The Traveling Vampire Show [Mass Market Paperback]

Richard Laymon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2001

When the one-night-only Traveling Vampire Show arrives in town, promising the only living vampire in captivity, beautiful Valeria, three local teenages venture where they do not belong, and discover much more than they bargained for.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like the vampire he celebrates so often (Stake, etc.), this talented writer's career, once dead in the States though not overseas, has risen anew--thanks largely to Cemetery Dance, which has issued his work (Cuts; Come Out Tonight; etc.) even as no mainstream American hardcover publisher would touch it. The author's fall after his successful run in the 1980s was due to several factors, including his writerly predilection toward excess sex and violence. Here, Laymon takes those elements in hand, not so much abjuring them as putting them to artful use as he tells a wickedly involving story of three 16-year-olds and their life-changing encounter with the road show of the title. It's hot August 1963 when narrator Dwight, along with his pals--overweight Rusty and pretty (female) Slim--note flyers for the Traveling Vampire Show, featuring a purported real vampire, Valeria. Intrigued, the trio sneak onto the backwoods site of the show and there tangle with a vicious dog; after the others leave, Slim watches the spooky show troupe spear the mongrel to death. This, plus a long buildup to the show (spinning on whether troupe members are after the teens) forms most of the long narrative. Unusual for Laymon, the emphasis is on atmosphere rather than action, and he sustains a note of anticipatory dread throughout, made particularly resonant through his expert handling of the social, particularly sexual, tensions among the three teens. The novel's climax is the show itself, and here Laymon lets out the stops in typically ferocious fashion. In its understanding of the sufferings and ecstasies of youth, the novel carries some of the wisdom of King's The Body or Robert R. McCammon's Boy's Life, but the book, Laymon's best in years, belongs wholly to this too-neglected author, who with his trademark squeaky-clean yet sensual prose, high narrative drive and pitch-dark sense of humor has crafted a horror tale that's not only emotionally true but also scary and, above all, fun.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

In the latest novel from Laymon (The Midnight Tour), 16-year-old Dwight and his two pals, male Rusty and female Slim, decide to add some excitement to an otherwise boring summer day in 1963 by sneaking into "The Traveling Vampire Show." This adults-only act, featuring "Valeria, the only known vampire in captivity," is visiting their rural town of Grandville for just one night. Dwight narrates the events of that day, all the way through to the terrifying finale. The three friends are for the most part typical teens, but they are tested that day in ways none of them could ever have imagined. Although the protagonists are high school age, this novel is so replete with graphic sexual situations and violence that it would not be suitable for young adult collections. It is, however, a well-written story that will appeal to fans of horror fiction. Recommended for large public libraries.DPatricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, MD
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Leisure Books (March 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0843948507
• ISBN-13: 978-0843948509
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (165 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #98,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wicked Good Fun, February 27, 2001

By 

Fosky Bob "human" (Vacaville, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Traveling Vampire Show (Hardcover)

Laymon's latest, and possibly final, book was my first Richard Laymon novel. I loved it.

At its core, 'The Traveling Vampire Show' is a coming-of-age novel. It follows three teenagers, protagonist Dwight, abused teenage girl Slim, and the annoying, adolescent Rusty. Dwight, Slim, and Rusty set a goal of seeing the Traveling Vampire Show when it comes to town. Although the entirety of the book takes place over one day, the three teenagers face many adversities that they must overcome. By the end of the novel the protagonist is considerably older, wiser, and much more experienced in life than he was at the beginning.

I was disappointed when I started this book when I realized that it was not going to have a considerable vampire presence. But after I started reading I was drawn into the characters. Laymon's writing fascinated me, so much so that I read 400 pages in one sitting. I could not put the book down. Mesmerizing.

By the time the final climactic scene rolled around, I knew that I had to finish the book, no matter how late it was (1:00 AM). The final scene makes it all worthwhile, wrapping up the entire novel with great closure. Laymon writes an elegant book. His characters learn and grow (something that all too often is lost in modern literature). The characters are very real and lifelike. This was one I was sad to put down.

This isn't a typical horror novel. This is a novel. I was touched by the characters. I was elated by their discoveries and dismayed by heartache. My words can't do justice to this novel. Highly recommended.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of Laymon's best, March 2, 2006

By 

Adam Craig (Columbus, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Traveling Vampire Show (Mass Market Paperback)

Richard Laymon is one of those writers that you either have to love or hate. There really is no middle ground when it comes to a book like The Traveling Vampire Show, or any of Laymon's books. When there is this much graphic violence and vivid sexuality within any novel, a bunch of readers are going to be turned off immediately. Granted, most avid horror readers will easily be able to handle the material within a Laymon novel, but some leisurely readers who just "heard he's good" could be getting themselves into something that they really have no idea about. The Traveling Vampire Show fits directly into that category. A graphic, unflinching story about three best friends, and their journey over the course of one hot summer day to get in to see the Traveling Vampire Show, and the main attraction, the gorgeous, beguiling, and lethal Valeria.

