Post by Dreadlocksmile on Aug 21, 2009 12:25:57 GMT
Dreadlocksmile review:
First published back in 1990, `One Rainy Night' came at half way through Laymon's career.
Following Laymon's fast paced, action packed, blood filled formula for creating a novel that will be adored by many horror fans, `One Rainy Night' does not disappoint when it comes to an intensive splatter-punk style tale of blood lust and unrelenting violence.
With huge similarities to novels such as James Herbert's `The Fog', David Moody's `Hater' and Danny Boyle's 2002 film '28 Days Later...', `One Rainy Night' sees a large proportion of the population (in this case the vast majority of a town), turn into psychotic killers when they are subjected to the mysterious black rain that starts falling on the town.
From very early on the reader is thrown into the nail biting tension and claustrophobic fear that surrounds the town as the story spirals into an almost post-apocalyptic scenario that is not too dissimilar in feel to Laymon's classic novel `The Quake' that came out five years later.
The blood starts spilling from every page, with moments that appear to be lifted straight from any one of Romero's `Dead' series.
A somewhat weak sub-plot is threaded loosely along the novels storyline, that half tries to explain the mysterious turn of events as some sort of voodoo curse that was visited upon the town in the way of revenge for crimes upon a particular family. This half-baked explanation is not necessary to the overall enjoyment and structure of the novel, but does not really detract at all from the tale.
Yet again, Laymon throws in a collection of comic book style colourful characters that are brought to vivid life with their individual loveable and instantly identifiable traits.
The violence is strong yet not over descriptive that allows for the `Dawn of The Dead' style of comic gore. Even with this, the reader is subjected to bursts of suspense throughout that will leave you on the edge of your seat at the end of each and every chapter.
For those who are relatively new to Laymon's work, this is a good novel to approach first, with classic Laymon touches and his non-stop blood drenched action formula that is sure to please almost every fan of horror.
The novel lasts for a total of 410 blood soaked pages, of which all 410 of these will keep your heart racing, as you sit there perched on the edge of your seat.
www.amazon.co.uk/review/R2KUDO2YRCFJMT/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm