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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780843950472
ISBN number: 0843950471
Label: Leisure Books
Manufacturer: Leisure Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 392
Printing Date: 2003-02
Publishing house: Leisure Books
Sale Popularity Level: 373842
Studio: Leisure Books
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
At an end-of-term college party, six students come across a Ouija board. When a spirit called Butler tells them of a fortune hidden in the mountains, they head off on a two-day hike into the wilderness, where any danger may lie in wait to cut and slice and tear them limb from limb.
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Rated by buyers 
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It's the end of the summer semester and you're at your professor's house for a party, so the six of you whip our her Ouija board (much to her dismay) and begin chatting with a spirit that tells you to tromp off into the mountains in search of "loot." What do you do? Well since you're a bunch of horny college students of course you listen to the ghost and go racing off into the wilderness to hunt for the treasure. And when your professor learns what you've done what does she do? Why she takes her new boyfriend with her to do hut you guys down to stop you.
It's an okay premise to a story, the idea of a treasure hunt is always exciting... but this isn't Clive Cussler, this is Richard Laymon, and it's not much of a treasure hunt. What we have is 392 pages of which about 300 are the internal dialogue of a whiny virgin male who's either self loathing, imagining everyone is going to die, or staring at one of the girls boobs and fantasizing... mostly he's fantasizing. We also have the pleasure of the professor's internal dialogue which is pretty much the same thing, surprising since she's a woman and supposed to be older than the kids but shockingly she's no brighter, more mature or less perverse than the 21 year old male. The action includes an old decrepit pervert, a random mountain man in a thong, and a pack of torturer/rapists... unfortunately they all come out of nowhere and seem to be more coincidences than anything planned by the author. I can see him sitting at his computer thinking - "Gee, I have all these kids out in the woods, we need to throw in a homicidal madman in a thong to get things moving!"
I will give Laymon credit in that he did a better job of making his characters different from each other, although they are such stereotypes that their behavior is ridiculously predictable. As a reader you can just think - "What's the dumbest choice they could make at this point in time?" and that's exactly what they do. Contrary to Laymon's typical works, there really isn't much gore in this book at all, rather it is replaced with pages and pages of sex either real or fantasized. Also there is a tremendous amount of bickering between the students that I believe was supposed to add humor, however they really aren't that funny, and the conversations seemed forced and unnatural.
My biggest issue with this book is the sheer randomness of it all, if you are looking for a cohesive storyline that gets wrapped up at the end with a decent explanation for the events that occur, this is not the book for you. There are many open ended threads that never get wrapped up, and much of the plotline is not all that well thought out. If you are looking for an introduction to Laymon, this is not the place to start. Try "Traveling Vampire Show" or even the Beast House series for a better idea of what Laymon's writing is.
Is this a terrible book? Not at all, it is fairly middle of the pack. I'm not unhappy that I read it, I didn't hate it, but it's not the very first thing I would recommend to someone else. Think of it like a B-horror movie or a trashy beach novel for horror fans. There are far better books out there, if you want a good Laymon novel, find one that was published while he was alive... he was much more selective than whoever is doing the publishing after his death.
Rated by buyers 
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I just finished reading this book and was once again satisfied. I can always count on Laymon to give me my fix of over the top violence and sex!
This story stars 6 college students who are at a party thrown by one of their Professors when they stumble upon a Ouija Board. They contact a spirit named Butler who tells them that their is "loot" hidden in a cave on top of the mountain. Thus begins the horror, sex and violence.
It was one Laymons better books in my opinon. It had a supernatuaral element to the "b-movie slasher flick" type of books that he usually writes. It had also alot of twists and turns that were suprisingly good. Usually when books have a twist ending it turns out to be ridiculus and just lame. Overall, a very good and entertaining read!
Rated by buyers -
This is my third Laymon novel. I liked Vampire Circus, but Flesh put me off sex for several months. OK, let's try Darkness, Tell Us.
I was puzzled by Howard's internal dialog. I suppose that 20 yr old men think about sex often, about once a minute per survey. What I found strange was his page-consuming dither and speculation about imagined consequences of any action, and how his thoughts would be perceived by his peers and his teacher, if only they knew. At last I solved the mystery...Howard is a Barbara Cartland heroine in male disguise. All the tremulous insecurity! All the sincerity and good intentions! All the naivety and trying to be a "good" person.
The problem is that the 30 yr old instructor and her brother-in-law have similar internal doubts. I never thought I would object to trembling sensitivity in a Laymon story, but...
Still hoping to find an adult character in this book.
Rated by buyers -
This is an interesting laymon book about a bunch of friends messing around with an ouija board that tells them to go into the mountains where they will find what they think is some kind of "reward" and they couldn't be more wrong.........What's also interesting about this book is that the twist towards the end is pretty darn good but i somehow figured it out without even meaning too, it just popped into my head while reading the book.....Now beware, this book has alot of build up before it hits the ground running and before then there are flaws and questions a' plenty! the end is very gruesome and hardcore and the book is loved by many fans but for me it lacks and was too slow with not much put inbetween before the great stuff comes. It had the potential, just didn't capatilize.
Rated by buyers -
Granted I have not finished the book yet, BUT it is boring! I am on page 215 (out of 392) and still waiting for something to happen! No blood, no gore, nothing yet. Laymon is a great writer and his characters are very well developed. I care for the characters, I like them. The book is GOOD, its just supposed to be a horror novel. Where is the horror? By reading the other reviews here there seems to be a promised gory finale so I will hold out and finish the book. But for 215 pages I have been waiting and waiting. This is my very first Laymon book and it will not be my last, like I said, he is a great writer, its just the story. I hope the subsequent book I pick up by him will be a little bit more fast-paced.
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