Bite (original 1996; edition 1999)

Due to the strangely high spirits of the protagonists, this book was violent and gory but not actually frightening. Although dealing with vampires, psychos and the threat of discovery by the police, they spent their time flirting, messing around, and joking that it was a vampire curse that was making everything go wrong for them. ( )

I was a little disappointed when, after seeing a vampire, the story went in an almost totally different way that--as a reviewer noted earlier--was a bit Tarantino-esque. However this is not a bad thing at all. When a man finds the girlfriend who left him years ago, he discovers that she had been visited by a being that she claims is a vampire, and that she wants him to kill the vampire for her. Thanks to the actions that they make, the two go on a journey that brings them into dark territory where it isn't the supernatural beings that are the world's worst problem.

After getting rid of some of my disappointment, I allowed Bite's story to get me back into it, and it turned out to be fun. I don't really agree with certain aspects of it and would have liked to see other parts expanded upon, but it was still great. One of my favorite Laymon novels. ( )

what a delicious piece of pulp, this is! it's not at all what i expected -- a nasty, no-holds-barred modern-day vampire novel -- but it was better. Laymon is hit-and-miss for me, and he scored big with this one. the novel somehow remains comedic (dark, that is) and tongue-in-cheek, while being scary at the same time --- which, as horror fans know, is SUBLIMELY difficult to do correctly.

the tale is, indeed, about a nasty, modern-day vampire, and i don't wanna know what part of Laymon's brain induced the image of a skinny nerd with metal teeth as a creature of the njight -- but somehow, it works. best, we're kept in the dark through most of the novel in regards to whether the vampire is supernatural, or not. also, we're never quite sure who to trust. characters that start out as wholly unbelievable end up being the sorts we sympathize with or hate, and who we'd love to meet in person -- albeit, in the day time.

the book starts out with a Tarantino-esque bang, and one wonders while reading the book why Tarantino hasn't optioned it for a film. yeah, it's that cool. Laymon keeps us on our toes, and has us looking forward to the next page. you'll be sorry when the book ends, craving more Laymon blood to drink. ;) ( )

Can get a little ridiculous at times, but a good read. ( )

Bite is one of those guilty pleasures, a book you pretty much figure you shouldn't be liking but once you let go of your prejudices and let the story take over, it's like a mad roller-coaster ride into the nasty places of the human mind. Briefly, boy meets old flame who needs him to kill a vampire for her. He does, and they spend the rest of the novel trying to get rid of the body. It's a horror novel, though not one that will scare you much, it's a road trip of the weirdest sort, and it's a comedy that is irresistibly spiteful, skirting the sharp edges of madness. This is not Stephen King, folks, this is the guy who runs the museum full of two-headed sheep and stuffed jackalopes. For lovers of flim-flam, the strange and the absurd. ( )