Book Review: Island by Richard Laymon

Guest Author - Lisa Babick

Island Review

Island
by Richard Laymon
Leisure Books; 2002; 504 pages; $6.99

I started late on the Laymon bandwagon. The first book of his that I read was THE TRAVELING VAMPIRE SHOW. I fell in love with that book and wanted to read everything the man wrote. I'm still reading his vast collection of work and have found new favorites. Laymon died suddenly last year and I'm happy that there are new books being published. Unfortunately, Island isn't one of Laymon's best.

ISLAND is dark parody of Gilligan's Island. A family becomes castaways when their boat blows up after they make a stop for a tropical picnic. The story is told by Rupert Conway, who's the boyfriend of Connie, the youngest daughter of the yacht's owner, Andrew. Other castaways include Andrew's wife, Billie; Kimberly and her husband Keith and Thelma and her husband Wesley.

Rupert's narrative is like that of a sex-crazed teenager. He is only 19 and it shows as he gawks and drools over Billie and Kimberly and spends most of his writing time talking about his fantasies with those two. That is, until someone starts brutally murdering the men. Wesley is already dead having blown up with the boat, but Andrew and Keith are quickly disposed of leaving only Rupert to protect the women. It's a dream come true, sort of, for Rupert and he doesn't really hide the fact. The killer wants Rupert dead too and he must use his desires to outsmart the killer.

The story is a relatively good story, but a bit too long for my liking. I found myself skimming through a lot of Rupert's boring, voyeuristic narrative. The best part of this book was the introduction from Dean Koontz. If you're a fan of Laymon, then I would go ahead and read this book. If you're new to Laymon, I would skip this book and read THE MIDNIGHT TOUR, RESURRECTION DREAMS, BITE or a number of his other novels to get a real feel for the incredible fiction this guy is capable of.

Zine-X