Book 42 of 2015 – No Sanctuary – Richard Laymon a little less than expected….

As I was sitting around over the weekend not feeling well, I spent my time in typical fashion reading!! Did I read any of the three books that I picked up at the library on Saturday? Of course not! I read some in Gracie: A Love Story and then started No Sanctuary by Richard Laymon. I am not sure where I got the book but it has been on my TBR shelves for a long while now. Anyway, on Saturday when I was moving things around I saw the back of the book and read the following

“If you’ve missed Laymon, you’ve missed a treat” – Stephen King and

“One of horror’s rarest talents” – Publishers Weekly….

So by never reading a Richard Laymon novels I’ve missed the treat of reading one of horror’s rarest talents, eh? Ok I’ll bite and I did and this afternoon No Sanctuary became the 42nd book that I’ve read in 2015! Here’s a little background on Richard Laymon for me and you. From Wikipedia Richard Laymon….

was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre. Richard Laymon died in 2001 of a massive heart attack Read More

Since I don’t read a lot of horror books I had to look up what splatterpunk was….

Splatterpunk was a movement within horror fiction in the 1980s, distinguished by its graphic, often gory, depiction of violence and “hyperintensive horror with no limits.”[1][2][3] The term was coined in 1986 by David J. Schow at the Twelfth World Fantasy Convention in Providence, Rhode Island. Splatterpunk is regarded as a revolt against the “traditional, meekly suggestive horror story”.[4] Splatterpunk has been defined as a “literary genre characterised by graphically described scenes of an extremely gory nature.” Read More

Well I certainly think that No Sanctuary fits in the splatterpunk subgenre, especially the end!

But back to  No Sanctuary. There are two storylines running through the book. The first storyline follows Rick and Bert (Bertha) on a camping trip in the remote mountains of California. The other involves Gilliam O’Neill whose addiction is breaking into houses while the owners are away and making herself at home.  What could go wrong in the lives of the protagonists! Plenty!

First, Rick and Bert meet up with three young men on the trail. Rick is convinced that the three are out for one thing and that is to rape and kill his woman and his gory visions confirm his suspicions and create a deadly paranoia! While Gillian discovers that she is in the home of a serial killer!! As each storyline develops it ‘s obvious that at some point the two will collide and there will probably be some blood spilled!!

Bottom line: For me No Sanctuary: was a likable book but not a great book. While both storylines finally meshed,  I thought that there would be some kind of connection between the two other than intersecting in the same woods! Also  thought that there were a couple of portions of the book that I thought could have been eliminated. After reading reviews of the book at Amazon, I see that No Sanctuary may not be Laymon’s best work. So I may read one of his more highly recommended novels. Hell he wrote over thirty of them….let’e see ….. again from Wikipedia….

Flesh was named Best Horror Novel of 1988 by Science Fiction Chronicle, and both Flesh and Funland were nominated for the Bram Stoker Award, as was his non-fiction work A Writer’s Tale. He won this award posthumously in 2001 for The Traveling Vampire Show.

Anyone have any thoughts or recommendations?

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