mystery111's review
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
tajaymes's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
The first 400 pages of the book sucked me in and had me craving what was next. It was so hard to put down. But some of the characters and commentary were odd to me. Maybe I’m reading into it too much but I feel like you could tell a male wrote their perspectives. Also the ending fell flat for me. I feel like I seen it coming a mile away and was just really hoping for something to knock my socks off after the lead up. I was pretty disappointed with the ending but nonetheless the book kept me reeled in for 85% of it. I just thought it would have ended with more of a bang.
shanice93's review against another edition
4.0
really enjoyed this book although every book of his i have read so far i have enjoyed. got through it quite quickly was easy to read and hard to put down.
ryneb's review against another edition
2.0
Most of us have fantasies, but I'm willing to bet that we normally don't want to publish them in novel form. But it seems like Richard Laymon has no problem expressing his deviant sexual wishes in Blood Games, a novel about five post-college women who explore the woods, a cabin, and themselves on a camping excursion to a supposedly haunted lodge. Laymon's protagonists are women, and he writes from the perspective of a woman - not strange, and many authors have done it well. But Laymon writes as though he watched a bunch of lesbian porn before and while penning the novel, then thought mimicking those films would be the most realistic plot device for his book.
The story follows Abilene, a young woman who accompanies her five friends into the woods for a reunion visit. Those friends are Finley, Helen, Cora, and Vivian, her college buddies who have decided that exploring a haunted lodge alone is their idea of fun. They spend a lot of their time swimming in pools, taking hikes, and stripping naked in front of each other before they realize that there's a killer watching them in the woods, just waiting to stab them in their nether regions with knives.
The first thing that most readers will notice about Blood Games is that it's written with male readers in mind. These girls have no problems taking their clothes off in front of each other, having sex orgies with each other, or filming each other in the shower. The eroticism apparent in these encounters isn't as sexy as it might seem - Laymon's prose feels lecherous, as though he's an old man writing about what he hopes college girls do with each other when they're at home alone. Their excuse for stripping off their clothes is about as detailed as "it's hot outside." Well, New York just went through a heat wave and I've yet to see any bare chests.
Still, the lesbian tendencies Laymon throws can be overlooked if there's a good story. But that's the problem - the girls' naked romps through the woods basically is the story. At about 500 pages, Blood Games is 40% dedicated to the girls' revenge on people in college, their treks through the woods, and the shapes of their bodies when they get naked to go swimming. This Girls Gone Wild approach doesn't really work that well - not only is it unbelievable, it's also boring. Laymon spends way too much time with overly detailed passages about walking in the woods or eating hot dogs, as though he had an agreement with his publisher to hit a certain page count.
And this is coming from a person who generally likes Laymon's work. There's just too much filler and not enough real action; then again, most of the action comes from passages like, "She was sweaty so she let her boobs hang out." (Laymon's a little more verbose than that.) What's worse though is the weird character developments late in the book. I just don't buy the fact that one of these women will seduce and strip a minor, then commit statutory rape in front of her friends. But I really don't buy the notion that the other girls might think this is normal and want to join in too!
Heed the warnings of the other reviewers that have read this book - Blood Games is a book you'll want to skip. It's like playing an endless game of Monopoly with a bunch of porn directors - and your grandfather.
Written for TheMoonisaDeadWorld.net
The story follows Abilene, a young woman who accompanies her five friends into the woods for a reunion visit. Those friends are Finley, Helen, Cora, and Vivian, her college buddies who have decided that exploring a haunted lodge alone is their idea of fun. They spend a lot of their time swimming in pools, taking hikes, and stripping naked in front of each other before they realize that there's a killer watching them in the woods, just waiting to stab them in their nether regions with knives.
The first thing that most readers will notice about Blood Games is that it's written with male readers in mind. These girls have no problems taking their clothes off in front of each other, having sex orgies with each other, or filming each other in the shower. The eroticism apparent in these encounters isn't as sexy as it might seem - Laymon's prose feels lecherous, as though he's an old man writing about what he hopes college girls do with each other when they're at home alone. Their excuse for stripping off their clothes is about as detailed as "it's hot outside." Well, New York just went through a heat wave and I've yet to see any bare chests.
Still, the lesbian tendencies Laymon throws can be overlooked if there's a good story. But that's the problem - the girls' naked romps through the woods basically is the story. At about 500 pages, Blood Games is 40% dedicated to the girls' revenge on people in college, their treks through the woods, and the shapes of their bodies when they get naked to go swimming. This Girls Gone Wild approach doesn't really work that well - not only is it unbelievable, it's also boring. Laymon spends way too much time with overly detailed passages about walking in the woods or eating hot dogs, as though he had an agreement with his publisher to hit a certain page count.
