The Cellar

The birth of the splatterpunk genre, for good or ill. It is pretty, as we might have said in the 90s/early aughts, 'eXtReMe'. Its certainly over the top and not for all readers, though it does feel a little more natural than some of the later, what I think of as 'try-hard', entries into the genre. I was not prepared for the sexual violence, which is I think the only thing that truly caught me off guard. My understanding was, had this not been my first Laymon, I *would* have been prepared for this.
The main plot (not the b plot with the abusive husband recently out of prison) *is* an interesting multigenerational mutant story with some shades of lovecraft in terms of polluted bloodlines. The story moves along quickly, and assuming you can show more make it through the sexual violence, many of the characters are interesting. The protagonist Judge gives us some quirky spy thriller vibes, the childhood survivor of the house is a super fun intellectual weirdo, and the town north of Bodega Bay is populated with a number of other interesting weirdos. I think the husband is *supposed* to give us some overall commentary on failures of the criminal justice system and maybe an opinion of the author on the ability of people to be reformed that...aren't great.
Story wise, the end is the real problem. It just kind of...stops...suddenly. The action in that scene also becomes both unclear and kind of unrealistic (she 'stabs' him in the chest with a butcher knife, which shouldn't be possible, shouldn't be fatal, and the way the scene is constructed its unclear who 'she' is and if its who I'm assuming I'm not sure she'd have the ability to at that point). The Epilogue further muddies thing as it implies a lot more mutants than should be there...unless its meant to be a reveal of a much larger colony ala Pickman's Model, but its really unclear if that's that point. I'm told some of this gets cleared up in the rest of the series, but I'm on the fence about reading it. If I find them cheap I might, but this feels like a thing my library won't have. show less

‘The Beast House’ is an original horror thriller with a clever plot.

Numerous vividly portrayed characters all end up in same town where the infamous Beast House lies. Several people enter, not all leave. We learn the house’s history yet not all is what it seems.

I’ve always felt authors shouldn’t have any restrictions placed upon them and that they should write about whatever they want. I stand by that, but I wish this author wasn’t so graphic in describing a man physically abusing a primary-aged girl. I’m always critical of authors who ignore the unofficial rule of ‘show, don’t tell,’ but in this case, the less showing the better.

The above isn’t a criticism of the story. What story element I do take issue with show more comes right at the end, so I’ll be careful to avoid spoilers here. In short, one of the female characters’ attitude/personality is completely different in this last section. It’s too different to believe. I get why she’s supposed to have changed but I still don’t buy it. The novel’s supernatural elements are more realistic than this new personality.

On the most part, though, this novel is engaging, exciting, scary, intriguing, and sexy (when dealing with women, that is, not little girls). I’ll be checking out the next in the quadrilogy. show less

What haunts the Beast House? And how in the world did an evil fuck like Roy get released from prison?
That's in the book, well, except how Roy got out. The parts with him are really hard to read. He repeatedly rapes a girl that he kidnaps. Ugh. Almost too much to keep reading.
The rest of the story is good. Lots of Bay Area settings, which is where I live. And a pretty straight forward read. I did not like the instant romance between Jud and Donna. Lust I get, but instant love? It always feels sloppy to me.
It's a quick read, and pretty graphic in sex and violence. In the diary entries too!
Super, super creepy ending! Makes me want to read the next one!

In my defense (never a promising way to start a review), I expected exactly what I got out of this book. I read it purely out of curiosity about the level of ridiculous and sickening "shock" value spouted in all the reviews. I have to say I agree with most of them. The book is absolutely absurd, badly written and unnecessarily sick. It is also somewhat hilarious because I mean...WTF??!!

Anyway, I almost never give one star ratings because if it's that bad I stop reading. What's the point? But to be fair, I did see this one through to the end. In fact, that one star might be solely contributed to the ending. I cannot in good faith recommend this book and, alas, will not be reading the sequel, so read at your own self- inflicted risk show more (mostly of having your intelligence insulted). show less

Laymon's first novel, he staked out his voice and territory early. Sex and violence pervade, good guys don't always seem so good, bad guys don't always get their comeuppance. It's a fast, nasty, grisly read.

First and foremost, I must admit I was introduced to the "Beast House" series backward. About a year ago I read the final installment on a short trip and ended up loving the story. From there I read all of the other books out of order, culminating with this one.

Having said that, I had a general idea of the ending before even picking this book up.

I truly enjoyed this book. For anyone new to Laymon, who loves a very easy and visceral read, he is the man for you. This story in particular had me cringing through a couple of chapters, as I struggled to keep my heart from jumping out of my chest.

