Customer Reviews

Cuts

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

 

 

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.

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).

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

I REALLY THINK LAYMON NEVER GOT LAID??? EVERY PAGE HAD TO INCLUDE A WOMANS BREAST OR NIPPLE? ITS ANNOYING AT TIMES,BUT STILL A GREAT BOOK. I FINISHED IN TWO DAYS AND WAS REALLY IMPRESSED WITH THE ENDING. ITS ALL ABOUT REVENGE!!!

As a Laymon Fan, I was thrilled to see this one come out in mass market. What was not too thrilling was the story. Out of all the Laymon books, I'd say this ranks toward the bottom. Yes, it has the Laymonish characters and their sick twisted minds, but the story itself was just "off." If your looking for a Laymon book to really "THRILL" you try ISLAND, THE BEAST HOUSE, SAVAGE...or many others, just not this one!

If you are a Richard Laymon fan then you will not be disappointed by this book. A diverse cast of characters is introduced, developed, and slowly drawn into a final confrontation with a twisted individual. This time we meet a strange, but all too real, human monster who discovers his only real sexual satisfaction comes from cutting and hurting women. A second, lesser evil character is also included at no extra cost. We follow a number of lives and relationships as they spiral around one another forming a target for our cutter.
Set in the days before much of our current technology, the setting is perfect for this tale of cruelty and perversion. The cast is quite a varied bunch and before anyone complains about the actions of certain female characters, this was a common thought at the time and a number of women empowered themselves that way. Although not based on a true story like Ketchum's THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, this one is equally frightening in how believable it is that our monster was formed. Realizing that a simple series of events can turn someone onto such a path is the true horror of the book. Make sure you read right to the end where we get a wonderful Laymon ending. Check it out.

Of all of Laymon's books that I have read, this is by far my least favorite. It sounded entertaining enough; I like serial killer books, all of the reviews on here made it out to be a great read... I haven't been this bored reading a book in a long time.

Short summary: There's a 17 year old serial killer on the loose, armed with a switchblade. He successfully manages to evade the cops on a cross country killing spree even though he's not at all a bright individual. Meanwhile a pack of teachers who all teach at the same school have more drama going on between them then all of their students combined. Most of the teachers are cheating on their spouses, complete alcoholics, obnoxious, pretentious and violent. Of course there is one who isn't, his name is Ian and he's the quiet silent type - our obvious good guy. Then we have the girl fresh out of the bad relationship and just trying to find a nice guy - our obvious heroine. The young serial killer makes it with amazing speed across the country to our pack of teachers and well, that's the rest of the story.

The biggest problem I had with this book is that I didn't buy into it at all. Our serial killer is such a weak character that he's completely uninteresting. The majority of the book follows him across the country killing people as he goes... but there is no motivation, no quirks or fun things for the audience to get to know him. Perhaps he is supposed to be the epitome of evil, but in reality he just comes across as a dork with a knife that gets lucky. I don't have a problem with the main character of the book being a bad guy, but he's missing anything at all to attract me to the character, for example: the suave brilliant evil of Hannibal Lecter, the sheer insanity and maniacal genius of the Joker, the sinister apathy of that guy in Shindler's List... MAKE THE BAD GUYS INTERESTING. This bad guy was just so boring, and from there we cut back to the teachers. Everyone is miserable; they all quote famous novels and spout off philosophical BS at each other while cheating on their spouses, screwing their students, and whining about this or that. Now there are a lot of interesting characters mentioned on the back, most of them however are only bit players.

Like all Laymon books, love at first site is complete and unwavering. There are quite a few large plot holes, and I personally had a real issue with our leading female character who makes such a huge deal about being pregnant and how much she wants and loves the baby, then proceeds to drink alcohol and coffee on every page she's on. Add to that the realization that Laymon has no idea how women's clothing works (sorry Laymon, but raising your hands in a mini-skirt doesn't have the same effect as raising your hands in a short dress - try one on and you'll figure it out)

In the end what we have is 304 boring pages of empty characters having sex, dying, or lusting over one another. It's really rather sad... There are plenty of other Laymon books to read for a fun time, this is not one that I would recommend.

I'm an avid Richard Laymon fan but have to confess to being very disappointed with this one.

Sure, the bad guy is bad and you don't like him but he's lame as well. Richard Laymon doesn't draw out of the reader the level of fear and anger that his bad guy's usually do.

The interweaving of the plot and how it meets up at the end is clever as usual but with this one you sense it coming and you are able to guess before even reaching mid-way through the book who will dispatch the bad guy.

There is a plot error as well which is a first with a Laymon tale for me. One of the character's has to fly by plane to reach her daughter, however, the bad guy, in the reverse trip from daughter to mother just happens to be able to pop in his car and drive over in a matter of minutes.

The character's and personalities of the anchoring character's are not strong enough or detailed enough to hook the reader into feeling sympathy or suspense for them.

Overall, very weak I thought.Cuts

The late great Richard Laymon was one guy who could write a powerful story and have you glued to the pages. I've always thought psychos hiding in closets with sharp knives, waiting for you when you come home, were always scary. The idea of an Albert Prince waiting for me when I go to grab a pair of socks out of my closet, is crazy. The way Laymon stitched all these characters together in the story, is amazing to read. I would advise any writers of horror out there to read this if only for that. Another great thing is how much he packs in to a book the size of some longer short stories. You'll finish this in two or three days, and I thought it was good enough to read back over favorite parts when I was done.
5 Stars!

Like Stephen King says: If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat. Like Dean Koontz says: You're going to have a good time with Laymon, no one writes like him.

This book is no exception. It's a horror blast. It's got everything horror lovers want: plenty of sex, gore and comedy. You could do worse than not read a Laymon book. You could start with this one, aptly named Cuts. There's plenty of cuts going on between these covers. If you haven't tried Laymon, what are you waiting for? The man may be dead, but he lives on in his work. Keep the master alive. His books are just waiting for you. READ THEM!