Could this be the worst book ever? (Island - Richard Laymon)

Member Name: Fiver29

Product:	Island - Richard Laymon
Date:	15/07/09 (53 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: None

Disadvantages: Too many to list here

How bad is this book, let me count the ways, how many hours wasted, how many days! (Maybe I shouldn't listen to Meatloaf whilst typing).

Synopsis.

Rupert is invited to a trip away with his girlfriend's family, which consists of Connie (his girlfriend), her two sisters, their husbands and Connie's parents. Whilst they're on the beach of a desert island their boat blows up. At first they think it was Wesley (one of the husbands) who was on the boat smoking, despite petrol fumes leaking onto the boat, who accidentally caused the explosions. But then they are attacked in the night and it's clear that someone is trying to kill them all

My Thoughts

The synopsis sounds great, and it could have made for an absolutely great horror, but sadly Richard Laymon has made it completely unreadable.

The book is written in the strangest manner I've ever encountered, it's written as if Rupert is writing all his thoughts down in a journal, so it's written in the style of a teenager. However, this in itself makes the story unbelievable because Rupert has supposedly written everything that was said and done hours after it happened. And whilst most people have better memories than me, I can't believe that it's possible to be horrified by certain events, yet still be able to remember every swear word uttered.

This leads me onto another bad point about the book, the amount of foul language. I'm no prude, I have been known to swear on occasion myself, but I don't really need to read it in a book, unless the situation warrants it. In this case it doesn't, the foul language just seems to have been included because the author can't think of anything more intelligent to write.

Back to the way it was written for a moment, it would have made more sense if the author had Rupert narrating the story throughout, or if he'd narrated it and had broken it up with extracts from his journal.

Although the book is supposed to be written from Rupert's point of view, I can't help but think that the author has put his own personality into the book. That being one of a misogynist who cannot seem past a woman's physical appearance. I can understand him putting in the beginning that Rupert likes ogling women's breasts, but to go on, and on, and on about it on virtually every single page, I found myself thinking 'yes, we get it, move on please!'

In fact the lack of movement in the story meant that I never actually reached the end it was so bad. I got to about two thirds of the way though and couldn't take anymore. And that is very telling for me, because I am very stubborn and hate being defeated by a mere book, but in this case I felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall.

As a first attempt to move away from the crime genre, it has been a complete failure. All I can say is thank goodness I only paid a penny from the Amazon Marketplace, and even that was a penny too much.

Minus 10*

Summary: Avoid at all costs.