Beginning with the death of a police officer in a famed house of murder, turned tourist attraction in Northern California, the story weaves a tale show more of incest, rape and bestiality. Taking the lead role of the story is Donna, a single mother fleeing with her daughter from her hometown, attempting to escape her recently-released-from-prison-husband, Roy. Roy was incarcerated for raping his daughter, and as soon as he was released he headed toward his family. His intentions were not to make amends. Finding their apartment vacant he becomes enraged and searches for a new girl to satisfy his urges on. He very quickly finds one, disposes of her parents and keeps her as a sex-slave throughout the rest of the story.

In all fairness, this is where the book became difficult for me to continue. Knowing Laymon's graphic nature I was cautious, concerned he would cross the line and become too graphic for me. Rest assured, although he approached it many times, he always built the scene and pulled out before breaking down that wall. It definitely was uncomfortable to read through.

As Donna heads North she gets into an automobile accident near Malcasa point. Sitting in their car, seemingly looking to wait through the night, the women are placed into a situation with Axel Kutch and in a very awkward transition they trust the stranger and he takes them into town.

From this point forth the story shifts from Donna and her daughter fleeing to Roy pressing forward and approaching their current location. Awaiting their automobile to receive parts from another town they are stranded. What better to kill time in a town while your sexually crazed husband is hunting you down then to tour a fabled house of murder?

At this point, Laymon weaves in a side-sotry of an elderly man who had escaped the Beast House and befriends a hit-man for hire. This elderly man serves as a means to further detail the history of the beast house. Although the man insists that the beast never touched him the night he escaped, there is enough eluding to imply that the beast had raped him as a boy. Plagued by nightmares on and off throughout his life the old man very quickly decides to pays the hit-man to head to the Beast House with the intent to slay the beast.

The elderly man and his hit-man meet Donna and her daughter on the beast house tour and Donna, in typical Laymon fashion, wants to take the hit-man to bed on first sight. The groups befriend each other and their tales become tangled until the end.

The story shifts to be more focused on the repulsive sexual nature of the beast and the involvement of the owner of the Beast House. Through this part of the book the story slows, allowing the back-story to build and giving the author time to bring Roy into the picture.

Leaving a very detailed gory trail of carnage in his wake, Roy enters Malcasa point to finally reunite with his family. Donna and her hit-man friend are prepared although and the hunted very quickly became the hunter.

From there, the story takes the reader through a whirlwind, culminating in multiple deaths, bestiality and rape. I don't want to give the details as it would ruin the experience for anyone venturing to read this classic book by Mr. Richard Laymon.

In the end, this is a fast read. I found the hair on my neck bristled multiple times throughout and it was a thrill a minute. Central themes in this book can be very offensive to some and if you cannot read scenes of rape, especially concerning a child, do not read this book. I thought I was fairly desensitized and I found myself struggling at times.

All said and done, I recommend this book to anyone who needs to give their heart a good workout and doesn't feel like hitting the gym. show less

[The Cellar] - Richard Laymon ***

I have been reading Richard Laymon books for a few years but never got around to reading the beast house series. The 'Beast House' novels are often billed as his greatest creations and the place where Laymon is at his most creative.

The novel follows a mother and daughter (Donna and Sandy) as they trek across the country trying to hide from her husband who has recently been released from Jail (a term he served for molesting a young Sandy). Their journey takes them to The Beast house. A house that has seen several grisly murders over the years and is now some kind of tourist attraction (despite murders having taken place within the last few months???). It is a local myth that the murders were committed by show more a monster, this is further enhanced by the fact there has been at least one survivor.

This survivor (Larry) wants nothing more than to see the beast killed and teams up with Judgment Rucker, an all singing and dancing American tough guy. Somehow they become involved with Donna and the story develops from there.

Many people have rated this book low as a result of the child abuse scenes (which are fairly graphic) but if you have read Laymon before then this is something you should come to expect. His books nearly always contain incest and paedophilia in abundance.

I read my very first Laymon book around 3 years ago, it was called 'Island', and to be honest I found his risky writing a refreshing change and eagerly searched out more of his works. After having read a dozen or so I began to find the plots far too formulaic. The same story, no matter how shocking, will lose it's appeal over time. I am sure that if I had picked up 'The Cellar' as an introduction to Laymon my rating of the book would be much higher but unfortunately I found the story very predictable and therefore trudged my way through until I reached the end. From the reviews on here many people really enjoyed the book so don't let me put you off picking it up and if you are a first time reader then I am sure you will be horrified into turning each page quicker and quicker until you reach the very last one.

As for me, I still have a collection of unread Laymon including the rest of the trilogy, I am unsure whether to give them a go or deposit in the nearest charity shop. show less