Richard Laymon - In The Dark

In The Dark - Richard Laymon. Headline Feature Paperback. 1994.



Nothing much happens in Donnerville, at least not in the public library. Then the new librarian, Jane Kerry, receives an envelope containing a fifty-dollar bill and a note instructing her to 'Look homeward, angel.' Mystified, Jane pulls Thomas Wolfe's novel of that title off the shelf and finds a second envelope. This one holds a hundred-dollar bill and a clue to another payoff. Like the first, it is signed 'MOG (Master Of Games).' Suddenly Jane is hooked - this is one game she must play to the end.
The Game requires more and more of Jane's strength and ingenuity. It forces her, more than once, to defend her life. It pushes her into actions that she knows are crazy, immoral, criminal. And when she tries to quit, MOG has other ideas...

Laymon. Laymon, Laymon, Laymon. Bloody Laymon! Dem introduced me to his work via this site, and I've loved it, hated it and gradually been coming back to it.
The trouble with In The Dark is, like a number of books, it's such an incredible rush reading it for the first time, that I feel really disappointed that I'll never quite get that feeling again. And it's a long , long time since I've read a book purporting to be horror that has made me put it down before the end, in order to catch my breath and take stock of what I've just read.
This book is ridiculously manipulative. I've just had a week off work and actually got back in to reading, which I've been struggling with for a long time. Enjoyed Hutson, Herbert, a Confessions, a PC Western, and then this. Started it on Saturday, and then spent most of Sunday immersed in it, losing track of time, able to tune out a blaring radio...Blimey! Just like the good old days (although I recently shot through David Peace's The Damned Utd in similar unputdownable fashion.)
The heroine being a librarian, there's plenty of book references, and one character mentions missing a flight because he was so deep in a book.
The build up is fairly slow (it's a 500 page book) but, as Jane's curiosity becomes gradually replaced by the knowledge that each payment doubles, and she can make some real money, you begin to wonder just what she (and you) is capable of.
Laymon is a master at walking a tightrope of believeability (although sometimes he comes perilously close to falling off).
VAGUE SPOILER. As the various 'games' progress, the stakes become higher, and Jane's tasks become more and more dubious. She is sent on a mission which could go either way, and it turns out to be quite innocuous, although you're never quite sure what's in store. The next task starts off in a suspenseful fashion. Laymon cranks and cranks up the tension, and I was waiting for an easy let off. Boy, was I wrong. And there were still 150 pages to go!
I'm crap at spotting twists and turns so was kept 'In The Dark' (groan) until the very end, although, in hindsight, the ultimate twist looks bleedin' obvious.
A tremendous thriller, but probably only the first time....

And no red shorts!