A review by nick_borrelli
The Stake by Richard Laymon

3.0

Here's the thing about Richard Laymon. He writes AMAZING horror stories. Where he loses me though is in the weird, creepy, and borderline pornographic sex scenes that he injects throughout these amazing horror stories. I would enjoy his books ten times more if the perversion wasn't so pervasive. This had all of the makings of an incredibly entertaining read...a group of adults stumble upon an abandoned hotel while exploring a local ghost town. Inside the hotel they discover a human body with a stake driven into its heart. Is it a vampire? A murder victim? What the hell happened there? Do they remove the stake from the body and if so, what will happen? I was totally into this book and then Richard's weird fascination with sex showed up. And showed up again. And again. And my enjoyment quickly changed to annoyance. Ultimately the story was satisfying and at times was brilliant in the horror aspects. I just couldn't get past the other nonsense though and for that reason, this only gets an average rating for me.