Rating: 
Summary: Fast-paced, not a great ending.
Review: I'm a big Laymon fan, and this book was no disappointment. His books are for fun, and this one delivered. There wasn't too much gore in this one, and it has a couple of nice little love stories thrown in. I gave it a four instead of a five, because the ending isn't that great. But up until then it's a good read.
Rating:
Summary: Darkness, you been told!
Review: I'm not a rabid Laymon fan, but his books are usually a good bet for a fun spooky read. Still, a couple of his novel's have muddled endings. Laymon claimed to write without an outline, and sometimes it showed.
But not this one.
DARKNESS, TELL US is a read that I finished in a sitting. A rollercoaster ride through a house of horrors constructed by axe murdering architects and chainsaw wielding carpenters. It gets deeper and murkier as it goes. There's a bit of the supernatural, in the form of the Ouija board and Butler. Laymon often steers away from this side of things, being kind of finicky about ghosts and the like, but this one has its share. A fun read. I passed it onto my wife, Belinda, which is always a sign of my approval. Buy it. I did, and I didn't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Laymon ¿ Darkness, Tell Us
Review: Laymon's novels are so much fun - this one is no exception. Darkness, Tell Us is similar in nature to my favorite Laymon effort, Island. Take a group of people stranded in a remote camp site in the mountains, add deranged killer and you end up with a perfect vehicle for Laymon's twisted imagination. Darkness, Tell Us is a quick, entertaining read sure to please Laymon fans old and new.
Rating: 
Summary: Somewhere on the scale of 3 or 4 for the "horror master".
Review: Let me qualify this review by saying that I have probably read 12-15 Richard Laymon novels so I feel fairly confident that I can give a fair and honest appraisal of his work. "Darkness, Tell Us, while not near the top of my list, is certainly not a bad book and will have many readers turning the pages rapidly. Laymon sticks to his "tried-and-true" formula of semi-believeable characters involved in unbelieveable plots with plenty of chills, thrills, and gore thrown in.
The setting is a mountainous area far away from civilization that contains a treasure that 6 college students are in search of. The quest begins after the students begin playing around with a Ouija board at the home of one of their professors during their summer break. The Ouija board begins to "speak" to the students and tells them of a great treasure hidden away that no one else knows of. Now being rather gullable college students, the intrepid adventurers set off on a treasure without telling the professor of their intentions. As soon as the professor discovers what has happened, she and her former brother-in-law (and now lover) set after the kids.
The rest of the book is spent in the mountains as the students search for the treasure. Along the way, we learn a little more about each of them as Laymon develops their characters. It's these characters that generate the bulk of my criticism for the novel. There are very few likeable or redeeming qualities present in any of them. The reader is supposed to feel sympathy for a few of them, I suppose (including the overweight and bitter, Doris, and the sexually-abused heroine, Angela), but this reviewer couldn't muster up much empathy for this group. The three males are especially lame and uninteresting. How did this group link up with the extremely unlikeable Keith, and why didn't they knock him off and bury him in the mountains while they had the chance?
This criticism of Laymon is unusual because he normally creates a "hero" that readers can support. The hero in this book, Howie, is an oversexed, hypocritcal milktoast who can't decide his feelings about his new love, Angela. One minute he's enthralled and the next he's imagining another girl (Lana) and the professor naked. Laymon dropped the ball on the characterization of these six which is so unusual because character development is a strength of his writing.
Also included in the novel are the ever-present creeps and ghoulish characters. Both of them in this book are memorable.
If you're a Laymon fan and haven't read "Darkness, Tell Us" yet, them I would certainly recommend that you do so. It is not a BAD book it's just a little below par for Laymon. If you're new to Richard Laymon, then I would suggest that you skip this book and look for some of his earlier works. My recommendations would be:
Beware - 4 stars
The Stake - 4 stars
Bite - 4 stars
Night Show - 4 stars
Island - 4 stars
The Traveling Vampire Show - 5 stars
The Beast Houst series - 5 stars
The Woods Are Dark - 5 stars
Midnight's Lair - 5 stars
Funland (and my personal fav.) - 5 stars
And that's just to name a few. Good luck however, because the older books are becoming increasing more difficult to find as collectors are snatching them up.
