In the small California town of Malcasa Point lies "the Beast House," an old mansion turned tourist attraction where a series of murders have been committed by a murderous creature that supposedly comes out at night. Donna and her young daughter Sandy, both on the run from Donna's sexually and physically abusive ex-husband Roy, end up in the town after their car crashes nearby. They meet up with Judgment "Jud" Rucker and Larry Maywood; the latter is a survivor of an attack from the beast, and the former is a mercenary/assassin hired to take the beast down. The team investigates just what is really going on in Beast House, while at the same time Roy hunts down Donna and Sandy, intending on punishing them for putting him away in jail.
As far as horrors and thrillers go, "The Cellar" is an entertaining read. The story goes one way, then another, leading to a rather shocking conclusion that (without giving too much away) reads sort of like something out of hentai. There are enough Beast attacks to keep you interested, as well as plot twists or reveals to make you wonder what's going to happen next. It's a simple read, and my interest was peaked enough that I literally read it in just two days.
Characters, for the most part, are pretty bland. When Donna and Jud meet, they instantly fall in love, and literally that same day Jud is talking as if Donna is "the one." Sandy sometimes talks like a child, and at other times throws in words or phrases that sound like someone much older. Ironically, some of the more minor characters felt more real to me than the major ones, save perhaps for Jud (but even then, sometimes it seemed like the only difference between him and Roy was one was the hero and the other wasn't). Also amusing to me was how characters seem COMPLETELY INCOMPETENT when faced against the Beast. In one scene a policeman meets the beast with a shotgun, but is apparently unable to get a shot off even though he's already aiming and the Beast has some distance between the two. Also Jud, who is a skilled mercenary, keeps tumbling and falling over when fighting the Beast, as if he's some character out of a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. Ironically, Donna - who is just a regular mother with no combat experience - handles herself with a gun and in a fight better than most of the male characters with combat training or expertise.
Perhaps most shocking for me was the pedophilia found in the book. Roy is a pedophile who sexually abused Sandy at a young age, and who, during his search for his wife and daughter, kidnaps and regularly rapes a 9-year old girl. The rape itself is never described (merely hinted at), but there are a few scenes of molestation described. As the father of a young girl myself, these scenes were more disturbing to me than anything involving the Beast, and I found myself skimming those chapters. I understand Laymon himself wasn't a pedophile (in fact, he too had a daughter), and he was probably trying to ramp up just HOW BAD the character of Roy was, but it was still unsettling. It's probably why I rate this book as 3-stars rather than 4-stars. I have to also mention that I found it just a LITTLE contrived that, after physically abusing his wife and sexually assaulting a six-year old, Roy would get out of prison after just a few years, and based on good behavior. Really? I know our justice system isn't perfect, but come on!
Overall, the book's plot, believability, and character development reads like a SyFy Channel original movie. If you're looking for a horror/thriller romp that isn't afraid to disgust you at times, this is probably up your alley. It's not perfect by far, but it can be a casual read for fans of this genre.
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Im sure the story is intact and reads fine. However I bought this not realizing it was a reprint. I would not have purchased this had I known. The cover graphics are blurry, and the back is just solid brown. The text is clunky and the margins are massive. Moral of the story... know what your ordering before you click "proceed to checkout".
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Top reviews from other countries
BlackBrigand
Classic Laymon, gruesome but enthralling
Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 29, 2013
Nicole
Disturbing sub-plot did nothing for the main story-line.
Reviewed in Canada 🇨🇦 on December 2, 2014
