Rating: 
Summary: Characters Are Too Accepting
Review: Another fine story from the mind of Richard Laymon. While spooky and unpredictable, I felt there was something missing from the characters. The story centers around a group of students who play with a Ouija board at a party. They were way too easily convinced that the Ouija board truly worked.The entity communicating through the board convinces the group that there is "loot" hidden in a mine on a secluded mountain. The group decides to go for it and steals the board from their professor (the one hosting the party). Once the professor realizes what has happened, she sets out in pursuit as she has had bad dealings with the board. What follows is a fun and fast-moving tale and one of a series that has me convinced that Richard Laymon does not like the woods. Many surprises and tense moments wrap the character development until the story resolves in unexpected ways. Definitely a good book for Laymon fans although it is not his strongest. But, as with many Laymon books, we do see just how thin a line there is between civilized and horrible.
Rating:
Summary: Characters Are Too Accepting
Review: Another fine story from the mind of Richard Laymon. While spooky and unpredictable, I felt there was something missing from the characters. The story centers around a group of students who play with a Ouija board at a party. They were way too easily convinced that the Ouija board truly worked. The entity communicating through the board convinces the group that there is "loot" hidden in a mine on a secluded mountain. The group decides to go for it and steals the board from their professor (the one hosting the party). Once the professor realizes what has happened, she sets out in pursuit as she has had bad dealings with the board. What follows is a fun and fast-moving tale and one of a series that has me convinced that Richard Laymon does not like the woods. Many surprises and tense moments wrap the character development until the story resolves in unexpected ways. Definitely a good book for Laymon fans although it is not his strongest. But, as with many Laymon books, we do see just how thin a line there is between civilized and horrible.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad for Laymon
Review: Boring. Thats the only way to discripe this awful novel. Boring. It started alright, with six kids and a teacher contacting the dead with an ouiji board. A quest for treasure, alone in the woods. Sounds creepy, right?
Wrong. I have never been so bored with a horror novel. The villans were awful, the dialog second rate, and no suspense. The usual Laymon trademarks were a little shallow.
The Travling Vampire Show was creepy and great. Island was a funny blast. In The Dark was chock full of suspense. Pass this one up.
Rating: 
Summary: Authorship Not Questioned
Review: Contrary to the somewhat ill-informed review by Publisher's Weekly, there is no question as to whether or not Richard Laymon wrote _Darkness, Tell Us_. It is also not a previously "unseen" novel left gathering dust after his untimely death. _Darkness, Tell Us_, like many other Laymon titles, saw publication in Britain while Laymon was very much still alive. _Darkness..._ was first published in 1991 by Headline Book Publishing. The novel, pretty typical of Laymon's work with all of his various strengths and weaknesses, is just now being published in the US. Laymon fans in the US, hopefully, can look forward to a number of other previously published in Britain Laymon titles finally being released in the States.
Rating: 
Summary: Keep Away from the Ouija Board
Review: Corine Dalton, a college English professor, invites some students over to celebrate the end of the semester. They find an old Ouija board, one that gave Corine and her dead police officer husband some bad messages before his untimely passing. Nevertheless, they use the board and contact Butler, a spirit who offers to show the kids where to find a treasure and they take off after it. Corine feels responsible so she takes off after the kids. Lots of sex, blood and gore in this typical Laymonesque fun ride and as always it's Richard Laymon's skill with words and characterization that keep us intrigued, keep us turning the pages. I loved it. I wish he was still with us, so he could write more just like it. Five Stars. Reviewed by Stephanie Sane
Rating:
Summary: Swing and a miss....
Review: First off, let me say that I'm a big Laymon fan. I came across this book on a book display, and bought it with eagnerness and looking forward to enjoy a Laymon book. This isn't one of his better books, as a matter of fact, it was one of my least favorite of his. The plot is interesting. A group of college students break out an ouija board and make contact with a ghost named Butler. This ghost promises them a great treausre if they just do what the ghost tells them to. I don't want to give much more out, but let's just say that things don't end the way the college kids think it will. I had a few problems with this book. 1) The characters. Most of them were annoying. I honestly don't think that people would act the way the the charcaters did in the book. 2) The writing. The doalouge wasn't true to everyday people either. I just can't believe that people would talk that way. 3) The conversatations weren't true to life. I mean, there was 2 1/2 pages of charcaters talking if they should go to the bathroom. 4)The conclusion. It was a major let down. I think Darkess, Tell Us, could have been a wodnerful book. Notice I said "could have". If you like Laymon as much as I do, try and find the book in a used bookstore.
