Rating: 
Summary: Pure schmaltz
Review: Richard Laymon spent thirty plus years churning out horror novels and short stories. More popular in England than in the United States, he nonetheless has millions of fans on both sides of the pond, fans that rabidly search out everything he ever wrote. His sudden death in 2001, from a heart attack, permanently robbed his readers of new Richard Laymon novels and stories. Leisure, an imprint of Dorchester Publishing, recognized a few years ago that they could make a bundle of money if they reprinted Laymon's novels and released them in the States. Thus we see a "new" Laymon novel arrive every six months or so. I've talked to fans of this author who adamantly insist that Richard Laymon deserves to sit beside none other than Stephen King or Dean Koontz as one of the most influential horror authors of the twentieth century. Being a serious fan of horror I decided a couple of years ago to check out this phenom of the genre. I read "In the Dark," a lengthy novel about a mild mannered librarian who takes part in a sinister game created by a mysterious entity. The fact that I waited two full years before reading another Laymon novel, in this case "Body Rides," should tell you what I think about his work. In my opinion (based on two novels and one short story), Richard Laymon is the most overrated author of recent times."Body Rides" is the story of one Neal Darden, a part time substitute teacher and part time screenwriter living in Los Angeles, California in the mid 1990's. One night on the way to drop off some tapes at the local video store, Darden hears a woman's cries for help emanating from a densely wooded back lot. Leery of interfering in a dangerous situation, Neal nevertheless decides to pull out his illegal handgun and act the part of the hero. After our newfound savior pumps a few pills in a very bad man, he rescues one Elise Waters, a former Olympic diving champion and the wife of Hollywood B movie actor Vince Conrad. Waters, extremely grateful for Darden's heroics, gives the man a very special gift as payment for saving her life. It's a bracelet, a gold bracelet imbued with magical properties that allow the wearer to "body ride" in another living person. The user of this trinket can actually enter another body and see, feel, taste, touch, and hear the thoughts of that particular person, all without that individual knowing anything about it. Sounds great, huh? Well, it is a great idea. The first 100 pages crackle with suspense as Neal saves Elise only to lose her to the very man he thought he killed. Too bad Laymon spends the next 400 pages botching such a wonderful concept. I'll give Laymon some credit; he's a great writer in the technical sense. His sentences flow together gracefully, he knows how to write scenery, and he has a dark sense of humor that occasionally leaps off the page. The problems, and there are a ton of them in "Body Rides," sadly overwhelm the positives. I laughed out loud when Laymon writes that the two movies Darden returns to the video store, "Straw Dogs" and "I Spit on Your Grave," are his protagonist's favorite films, films that he wanted to show his girlfriend Marta. Now, if you have seen these films you know that both contain brutal scenes of rape. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't show my girlfriend these movies let alone tell her they sit at the top of my cinematic favorites list. An instance of that famed Laymon sense of humor, perhaps? Maybe. Or maybe the author has no sense of how weird this sounds. I could probably forgive this eyebrow-raising incident if the book wasn't plagued from top to bottom with completely unbelievable situations and continuity errors. If you think for a second that Marta's reaction and subsequent actions in response to Sue's and Neal's sudden relationship is a valid one, you need to seek help immediately. Only a guy who knows absolutely nothing about women would think this completely idiotic scenario would fly. The worst, and I do mean worst, part of the book is Neal Darden. For lack of a better term, Neal Darden is a wimp; a knock kneed, simpering, yellow-bellied wimp. I don't buy for a minute that Darden would jump out of his car and plunge into a dangerous situation, not after reading several pages describing his abject fear about wandering the streets of L.A. at night. Even worse, he cries at the drop of a hat. Laymon is forever telling us how Neal's eyes are welling up, or hot with tears, or some such touchy feely nonsense. This guy's a veritable bawl box. What woman would ever want to associate with a man who cries constantly? He's not sensitive; he's over sensitive and it is annoying as all get out. I could go on and on with the problems I had with this book: the schmaltzy ending so drenched in feel good, saccharine sweet aw shucks sentimentality that it made we want to retch, the nearly 300 pages of filler in the middle of the book that served no purpose to the overall story, and the superficial execution of the plot. As odd as it sounds, I probably would read another Laymon novel. "In the Dark," for all its myriad flaws (mainly a banal conclusion), was a better read than "Body Rides." I do think a few good Richard Laymon novels exist out there; I just haven't found one yet. In the meantime, I strongly recommend you give this one a pass. It's too long, too full of unrealistic situations, and not nearly horrific enough to rate as a real horror novel.
Rating: 
Summary: What would you do with the ability to read minds?
Review: That's Neal's question. After all, when he saved a woman from a sadistic killer (in the process, shooting the man four times) his reward was a bracelet that allows him to transport part of himself into another person......"body ride". But that's not all Neal has to worry about. Because, you see, that sadist killer is really hard to kill. After taking four bullets, he's still bloodthirsty. First, he finishes off the woman. Then, he goes after Neal, and everyone Neal loves. A gripping suspense thriller in Laymon's usual sadisticly-edged style, "Body Rides" will keep you turning pages. Aside from the unnecessary plot-twist near the end, this book is one of Laymon's best--and that's saying a lot. "Body Rides" by Richard Laymon is a horrific treat. Treat yourself.
Rating:
Summary: Body Rides
Review: The book was totally awesome. It was definantly a page turner and you certainly didn't want to put it down. The only bad thing about the book was the ending. It was a little surprising and disapointing but, it happens.
Rating: 
Summary: Body Rides
Review: The plot is different, I'll give Laymon that. It was a cool idea to have a bracelet where you can go body-hopping any time you want. The execution fell a little flat but overall the premise was good. As the back blurb reads, Neal gets sidetracked one night returning video tapes with a man torturing and murdering a gorgeous female. Putting on an act of bravery, he shoots the man, captures the woman, and saves the day. The ending should have him walking off with whistles and high fives shouldn't it? Things go wrong when something else tragic happens, and soon Neal ends up getting other people mixed up in his mess. Things go from bad to ugly to worse as he and his accomplices try to track down the man before he finds them first. The plot is interesting in many ways, and the characters are likeable to a degree. Many of the scenes are tense and nail-biting, and there is a sense of "us against them" going down. Laymon writes BEAUTIFULLY. His words are well chosen, his sentences flow together perfectly, his dialogue real, and the rhythm of his work is exceptional. If only the pace and plot of this one had been worked on more. However, a lot of emphasis is placed on sex. Now, while I usually don't mind that and enjoy sex in my books -- there was a bit too much here to where it took away from the plot. Tension scenes were broken up to remove pants, character interaction was a little muddled as someone else got horny yet again, and things became a little too unrealistic and akin to soft porn.
Rating:
Summary: Thrilling and Unique
Review: Unlike Stephen King, Richard Laymon knows how to write an ending. This book is a little slow in the middle, but the beginning is like riding a rocket. I was reading at lightning speed and had the biggest grin on my face. Laymon's books are just so much fun! Extremely gory, sexually graphic, and refreshingly unpredictable, BODY RIDES is among the best of his books (IN THE DARK, ISLAND, NO SANCTUARY are just a few). If I was ever stranded on an island and allowed to read only one author, Richard Laymon would be the one.
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