The Woods Are Dark [Paperback]

Richard Laymon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1981

In the woods are six dead trees. The killing trees. That's where they take them. People like Neala and her friend Sherri, and the Dills family. Innocent travellers on vacation, seized and bound, stripped of their valuables and shackled to the trees to wait. In the woods. In the dark.

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

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, this reissue of Laymon's second horror novel (first published in 1981) restores the editorially butchered text to all of its gory glory. In gleefully gruesome fashion, it recounts the ordeal of three different groups of people-hikers Neala and Sherri, vacationing teacher Lander Dills and his family, and local yokel Johnny Robbins-as they attempt to defend themselves against the cannibal Krulls, a forest-dwelling family of inbred savages who for centuries have demanded that the citizens of the nearby burg of Barlow provide them with waylaid travelers for their feeding and breeding. In their desperation to survive at all costs, the seemingly civilized victims find themselves stooping to behavior as beastly as that practiced by their predatory pursuers. This novel is prime Laymon (The Cellar), featuring characters reduced to appetites both carnal and carnivorous and a plot flensed free of all but the bloody bones of storytelling. While not every horror reader's meat, this savage shockfest is a good example of the pulpy approach that has earned the late author a loyal readership for three decades.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Warner Books; First Edition edition (September 1981)
• ISBN-10: 0446905186
• ISBN-13: 978-0446905183
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (38 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,912,742 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pretty darn good!, February 25, 2005

By 

Heather Smith "Frosti Rabbit" (Atl., GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Woods Are Dark (Paperback)

I've been all about trying out new (or new to me, at least) horror authors recently. 3 or 4 names really stood out in my search, Ketchum, Lee, Little, and Laymon. People either seem to love them or hate them. I decided to give Laymon a try, so I hunted down the UK editions of Funland, The Cellar, and The Woods are dark. So far, I'm very impressed.

I won't write a synopsis of the story, you can read the dust jacket for that. I will say that The Woods are dark, has the feel of a cross between Off Season and Deep In the Darkness. There's nothing creepier than deformed cannabalistic Inbreeders! It's well written and contains twists and turns that are unexpected. I would like to have had a little more back story revealed but it doesn't diminish the story at all.

I don't know how I missed these guys as a teen-ager. I guess the American world of horror literature was too jammed up with King and Barker. No room was left for Laymon, his style must have been just a little to edgy for mass-marketability. It's true what they say about getting your hands on the UK prints of his books. It's worth it. The US editions are hacked to pieces, no pun intended.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrifying!!!, December 22, 2001

By 

"glennmiller3" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Woods Are Dark (Paperback)

A legless thing with powerful hairy arms dragged itself across the road. It paused for a moment in the car's headlights, in front of Neala and Sherri. It tossed a severed human hand which landed between the girls, and then scurried away into the dark forest . . .

This is the best Richard Laymon I have read. So compelling that I literally could not stop reading. It's an erotic thriller that will have your heart racing from the first page to the last.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you like Horror stories - You will LOVE this book!, December 20, 2006

By 

John Schinter (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Woods Are Dark (Paperback)

I am convinced that Laymon cannot write a bad book. This story is about travelers that seem to "disappear" as they are traveling through a small town. Maybe its the Krull's that live in the forest - which are deformed human being like creatures that make the forests their home?

If this is your first Laymon book - I guarantee it won't be your last! Fun and easy reading, and written in Laymon's classic innocent style.