Richard Laymon - The Lake

Richard Laymon - The Lake (Headline/ BCA, 2004)



LEIGH IS YOUNG, REBELLIOUS AND BEAUTIFUL and she yearns for a summer of excitement by the lake. Maybe she'll find it in the arms of the handsome boy who rows her out to the abandoned beach house. Or maybe she'll stumble into a legacy of terror which will shatter her life

Eighteen years on, Deana has no knowledge of her mother's troubled past and not that much interest. She just wants to make out somewhere cool with her boyfriend - to let her hair down and live a little. If only living were that simple.

But that summer at the lake casts a long shadow. And when the horrors of the past meet the perils of the present, both mother and daughter are plunged into a nightmare of blood and terror from which there is no escape.

"You've been watching too many Friday the 13th movies ..."

Page 37 and Laymon's just introduced a pair of red shorts into the proceedings, so an opportune moment to summarise the action to date.

We begin with Verna Lavette performing provocative poses for regular client Mr. Candyman to capture on his trusty Polaroid. Once she's through her entire repertoire, he draws a knife and hacks her to pieces ...

Eighteen year old Deana West and boyfriend Allan Powers skip the movie and drive off to the woods to fool around some. But they've been followed to their secluded spot by a creep in a red Pontiac Firebird. Deciding to play it cautious, they make to return to their car. The Pontiac hurtles straight into Allan, and Deana, who's recently been plagued by nightmares in which she's pursued to her death by a cleaver-wielding maniac in a chef's hat, has a terrifying sprint home through the trees.

The following morning, the dented, blood-stained murder weapon is abandoned outside the impressive house she shares with her widowed mother, Leigh, who's also been having a hard time sleeping of late. Part of it's to do with her feelings toward Detective Mace Harrison, but mostly it's the resurfacing of all those terrible memories connected to her husband, Charlie Payne's death and the dreadful encounter with his ma at the funeral ...

Psychiatrists might be interested to know that this time the red shorts belonged to the murdered Allan. Within hours of his being deliberately run down, the bereaved Deana first smothers them in tears then pulls them on for her morning jog.