Thursday, June 26, 2014

Richard Laymon - One Rainy Night

One Rainy Night
by Richard Laymon
1991 Headline



Black rain makes the residents of a small town go crazy and rape and kill each other.  That's it.  Like you need anything more.

Laymon keeps things moving here and just switches scenes when things start to run aground.  There are several sets of survivors - a babysitter and her charge, parents in a restaurant, a cop and two citizens, and some rapey teenage boys.

Laymon doesn't get too hung up on the causes or the "rules" like a lot of these things do, though he does get wrapped up in admin at times.  There are several scenes of survivors changing into scavenged clothes, and every single article is described in detail.

Also present is his creepy juvenile sexuality, with characters being distracted by boobs in the middle of a massacre.

Luckily the internal monologues are mostly absent, and Laymon actually manages some suspenseful moments.


No comments:

Post a Comment