Night in the Lonesome October: Heartbreak leads to a sinister after-dark journey - Softcover

Laymon, Richard

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0747258309 ISBN 13: 9780747258308

Publisher: Feature, 2001

Synopsis

'If you've missed Laymon, you've missed a treat' Stephen King

Ed Logan is 20 years old and a sophomore at Willmington University. He's also been dumped by his girlfriend. Lonesome and broken-hearted, he goes for a late-night walk. He doesn't know where he's headed. He doesn't know what he's going to do when he gets there. And he has absolutely no idea of the strange people he is about to meet. Like Casey, the athletic blonde who roams the streets as if she's on a mission. And then there's Randy, who's definitely on a mission - to make Ed's life hell. And then there's the others. Not exactly people. And very definitely not friendly. If Ed's not careful, he's not going to make it home at all...

About this title

Product Description:

A haunting novel of love, loss...and flesh-eating trolls, from the undisputed master of the macabre

Review:

Night in the Lonesome October is the first book published since the death of author Richard Laymon, and it is ironic that this is among his richest and most atmospheric pieces.

Laymon's hero Ed Logan is brimming with anticipation for his second year at Willmington University. He's been missing Holly, who he fell in love with the previous year. But when Ed returns to campus, Holly doesn't. He receives a letter which destroys his hopes--she has fallen in love with another man, and won't be coming back. Virtually destroyed by the news, Ed struggles to study and even to sleep. Leaving his apartment one night for a walk, he finds that he has moved into what might almost be a different world: there are others out on the streets--are they human, these figures who hide in the shadows? Certainly, the prey they seek is marked for a grisly end. Needless to say, Ed becomes involved with these sinister figures, particularly a mystery girl who will change his life.

The fashion in which Laymon insinuates these otherworldly elements into the otherwise normal world of his hero is brilliantly done, with Ed's distraught emotional state seeming to act as a catalyst. In all the best horror tales, the hero is not just menaced by nameless evil, but becomes inextricably involved with it. That is certainly the case here, and the attention paid to his central character is just as rewarding as the horror set pieces:

I swept the beam a small distance to the left. Near the far end of its reach, it dimly illuminated a low, squatting circle of men. Hairy, filthy, bloody. All of them looking at us. Chewing. Blood spilling from their mouths...

--Barry Forshaw

About this edition

• Publisher: Feature
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0747258309
• ISBN 13: 9780747258308
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 480