is a fun read, but like many of Laymon's lesser works it's kind of "slapdash." An idea of merit here and there with a lot of "air" in between. Now don't forget....Richard Laymon's slapdash work far exceeds other writers best work. There is no other writer like Laymon and I have read none that will likely take his place.

I give this book 4 stars because it managed to horrify me so much. I didn't give it 5 because it's horrifying. If you like a fast pace action story with brutal rape and murder scenes then this book is for you.

Though I couldn't put this book down while reading it, it made me feel bad for a long time afterwards and ever since I dare not touch any Laymond book again.

"Beware" is pretty typical fare as Laymon's books go (I feel qualified to state this because I have read some 15 or 16 of his novels) with plenty of gore, chills, strong sexual situations, and plot twists. In other words, those who are Laymon fans will want to dive into this short book which, because of its size and the author's skill, can be finished in one or two sittings and because they know what they will be getting.

The plot actually has two threads which fit quite nicely together in the last half of the book. The main story revolves around a female newspaper writer who's part of a group of other residents from her town being terrorized by a force they can't see. After being captured and tortured for days, she escapes the entity and runs for her life. Along her travels, she meets up with a male novelist who listens to her story and soon becomes embroiled in it as the entity tracks her down. The second plot deals with a bounty hunter tracking down and trying to destroy a cult that has started to gain too much momentum. Laymon skillfully weaves the two story together while ratcheting up the suspense level considerably.

Because it's such a short book, Laymon doesn't flesh out the characters as much as he normally does in his novels, but that doesn't detract too much from the story because it moves at such a frenetic pace. The ending is satisfying and Laymon fans will add this to the list of other solid books from the late author. Those new to Laymon would best be advised to start with some of Laymon's other books, such as "Flesh", "The Travelling Vampire Show", "Funland", "The Woods Are Dark", and certainly, the four books in the Beast House Chronicles.

I love Richard Laymon novels, and have noticed a tendency by diehard fans to promote his books based on the author's reputation as opposed to the substance of the individual book.

Unfortunately, Beware is not one of Laymon's better books, though it is still a page-turner. The back of the book misleads readers about the substance of the plot, which follows the "trail of carnage" left by the Invisible Man, an amoral psycho-rapist named Hoffman whose invisibility is the result of a voodoo ritual gone bad. The plot does not shadow Hoffman's trail of carnage, but rather, the characters pursuing Hoffman who end up on the run from the voodoo cult themselves.

This complicated plot begins when witnesses see a floating knife (the Invisible Man) in a butcher store. A series of point-of-view shifts follow Dukane, a mercenary-adventurer who's tracking down a missing teenager involved with a voodoo cult for her parents, and Lacey Allen, a reporter who interviews witnesses to the knife and is attacked by the Invisible Man (Hoffman).

Their paths collide as Hoffman pursues Lacey when she attempts to flee town. She meets Scott, best friend of Dukane, and together they trap Hoffman and hold him prisoner. The unlikely group is forced on the run by the voodoo cult who plan to silence them before they can talk about the cult--and Hoffman's invisibility--publicly. Collectively, none of these characters are compelling enough to drive the novel and the plot is fueled primarily by gratuitous violence.

Sensitive readers should be warned: multiple graphic rape scenes make this novel difficult to stomach. Gore abounds in this story from the beginning to the end, but Laymon's trademark characterization is noticeably lacking in this tale, perhaps because the plot itself is too complicated to focus much on one person. The shifting viewpoints don't leave much room for plot expansion. All in all, this definitely isn't one of Laymon's better novels.

Diehard Laymon fans won't want to miss it merely for the sake of posterity, but all-in-all, Beware is a stronger story in concept than it proved in reality.

Excellant novel by one of my favorite authors! The book is basically about a man who is a criminal and gets mixed up with an evil cult. The cult makes him invisible in order to do their dirty deeds for them, but he has dirty plans of his own. A great read and I look forward to his next novel.