The story begins fairly peacefully, with the three friends, Slim, Rusty, and Dwight, uniting in the early morning to journey out to Janks Field to try and catch a glimpse of Valeria during the set up. As the trio journeys out to the field, we are treated to a creepy backstory about Janks field, and why it is so reviled by the community. Once the gang gets to the field, only to find it abandoned, they are attacked by a lethal dog, and must take refuge atop the snack stand. This is just the first of many strange, creepy events that will happen to the teens throughout the course of a single day. As the day grows old, and the show nears, Laymon succeeds in building an extremely creepy atmosphere to build up everything to an insane climax at the show, when, as any intelligent reader would know, all hell breaks loose.

The different thing about this novel from other Laymon efforts is the total focus throughout the pages to develop and grow the main characters. Specifically, Dwight and Slim, the two best friends who start to become really close throughout the events of the day. Due to the focus on the relationship aspect, we don't get much Laymon violence throughout the meat of the book, but we instead get a large amount of awkward, playful sexual scenes between Dwight and Slim. But that is what makes this book so great. By the time the show actually begins, the whole novel has been building up the characters so we actually care for all of them, and it has been building up the tension so we are looking forward to the Traveling Vampire Show almost as much as the three friends who are trekking through the woods to see it.

What I thought was going to be a classic Laymon novel that gets started from page 1 and doesn't stop until the end, turned out to be a very well-written coming of age tale about love and friendship between two best friends of the opposite sex, who have always been limited in their relationship with each other, due to whatever extraneous reasons. Dwight and Slim are the characters who carry the entire novel. You are rooting for them to get together from basically the first conversation you witness between them, and when they finally start to "explore" with each other, you continue to root for them. Dwight and Slim, and their relationship, are the anchors for the story and all other characters. A few minor characters come into play along the way, such as an annoying younger sister, or a beautiful, troublemaking sister-in-law. But these characters are just there for backup to the main story of Dwight and Slim. Whenever there is a conversation or argument going on, somehow Laymon can completely convey through his writing when a certain two characters are really just communicating to each other through the whole group.

After all this talk of emotion, love, and relationships, I would say it is about time to get down to the nitty gritty of a Laymon novel: the violence! And, oh man, when the Traveling Vampire Show opens, the book turns completely insane. Lots of blood, lots of nakedness, arrows in the eye, people being speared, blood-sucking, people being run over by a hearse. Anything you could possibly want, it's all here, and in classic Laymon style, he holds absolutely nothing back. If you think something terrible is about to happen, it absolutely is.

The reason I love this book by Richard Laymon so much more than a lot of his others is the fact that it is a perfect combo of all of his best abilities. He is great at sex and violence, and we all know that. But he is also great at writing dialogue, and, if he really wants to, developing good characters. So, in effect, this is the perfect Richard Laymon book. Great characters, great dialogue, great development of characters, and, of course, tons of violence and sex. What else could you possibly want or expect from a Richard Laymon novel? Come on!

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book...I bet you will too, August 8, 2001

By 

C. Fletcher (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Traveling Vampire Show (Mass Market Paperback)

If you're a fan of the coming-of-age horror novel, if you liked Stephen King's "It," Robert McCammon's "Boy's Life," or Dan Simmons' "Summer of Night," you've got to read this book.

This is the second book I've ever read by Richard Laymon (I read "Night Show" years ago), but after this one, I'm going to have to seek out some more of his books. It's too bad he passed away this year and won't be giving us anymore really good books like "The Traveling Vampire Show".

TVS is not a perfect book. I would agree with some parts of the negative reviews on this page. Some of the characters, especially the villains, could have used some more fleshing out, but there's too much that's good about this novel not to give it five stars. I like to try to read at least one good "summer" horror novel each year, and this one is certainly it for 2001.

The main characters, especially Slim and Dwight, are interesting and emotionally involving. Best of all, Laymon really succeeds at creating an imaginative world in this novel that you just don't want to leave.

I remember lying in my bed for hours on end each summer morning after waking up the year Stephen King's "It" came out, when I was thirteen. The book was so good, I didn't want to do anything but read all day. I felt some of that again with this book.

It's true that Laymon's not as poetic as Bradbury, as consistently good as King, or as emotionally moving as McCammon, but there are elements of all of these styles mixed together in this novel. And that makes for a pretty good concoction, in my book.