In the Dark by Richard Laymon
This book hooked me from the very beginning. It's the first book in a long time that I have not been able to put down. I think it's an example of the kind of 'slow build' horror novel that we were talking about at the residency (the kind that women like better than the ones with the big bang right at the beginning.)
Jane, a librarian, finds a note on her seat with a $50 bill in it asking her if she would like to play a potentially profitable game, giving her a clue and signing it MOG (Master of Games). As Jane is searching through the stacks after closing time for the next clue, she runs into Brace and is momentarily startled. Brace seems to be a nice guy, local college prof, who invites her out for coffee then agrees to help Jane in her quest to hunt down the notes which have exponentially larger and larger denominations of bills in them.
Is the likeable Brace in actuality MOG? Does he have a warped, evil side Jane doesn't see? They go through some strange adventures, the plot takes some twists and turns. A nice romantic edge develops between them.
What I like is that Jane is not a stereotype. She's a tad overweight, somewhat of a loner, yet Brace is very attracted to her. Though she is at first somewhat afraid of Brace it is Jane who makes a move on him the first night they meet. He responds that he has to go home but will be back the following evening to help her hunt for the next clue.
The mystery of the secret notes, along with the chemistry between the two characters made me really care about this story. (It made me really hope that the nice Brace was not really MOG and some sort of psychotic killer, but deep down inside you know he is, because that would be the irony and surprise of the story. But you hope he really is a nice guy.)
Throughout the book, the small details made it believable and realistic.
Laymon handles the woman's point of view quite well. I didn't find any lapses or out-of-character moments for Jane.
Toward the middle, Jane's exploits (as the sums hidden in the envelopes become higher and higher) turn somewhat unrealistic as the story progresses. At one point Jane is sent by MOG into a house in which women are being held hostage and being tortured. One woman is so hungry she is eating her own body parts.
Laymon kept the suspense building until the very end as the reader wondered if Jane would escape alive (while also wondering if Brace was in fact the evil MOG.)
The end was a letdown. MOG turned out to be a scrawny, evil, little guy who was paying a big, burly guy to masquerade as MOG. MOG's connection to Jane was random. "Why me?," MJary asks toward the end of the book when she is getting ready to shoot him. "Why not?" he answers. It would have been a so much stronger ending of Laymon had figured out some way to connect Jane to MOG, give him some reason for pursuing her with the money and strange notes other than the fact that she happened to be there.
I have to credit the author with holding my interest until the very end. I was compelled to continue reading to find out of Brace was in fact MOG.
This book hooked me from the very beginning. It's the first book in a long time that I have not been able to put down. I think it's an example of the kind of 'slow build' horror novel that we were talking about at the residency (the kind that women like better than the ones with the big bang right at the beginning.)
Jane, a librarian, finds a note on her seat with a $50 bill in it asking her if she would like to play a potentially profitable game, giving her a clue and signing it MOG (Master of Games). As Jane is searching through the stacks after closing time for the next clue, she runs into Brace and is momentarily startled. Brace seems to be a nice guy, local college prof, who invites her out for coffee then agrees to help Jane in her quest to hunt down the notes which have exponentially larger and larger denominations of bills in them.
Is the likeable Brace in actuality MOG? Does he have a warped, evil side Jane doesn't see? They go through some strange adventures, the plot takes some twists and turns. A nice romantic edge develops between them.
What I like is that Jane is not a stereotype. She's a tad overweight, somewhat of a loner, yet Brace is very attracted to her. Though she is at first somewhat afraid of Brace it is Jane who makes a move on him the first night they meet. He responds that he has to go home but will be back the following evening to help her hunt for the next clue.
The mystery of the secret notes, along with the chemistry between the two characters made me really care about this story. (It made me really hope that the nice Brace was not really MOG and some sort of psychotic killer, but deep down inside you know he is, because that would be the irony and surprise of the story. But you hope he really is a nice guy.)
Throughout the book, the small details made it believable and realistic.
Laymon handles the woman's point of view quite well. I didn't find any lapses or out-of-character moments for Jane.
Toward the middle, Jane's exploits (as the sums hidden in the envelopes become higher and higher) turn somewhat unrealistic as the story progresses. At one point Jane is sent by MOG into a house in which women are being held hostage and being tortured. One woman is so hungry she is eating her own body parts.
Laymon kept the suspense building until the very end as the reader wondered if Jane would escape alive (while also wondering if Brace was in fact the evil MOG.)
The end was a letdown. MOG turned out to be a scrawny, evil, little guy who was paying a big, burly guy to masquerade as MOG. MOG's connection to Jane was random. "Why me?," MJary asks toward the end of the book when she is getting ready to shoot him. "Why not?" he answers. It would have been a so much stronger ending of Laymon had figured out some way to connect Jane to MOG, give him some reason for pursuing her with the money and strange notes other than the fact that she happened to be there.
I have to credit the author with holding my interest until the very end. I was compelled to continue reading to find out of Brace was in fact MOG.
posted by Sally Bosco at
12:53 PM
