Cuts [Mass Market Paperback]

Richard Laymon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2008

Many people have a hobby that verges on obsession.  Albert Prince’s obsession happens to be cutting people, especially pretty girls.  There’s nothing he loves more than breaking into a stranger’s house and letting his imagination—and his knife—run wild.  Albert’s on the run now, heading cross-country, but he’s not about to stop having fun....

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Laymon renaissance continues with this provocative author's third novel (along with Come Out Tonight, Forecasts, May 31, and Bite, Forecasts, May 24) to appear this spring/summer. None of the three showcase Laymon at his finest (as did last year's The Midnight Tour, also from Cemetery Dance), though Come Out Tonight (Cemetery Dance as well) comes close. All, however, exhibit his talent for immediate prose and breakneck pacing, and, most interestingly, his penchant for blending genuine pathos with brutality. Here, the blending isn't so artful. This novel, set mostly in 1975, reads like two novellas glued together. One is atypical for Laymon, a sharp skewering of academic life, particularly the marital tribulations of faculty members of Grand Beach (Calif.) High. Substitute teacher Janet Arthur dumps her abusive lover, who wants her to abort their unborn child; librarian Lester Bryant gets involved with aging Southern belle Emily Jean Bonner; Lester's formidable wife, Helen, is sleeping with one of her students, etc. The other plot line is boilerplate Laymon: an Illinois teen, Albert Prince, goes on a homicidal rampage, stalking, raping and slicing several women. The author binds the two plot lines in an arbitrary way, though his tying of pathos and brutality--as Albert is gravely wounded, then soothed, by his final victim--is admirably audacious; and the story concludes with a coda as clever as it is nasty. As is usual with this author, there's at least one scene of heinous sexual violence, intimately detailed, that will leave readers shuddering with disgust. In this novel, as before, Laymon flashes serious storytelling talent, but also the refusal to compromise on theme and depiction that seems to have made him more talked about than read, at least in the States. (July)

Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

“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

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

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 301 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (March 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843957522
• ISBN-13: 978-0843957525
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #218,314 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Laymon brings us a different approach and it works!, May 22, 2000

By 

P. Legerski (Corona, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cuts (Hardcover)

CUTS is a different Laymon novel; it's subtle, succinct and slow. In typical Laymon fashion, we start the novel during an abbreviated sex act. Albert Prince is trying to lose his virginity, but the girl he's with wants more money than he currently has so Albert leaves her. On his way home Albert has an encounter that makes us understand he's not a nice boy. And that he will return...with hatred.

Janet Arthur wakes up next to her boyfriend, Dave. She tells him a secret, he kicks her out. Janet moves in with Meg. Lester and Helen are married, in words only. Helen's a "cold fish" and Lester has resorted to an affair. Emily Jean is an older woman with a daughter who is just starting to catch her break in the movie business. Ian's a writer. All of these people are put together through work, circumstances or nefarious ways.

CUTS is set in 1975 and the book has the slow, pot-induced, haziness aspect to the narrative. Laymon takes a bit more time than usual to flesh out all the characters and giving them enough life so I could get a good feel for each's idiosyncracies. I knew how they should act, react and deal with each other and in dire circumstances.

The genius in this book is the patience Laymon had to roll these characters out, not hurry them to join them all together, and let circumstance take over and let be what is to be. It's a bit frustrating, trying to figure out what all of these people are doing in this novel: but Laymon's deft skill of pulling you in is addictive and you can't stop reading. You need to know what happens next.

Laymon's a master of subtlety when it comes to understanding the way humans deal with each other. Many times, during a dialogue scene, Laymon will have the characters think sexy thoughts about one and all, even if they aren't in the direct conversation. This makes the characters more human and believable.

CUTS is a step in the right direction for Richard Laymon. It is a novel that hits you in places untouched. It doesn't make you feel good because there is almost no cause for the terror that is being wrought. Laymon has delivered a subtle horror story with a fairly high body count. And he's only beginning, heh heh. Be afraid...be very afraid! Highest Recommendation.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Violent and funny, and can't-put-downable, November 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Cuts (Hardcover)

It takes enormous skill to twist and weave the lives multiple characters, without leaving the reader just a little confused as to who's doing what to whom - Richard Laymon handles the gradually intersecting lives of his cast with skill and humour as they hurtle to the thrilling conclusion. There's a psycho killer type of course, a pregnant woman, her unpleasant boyfriend, and promiscuous best friend. Then there's an unhappy university couple, a teacher with another life, the faded Southern Belle Type, and her wanna-be actress daughter. Like his other books "Cuts" is both violent and very funny (in a warped way).

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Cuts - *SPOILERS BELOW*, December 9, 2010

By 

Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cuts (Mass Market Paperback)

When i first picked up this book i wasn't quite sure what to think of it, took me a couple days to finally start reading it but when i did i got to about half the way through when i decided to throw out the book. The book read like a deranged kid's fantasy with knives and cutting young women for the hell of it. the book did not seem to have a good in depth story plot line at all and seemed a bit simple and hollow of a story. We read as Albert prince drives around cutting up random people for no apparent reason and i would often ask myself if there's a point to this story at all. the conclusion paragraph at the end of every chapter wasn't alluring enough to make you want to read on, so you can read 2 chapters then put the book down for a month not even curious enough to read on. to summarize this review this book is like a low budget slasher film that holds no plot and skipped theaters and went straight to clearance in second hand general stores. your money is better spent elsewhere in the book world