And this is coming from a person who generally likes Laymon's work. There's just too much filler and not enough real action; then again, most of the action comes from passages like, "She was sweaty so she let her boobs hang out." (Laymon's a little more verbose than that.) What's worse though is the weird character developments late in the book. I just don't buy the fact that one of these women will seduce and strip a minor, then commit statutory rape in front of her friends. But I really don't buy the notion that the other girls might think this is normal and want to join in too!
Heed the warnings of the other reviewers that have read this book - Blood Games is a book you'll want to skip. It's like playing an endless game of Monopoly with a bunch of porn directors - and your grandfather.
Written for TheMoonisaDeadWorld.net
the_bookubus's review against another edition
4.0
A group of five twenty-somethings meet up for a week's holiday - their annual tradition since graduating college together. This year is horror fan Helen's turn to choose the destination and they arrive at an abandoned lodge in the middle of nowhere. The reason for it having gone out of business was due to a massacre that took place there several years ago. As the friends explore they discover that maybe the place isn't completely abandoned...
This was my first Laymon novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I know he has many fans but I also hear some negative things about his work such as the portrayal of his female characters. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a group of five well-written female characters here who were unique and well fleshed out with detailed back stories. Sure they also got naked quite frequently but it is fiction and entertaining fiction at that.
The novel includes flashback chapters throughout the story so we learn how the five characters met, how their friendship developed, and the crazy antics that they get up to over the years. I loved the friendship aspect of the story and I loved getting to know the characters, it really made me feel for them and so when some creepy stuff starts to occur I actually cared what would happen to them.
This is much more of a character driven story than I was expecting but it is also fast-paced and entertaining with some excellent moments of tension and bloodshed. My only real gripes were a few outdated attitudes including the references to the size and weight of one of the characters, and also the way an androgynous character was referred to. I believe these are unfortunate products of the time this was written.
I don't want to say too much more about this one as it would end up spoiling things but I do recommend it if you're looking for a horror novel set in a remote location with some badass female characters. There are also quite a few horror references throughout which I thought was really fun. I look forward to reading more Laymon!
This was my first Laymon novel and I thoroughly enjoyed it! I know he has many fans but I also hear some negative things about his work such as the portrayal of his female characters. So I was pleasantly surprised to find a group of five well-written female characters here who were unique and well fleshed out with detailed back stories. Sure they also got naked quite frequently but it is fiction and entertaining fiction at that.
The novel includes flashback chapters throughout the story so we learn how the five characters met, how their friendship developed, and the crazy antics that they get up to over the years. I loved the friendship aspect of the story and I loved getting to know the characters, it really made me feel for them and so when some creepy stuff starts to occur I actually cared what would happen to them.
This is much more of a character driven story than I was expecting but it is also fast-paced and entertaining with some excellent moments of tension and bloodshed. My only real gripes were a few outdated attitudes including the references to the size and weight of one of the characters, and also the way an androgynous character was referred to. I believe these are unfortunate products of the time this was written.
I don't want to say too much more about this one as it would end up spoiling things but I do recommend it if you're looking for a horror novel set in a remote location with some badass female characters. There are also quite a few horror references throughout which I thought was really fun. I look forward to reading more Laymon!
thosedarkpages's review against another edition
1.0
I'll start off by saying that this read was an IMMENSE struggle to finish; a real 'Why am I doing this to myself?!' slog. To begin with, the length of time it took to establish any of the characters + their stories was entirely too long. Some of their antics/prior histories were mildly entertaining, whilst others I had minute or no interest in.
I'm honestly not really sure what else to say as I took so so little away from this read. But as a small, final comment: this was my first Laymon read and it will certainly be my last.
I'm honestly not really sure what else to say as I took so so little away from this read. But as a small, final comment: this was my first Laymon read and it will certainly be my last.
bookmonkey98's review
1.0
Wow. I thought about 2 stars, but this was soooo pointless and lame. At least the twist at the end of island was sick and kind of funny. This was boring with the only surprises being nonsensical ones. nothing you wanted explained was explained. The flashbacks went nowhere. Just bad.
jjtrippy's review
I absolutely adored this book the first time I read it but, on the second read, it was not as good. I just couldn't get into it the second time around. I thought the characters didn't really develop throughout the book. It was a good book...just not as a multi-read.
ryneb's review
2.0
Most of us have fantasies, but I'm willing to bet that we normally don't want to publish them in novel form. But it seems like Richard Laymon has no problem expressing his deviant sexual wishes in Blood Games, a novel about five post-college women who explore the woods, a cabin, and themselves on a camping excursion to a supposedly haunted lodge. Laymon's protagonists are women, and he writes from the perspective of a woman - not strange, and many authors have done it well. But Laymon writes as though he watched a bunch of lesbian porn before and while penning the novel, then thought mimicking those films would be the most realistic plot device for his book.
