Customer Reviews

Into the Fire

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

 

 

`Into The Fire' is an exciting yet wretched story. Most of the characters, probably all except for Pamela anyway, are somewhat despicable, to say the least. Once into the story you find yourself compelled to read on, in an effort to learn if and when the three precarious friends get what's coming to them.

It's the story of a young woman who gets abducted from her home after her husband is murdered. The murderer and abductor is a crazed geek who had a crush on her back in high school. Simultaneously, a young college boy, once bright and levelheaded, befriends a guy and a girl who eventually lead him on a crime spree of insane proportion. In due course, they collide in a torrid climax in a town that's the real `Pits'.

The character makeup of both Duke and Boots are convincing enough. They're the types who, maybe because of hardship when young, have grown to be cold, immoral and corrupt individuals. On the other hand, Norman's character, the cowardly college puss, is just too unbelievable. It's chilling to think that a once sensible and intelligent individual could be so vulnerable and easily persuaded, to the point where he totally ruins his own life and becomes his own worst enemy, a menace to everyone in his way as well. This kid is an accident waiting to happen throughout the whole story. His own immaturity and naivety pull him deeper and deeper into a dark and hopeless existence. Pamela, in contrast, is strong, resourceful, and extremely likable. All in all, she's the only normal character in the book.

Laymon knows how to keep the reader engrossed. It's a page-turner, yet a pathetic one at that.

This book is strange... and the info on the back cover is very misleading. According to the little blurb on the back you learn that Pamela will be kidnapped by Rodney who has had a crush on her since high school and plans on possibly killing her, the back of the book then informs us that Rodney will be shot by some guy who "rescues" Pamela only her rescuer may be worse than Rodney.

Sounds interesting! Unfortunately most of the book is about a completely unrelated guy named Norman and has nothing to do at all with the Pamela story mentioned on the back. Norman is rather boring to read about... he's in his early twenties, in college, parents have money and he's a bit of a wimp. Norman manages to find himself caught up with two other twenty somethings on a crime spree. Unfortunately the Norman/Duke/Boots story is over 50% of the book and it's really boring... they commit crimes, they have explicit sex, they run away and then Norman whines about it all. I think the fact that he is whining about having to murder people is supposed to make us feel like he's not such a bad guy. These three have no purpose, no drive, no goal and get really boring very quickly. Then we can flash back to Pamela... and well her situation may not be as bad for her as it is written out on the back cover.

The characters are very flat and for the most part, not all that interesting. The only one I would be interested in learning more about would have been Sharpe but we get very little on him. The choices these characters make border on ludicrous, I can't imagine a normal person being okay with the events that transpire in this book.

I hate to say it, but I was very glad when I had finished this book and could move on to something different.

Usually I don't bother reviewing things I like or don't like - I think you should just come to your own opinion by yourself. However, comments such as 'didn't deserve to be published' are uncalled for. If you did like Laymon, why would you write things that are likely to turn away people who have yet to discover him? Given that Headline (UK) will release no more Laymon, I'm glad we have Lesuire (US) committed to publishing both his classics and unpublished gems. This book is a gem, and although he has other books I love more, you can never go wrong with Laymon. Ever.

"Into the Fire" is the second of Laymon's books I have read, the first being "The Cellar". I had never read a book quite like "The Cellar", and that story has stayed with me for a long time. "Into the Fire" is written in much the same way and also has passages that will stick with you. Laymon is able to get to the heart of his characters with only some brief descriptions and ongoing internal monologues which are actually quite believable. When he turns up the over-the-top scenes and throws these characters to the wolves, you really find yourself cringing and yet addicted to turning the pages, just so you can see what happens next. This story is quite heavy on the sex (which is at times hardly appealing) and has a good amount of gory depictions (I've never read someone who could describe, of all things, flatulence so well and in so many unpredictable situations). I will warn you that once you start reading his books, it would seem there is a good chance you will become hooked and be searching out your next fix sooner or later. This is pure entertainment, not classic literature, but boy is that cotton candy tasty.

