Rating: 
Summary: Pretty average fare from a master horror novelist
Review: While certainly not an uninteresting novel, "Blood Games" is not a book that showcases the talent of the late horror writer Richard Laymon. One of Laymon's earlier works (even though published late in his career), "Blood Games" doesn't quite have the edge and sheer terror that most of Laymon's later novels contained. Oh, don't get me wrong, there's plenty of the Laymon trademarks - great characters, gore, nudity, and sex, but it's just not as polished and fast-paced as his later books.The book deals with the annual reunion of 5 college friends who see themselves as the "Daring Young Maids". Each year one of the friends picks the location for the getaway and the girls take it from there. The choice that is made just happens to be a deserted lodge set in the proverbial "out-in-the-middle-of- nowhere". And to sweeten the setting of the plot, the lodge is also the site of a past brutal slaughtering of a large number of guests. It doesn't take the reader long to see where this story is headed. Laymon, as usual, is great in the area of character development and he certainly does that well in this book. He uses flashbacks throughout the novel to give the reader a greater depth of the personalities of the 5 friends. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge the character of Batty, a strange old coot who lives near the lodge. This character is one of Laymon's best and oddest creations. As most Laymon fans will attest, it's often been said that the man can't write a bad book. I would definitely agree with that statement. But, that being said, if you a new fan of Laymon's, this reviewer would recommend that you start with some of his other books such as "Midnight Lair", "Funland", "The Beast House", "Beware", or "The Woods Are Dark", to really get an appreciation of his talent. You can't go wrong with any of those novels!
Rating: 
Summary: Solid entry in the Laymon catalogue
Review: With the publication of Blood Games, Leisure Horror continues its tradition of releasing the finest of the lost Richard Laymon titles. Originally published by the U.K. publisher Headline Feature in 1992, Blood Games is a great example of the kind of quality horror thrillers Dick used to write in the early 90's that earned him a sizeable cult following in Britain, Australia and Canada but that were sadly unpublished and mostly ignored in his native country. The story centers around 5 old college friends; Abilene, Vivian, Cora, Finley and Helen. Now in their mid-twenties, these five woman now live in separate parts of the country but once a year they leave their loved ones temporarily behind and all get together for a week's adventure in a location that each year one of them must choose. This year, their third adventure, it's Helen's turn to choose. Helen, a fat girl with a taste for horror, chooses The Totem Pole Lodge in rural Vermont, an abandoned former vacation spot with a sinister past. As they settle into the lodge, the girls soon discover that the lodge and its surrounding grounds are not as deserted as they thought. For there is a maniac lurking in the woods behind the lodge. A maniac who salivates at the thought of plunging his knife into each one of these beautiful former co-eds. But not before having his fun with them first... As with all Laymon books, this is an extremely fast read. The characters are so well drawn that you'll feel you know them by the end of the story. Throughout the novel, Laymon effectively employs the use of flashbacks as a device for the reader to become more familiar with each character and the history behind their friendship. We get to read about their initial meeting in a shower room during their freshman year of college and about their various mishaps all the way up to their senior years. We also get to read flashbacks about their first two yearly vacations, one of them in New York City, the other along the coast of Northern California where, in an unforgettable sequence a couple of the girls meet and seduce a lone traveling surfer. Although these flashbacks really have nothing to do with the denouement of the present-time story, they are simply fascinating nonetheless. Blood Games is a book I would highly recommend. Although not a classic, it's a solid entry in the Laymon catalogue that serves as a reminder of how engaging a writer Dick really was. As far as the amount of sex and violence in the novel, it's only about a PG-13 by Laymon's standards. To a Laymon fan, that would usually be a disappointing thing but Blood Games is first and foremost a character study of 5 twenty-something women and how they react when faced with peril. Leisure Horror really is choosing well as far as which of the lost Laymons they are choosing to publish. Up next is "Body Rides" which I've heard is a hoot and a half.
| 