Rating:
Summary: Typical Laymon, but that's not a bad thing
Review: Okay, so I've read quite a few of his books now, and I am extremely grateful that I've found a new author who can give me chills & remind me to lock all my doors, and look over my shoulder into the darkness. This may not be one of his best books (Traveling Vampire Show, Endless Night, Island), but I wasn't disappointed in the least. Sure, some of the situations were a little hard to swallow: Why 6 people would ever be so willing to run up into the mountains based on a Ouija board, or the crazy man in the woods, or what Angela finds in the cave. Just things that weren't really making a lot of sense to me, but I still read the book, still loved the book, and when I was finished, I was disappointed it was over. I enjoy the campy, light style of Laymon's writing. I love the sex, the gore, and the outrageous plots. I've read every Dean Koontz's book, and Laymon is no Koontz...but I don't expect him to be. I'm amazed that he wrote so many books during the course of his career, and that he couldn't find an audience here in the States. How ironic that he's gaining an American audience, but no longer here to enjoy it. There are so many books out there, and I look forward to getting a chance to read them all.
Rating:
Summary: Suspensful as ever, but lacking in reality.
Review: Okay: you've heard of an Ouija board, haven't you? That's the thing you use to communicate with dead spirits. Anyway, six college students come across one, and say, what the hell, let's try it out. So when they do, they come into contact with a spirit named Butler, who promises a fortune somewhere in the moutnains. His messages are cryptic, but the students figure again, what the hell, they'll go looking for the gold.Their professor is against it, of course, and so is her lover, but hey, the students are young and rebellious. So they go into the mountains. Now there're a few complications in their search: one of the students has a past that literally comes back to haunt them; the professor, guilt-driven, heads into the mountains to find them; and oh, yes, there's a maniac with a really big knife. Okay, so it's not too realistic; not that any horror novel ever is. However, Laymon usually manages to convince us that yes, indeed, those vampires are out there. This novel lacks that power to convince, but hey, it IS suspensful, and it is a gory ride. Richard Laymon always thrills; "Darkness, Tell Us," is no exception. Dig in; you might find the treasure...or you might find a maniac with a knife.
Rating:
Summary: 3 AND 1/2 STARS
Review: This book started out terrifying. The initial setup is so creepy, I ended up turning all the lights on in my house. However, things get tied up a little too easily at the end and the scares are few and far between. It's a good, fast read, but not nearly Laymon's best. Stick with IN THE DARK or ISLAND.
Rating:
Summary: Not quite as good as island
Review: This is a really good Richard Laymon good, but i recommend Island. This book you know what happens sometimes, but sometimes u r completley surprised. If yo want a good read, i recommend THE FACE by Dean Koontz, this one and Island
Rating: 
Summary: LAME LAYMON
Review: This is my first Richard Laymon book and though I won't argue with those who feel he's one of horror's masters, this book certainly didn't fit the bill in my opinion. Why?
*The six college students are basically self-serving, obnoxious, inconsiderate, and bland.
*Howard who at first tells us he's in love with his professor, then falls for the quiet, nerdish Angela, all the while marveling over the breasts of Lana.
*Doris, the chubby outcast, is abused, abusing and unpredictable. Laymon never fully lets us know what he had intended with her.
*Where in the world did the musclebound g-stringed machete man come from? Why was he living in a cave? Who the heck is he?
*What's all this garbage at the end that comes out of nowhere?
*Slow, slow pacing; repetitive dialogue.
*I did like Chad and Corrie's relationship, but even it stretched the lines of credibility.
This book didn't make me think; didn't really scare me; and except for its' gratuitously gory ending, provided no real shocks.
Not one of my favorites, for sure.
Rating:
Summary: LAME LAYMON
Review: This is my first Richard Laymon book and though I won't argue with those who feel he's one of horror's masters, this book certainly didn't fit the bill in my opinion. Why?
*The six college students are basically self-serving, obnoxious, inconsiderate, and bland.
*Howard who at first tells us he's in love with his professor, then falls for the quiet, nerdish Angela, all the while marveling over the breasts of Lana.
*Doris, the chubby outcast, is abused, abusing and unpredictable. Laymon never fully lets us know what he had intended with her.
*Where in the world did the musclebound g-stringed machete man come from? Why was he living in a cave? Who the heck is he?
*What's all this garbage at the end that comes out of nowhere?
*Slow, slow pacing; repetitive dialogue.
*I did like Chad and Corrie's relationship, but even it stretched the lines of credibility.
This book didn't make me think; didn't really scare me; and except for its' gratuitously gory ending, provided no real shocks.
Not one of my favorites, for sure.
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