Rating:
Summary: This book is terrific.
Review: I can't say enough about this book. I've read it twice now, and it held up even through the second read. The characters are engaging, the pacing never leaves you bored, and the story idea is awesome. The wilderness is a scary place to begin with, but after reading this book, I won't be camping for a while. Okay, so maybe that's an exaggeration, but still, this book is a great example of what Laymon does best - he hooks you with characters you can actually care about, and then he does horrible horrible things to them that only work to make you care about them even more. I'm a great big Richard Laymon fan, and this is one of my favorites. Please read this book, you won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Not the best Laymon
Review: I just finished reading this novel. I like Richard Laymon, even though I usually leave his books with a bad taste in my mouth.
This was no exception. I thought the characters were extremely flat, the maniac in the woods has no bearing really on the loot - unless he really killed Angela's mother and not Charlie. I was unclear. I just think it could have been better thought out, and creepier. It seemed like Laymon was exhausted of all his creepy resources, and let this one go.
*I'll feel pretty bad if he had died before he finished it and someone fleshed it out for him - may he R.I.P.*
Rating:
Summary: An Apt Legacy
Review: I must swallow some pride,and humbly admit I hadn't heard of Laymon's demise until I read the editorial review for this book. Right away I state I don't believe this is his best work, but his passing in 2001 lends it an exrta eerie factor. The novel revolves around (as in most cases with Laymon's books many things) but here primarily a group of College Students, playing with a Ouija board one night, and deciding to take a trip to find the treasure it referred to in its message to them. Laymon's character's are realistically realized, and I'm consistently amazed how well he writes young people. As I stated I would not claim this to be his best work, yet it has his trademarked bluntness (note not neccesarily gore) in describing human horrors blended with occultism and the supernatural. Laymon wrote each book I've read with the consistent unflinching manner, Darkness Tell Us is no Exception. There were parts overtly disturbing yet the reader(me in any case) is compelled to gulp fresh air and read on anxious to discover where the dark path Laymon leads us along will take us, and if there's any light at the end of the journey.
One peer/reviewer wrote He is King or Koontz without a conscience, and this novel again demonstrates how accurate that description is may he rest in more peace than some of his characters(and readers no doubt) have after finsishing a work by a genuine Horror scribe of the first order.
Rating:
Summary: I think I am done with Laymon
Review: I read the entire book. That in itself keeps it from getting the worse review of one star, reserved for books so horrible I can't even finish but that is pretty much the only compliment I can give this book. This is the second Laymon book I have read (the first was Traveling Vampire Show) and his writing, to put it simply, just isn't that good. In the two books I have read it takes forever for anything worth while to happen and the dialouge is really bad. Also, I get this creepy oversexed old man feelings from his writing. It seems like he gets his rocks off writing ON EVERY PAGE about what sex thoughts the characters are thinking. Sex in a book is no big deal but do I need to read throughout the book that when a person moves "their skirt climbed up and I can see their skin....ohh man it's so nice and I am sooo hot".... That's basically the jist of his writing right there. None of the characters were particularly likable and I really didn't care or have any emotion invested in the ending at all, which ended pretty cheesy in my opinion. I put this guy in the same category I put Bently Little, the hack category. I am sure high school kids who haven't read much in their lives get kicks out of the 'naughty' writing and predictable events in the book but I think I'll go back to real suspense, horror and sci-fi authors like Philip Dick, Straub, F. Paul Wilson, CHUCK PALAHNIUK, BRET EASTON ELLIS, H. P. Lovecraft, Bradbury, Dan Simmons, McCammon and others rather than this junk. I advise you to do the same.
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