The story follows Abilene, a young woman who accompanies her five friends into the woods for a reunion visit. Those friends are Finley, Helen, Cora, and Vivian, her college buddies who have decided that exploring a haunted lodge alone is their idea of fun. They spend a lot of their time swimming in pools, taking hikes, and stripping naked in front of each other before they realize that there's a killer watching them in the woods, just waiting to stab them in their nether regions with knives.
The first thing that most readers will notice about Blood Games is that it's written with male readers in mind. These girls have no problems taking their clothes off in front of each other, having sex orgies with each other, or filming each other in the shower. The eroticism apparent in these encounters isn't as sexy as it might seem - Laymon's prose feels lecherous, as though he's an old man writing about what he hopes college girls do with each other when they're at home alone. Their excuse for stripping off their clothes is about as detailed as "it's hot outside." Well, New York just went through a heat wave and I've yet to see any bare chests.
Still, the lesbian tendencies Laymon throws can be overlooked if there's a good story. But that's the problem - the girls' naked romps through the woods basically is the story. At about 500 pages, Blood Games is 40% dedicated to the girls' revenge on people in college, their treks through the woods, and the shapes of their bodies when they get naked to go swimming. This Girls Gone Wild approach doesn't really work that well - not only is it unbelievable, it's also boring. Laymon spends way too much time with overly detailed passages about walking in the woods or eating hot dogs, as though he had an agreement with his publisher to hit a certain page count.
And this is coming from a person who generally likes Laymon's work. There's just too much filler and not enough real action; then again, most of the action comes from passages like, "She was sweaty so she let her boobs hang out." (Laymon's a little more verbose than that.) What's worse though is the weird character developments late in the book. I just don't buy the fact that one of these women will seduce and strip a minor, then commit statutory rape in front of her friends. But I really don't buy the notion that the other girls might think this is normal and want to join in too!
Heed the warnings of the other reviewers that have read this book - Blood Games is a book you'll want to skip. It's like playing an endless game of Monopoly with a bunch of porn directors - and your grandfather.
Written for TheMoonisaDeadWorld.net
The story follows Abilene, a young woman who accompanies her five friends into the woods for a reunion visit. Those friends are Finley, Helen, Cora, and Vivian, her college buddies who have decided that exploring a haunted lodge alone is their idea of fun. They spend a lot of their time swimming in pools, taking hikes, and stripping naked in front of each other before they realize that there's a killer watching them in the woods, just waiting to stab them in their nether regions with knives.
The first thing that most readers will notice about Blood Games is that it's written with male readers in mind. These girls have no problems taking their clothes off in front of each other, having sex orgies with each other, or filming each other in the shower. The eroticism apparent in these encounters isn't as sexy as it might seem - Laymon's prose feels lecherous, as though he's an old man writing about what he hopes college girls do with each other when they're at home alone. Their excuse for stripping off their clothes is about as detailed as "it's hot outside." Well, New York just went through a heat wave and I've yet to see any bare chests.
Still, the lesbian tendencies Laymon throws can be overlooked if there's a good story. But that's the problem - the girls' naked romps through the woods basically is the story. At about 500 pages, Blood Games is 40% dedicated to the girls' revenge on people in college, their treks through the woods, and the shapes of their bodies when they get naked to go swimming. This Girls Gone Wild approach doesn't really work that well - not only is it unbelievable, it's also boring. Laymon spends way too much time with overly detailed passages about walking in the woods or eating hot dogs, as though he had an agreement with his publisher to hit a certain page count.
And this is coming from a person who generally likes Laymon's work. There's just too much filler and not enough real action; then again, most of the action comes from passages like, "She was sweaty so she let her boobs hang out." (Laymon's a little more verbose than that.) What's worse though is the weird character developments late in the book. I just don't buy the fact that one of these women will seduce and strip a minor, then commit statutory rape in front of her friends. But I really don't buy the notion that the other girls might think this is normal and want to join in too!
Heed the warnings of the other reviewers that have read this book - Blood Games is a book you'll want to skip. It's like playing an endless game of Monopoly with a bunch of porn directors - and your grandfather.
Written for TheMoonisaDeadWorld.net