Don't get me wrong: Richard Laymon was one of horror's greatest writers. He brought two traits to the genre that don't get covered enough: gore, which was his most obvious talents; and character development, which is what made his novels truly enjoyable. For Laymon novels that collect both of these elements, I reccommend checking out "The Traveling Vampire Show" (one of my all-time favorite books, and I read a lot), "Island," and "Bite," to name just a few.

"Into the Fire," like many Laymon novels, deals with two parallel stories that intersect. The first deals with Pamela, a woman who has been kidnapped by the geeky guy who was obsessed with her in high school. Rodney has killed her husband, and has threatened to do unspeakable things to Pamela. He is taking her out into the desert, to the middle of nowhere...when Pamela is saved by a man in a bus. Her savior takes her to the small town of Pits, California, pop. 6, where there is a deep, dark secret lying just below the surface of this friendly, peaceful community.

The second story deals with Norman, a young man who walks into a gas station to buy some jerky; when he comes back out, there's a man sitting in his car. The man--Duke--coerces Norman to drive, which Norman does; he slowly learns that beneath Duke's charm and charisma lies a violent insanity that is just waiting to explode...and it will, in a small town called Pits, California...where fire is often met with fire...

Ok. Laymon novels usually handle parallel plot structure fairly well; "Into the Fire" does not. One reason may be the characters--Pamela is not fleshed out, is too gullible; Norman is simply pathetic, and even when he achieves his "manhood," you only learn to despise him. This is unusual for Laymon, suggesting that "Into the Fire" went unpublished during his life FOR A REASON. While these Leisure re-issues help bring new Laymon fans (including myself) into the fold, many of these novels were obviously not meant for publication. Still, "Into the Fire" will delight horror readers who like their meat rare and bloody; for those looking for a bit more grit (aka character/plot development), you are better off finding one of the afore-mentioned Laymon novels; he truly was one of horror's greatest writers. Too bad you can't tell it from this one.

Every time I pick up a Richard Laymon book I get goose bumps and I just know that the next couple of days will be drenched in an unforgettable adventure, as he cooks up the best stories, great characters and for sure delivers action and gore. I came across his books last year while browsing the shelves of my bookstore and I can safely say that I became a bigger reader of horror after a single book he wrote, now a few books later I'm a huge fan but I read them sparingly, since his passing a few years ago, because no one can ever write just the way he does and I save him as a tasty treat to read when I'm starving for a great book.

Into the Fire is another tale of solitude at its worst, this time Pamela, our main character is not in the middle of the woods or mountains, she's not in a village but out in the smoldering desert. The writer really makes sure you know that there is no escape and the fights she has to put up either mean life or death. Richard described the scouring heat and suffering as Rodney Pinkham, took Pamela from her home and drove her into the middle of nowhere, in a California desert with his own sick ideas and desires in mind. He had the car keys, the gun and was twice as big as Pamela. The reader gets settled into the crazy world of Laymon and really heads into the fire to read of twisted paths of greed, lust and power

This story has the wonderful Laymon twist of two tales coming into one. Pamela and her captor on one hand, as she gets rescued but a mysterious man called Sharpie who drives buss full of mannequins through out the desert, but can he be trusted? Is he a savior or another sicko like Rodney and what choice does she have? To get on the bus or to stay in the desert and fry to death. The other tale starts with a very interesting group of characters and the things they did and said left me sitting with my eyes open wide quite a few times. Norman was a college guy on his way home as he got entangled with a bad boy Duke and a chunky, pig like in his mind girl named Boots. Norman found her both repulsive calling her names in his head but as her tricks playing the naive blonde worked their charm enough to make him lust for her he found himself unable to resist the trouble making twosome as they engaged in very questionable activities which included making tons of corpses. I couldn't believe how easily the bad guys made away with many people in this book, and I loved trying to figure out how the two stories would come together in an explosive ending. I really loved the tiny town of the Pits, population of 6, with its very strange and creepy history and the things that Pamela uncovered about its inhabitants only added more gore and spice to the story.

The end was one of the best and wackiest ever, as I surely didn't find one boring page, gulping it down as if I was stranded on the desert myself. This isn't the deepest book, and there is a lot of hanky panky going on but come on, this is Richard Laymon, the man has cult following for a reason, he always writes like himself and he stuck to what he knew well. Shocks, gore and diabolical surprises that didn't spare anyone. No one is ever safe in his books, for he always plays with fire and always delivers a juicy read.

For those just starting out with Laymon I would also recommend The Island, Darkness Tell Us and Blood Games, as they are all campy and drenched in action.

I just finished reading Richard Laymon's "Into the Fire" after being drawn in by the premise. It's enjoyable and fun, but at times you'll be left scratching your head. For instance, when one of the main characters meets the cast of an obscure television show. This whole scene was rather pointless and introduced us to a group of characters who are completely thrown away (not killed) within the next three chapters. It's like he had an idea and decided to drop it at the last minute.

There are some shocking and disgusting sexual scenes, which is something Laymon has always been good at putting into prose. The shock factor can get a little annoying at times, because it's the same sort of thing we've seen from Laymon in his previous books. There is a lot of sexual tension among the main characters, which gave the otherwise flat antagonists a little more depth.

One of the plot twists you will see coming a mile away. It's alluded to so much, that it will drive you nuts how long it takes one of the characters to figure it out. You'll sit there yelling at this character, because she's so annoyingly dumb. Not to spoil anything, but this same character devises a plan later in the book that she has to explain in COMPLETE detail to a college educated character--trust me, this plan is not rocket science, but I find it ridiculous how she goes back and forth from being an idiot to intelligent throughout the book.

You will not want to put the book down for the first hundred and fifty pages. Everything seems to grab your attention, but then it quickly falls apart. The ending is disappointing to say the least. It's too cheesy for my tastes and I didn't buy a certain plot twist in one of the last scenes.

Overall, if you're a fan of Laymon then you know what to expect. This isn't one of his best, but it will keep you entertained if the survival horror genre is your cup of tea.

I believe that this book,along with "To Wake the dead" and "The lake", were the last of Laymons books that were unpublished before he died and were put out by his wife.

In true Laymon fashion it is two seperate stories that come together at the climatic ending. The first, Pamela is kidnapped buy a serial killing freak she went to high-school with. She is rescued right off the bat by a man driving a bus full of manequens and brought to the town of Pitts. She becomes resident number seven and finds out a weird town secret.

The second is Norman, he is driving home from college when he is accosted by a james dean wannabe named Duke. Duke convinces Norman to give him a ride. Eventually they find a chubby girl named Boots and the three of them go on a cross country killing spree.

The two stories converge in the climatic ending. Overall, the book was a little long and some parts were kind of boring. Not his best but not his worst. good for someone who has never read Laymons work and wants to see what he is about.

Although the blurb on the back of the book is a bit misleading, it isn't as bad as some I have had the misfortune of seeing lately (see "Nine Lives" by Sharon Sala for a particularly egregious sample of this).

Pamela is abducted by Rodney, a man who has been obsessed with her since high school. Her husband is murdered as well. Rodney drives her into the desert, where he plans to keep her for the rest of her life. However, she orchestrates an escape attempt - just when it seems that her life is over, she is rescued by a man named Sharpe, who drives a bus populated by mannequins. He takes her to Pits, CA (pop. 6 - they keep making a big deal out of this), where she is taken in by the caring population; only something seems off . . .

In an alternate story (that eventually dovetails into Pamela's story), Norman is on his way home from college when he neglects to lock his vehicle's doors at a gas station in a small town in Oregon after fueling up (for the record, last time I was in Oregon and as far as I know, you can NOT fuel up your own vehicle in Oregon - ALL the stations are full serve - so this is a very improbable scenario) and bad-boy Duke helps himself to a ride. Along the way they pick up the skanky Boots. These two lead Norman BADLY astray, to say the least. Eventually they find themselves on the run, stranded in the desert, and rescued in turn by Sharpe.

The ending is a pulse-pounder, to say the least and I found the epilogue to be as amusing as any bit of "Hannibal" (and certainly better written). I always put off reading the Laymon books, and always kick myself for taking so long to get to them . . . Do yourself a favor - if you like horror, you'll LOVE Laymon. Get a few of the books by this prolific and terrific writer!

This was my first Laymon book and I was thoroughly entertained and disgusted.A huge nasty gorefest if you love that kind of stuff.I'll read all his books now!!