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lcourage's review against another edition
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
lovelydeadgirl's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Rape
painkiller's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
narzack's review against another edition
2.0
Eh, kinda generic. I am rating it a two, but I read the ebook via the Libby app, so I'm not sure if it was just that particular formatting that made the book hard to parse chronology in parts
modernzorker's review against another edition
3.0
Not much happens in Oasis, Arizona, and that's just the way Lacey Allen likes it. Born and raised there, Lacey left only to get her English Lit degree, then returned home to a job as a reporter for the local paper. Oasis is one of those small towns where a minor fender-bender at the stop light makes front page news despite everyone else in town knowing about it before the print can dry.
Unfortunately for the quiet rural community, evil has come to Oasis. It's settled in Hoffman's Market, but it's not content to stay there. First, a passing couple are accosted by a hurled meat cleaver. Then a German Shepherd, loaned out as a guard dog, is butchered like a spring lamb. The owner and her friend are next: boned, jointed, and wrapped in cellophane for the police to find the next day. What started as a case of theft and vandalism turned into the most brutal murder anyone in the community can remember.
Now the evil has set its eyes on Lacey. It knows where she lives. It followed her home. She managed to escape once, but how can anyone feel truly secure when the predator hunting her cannot be seen? Now on the run, pursued by a killer invisible to the naked eye, and unwittingly caught up in the schemes of a terrifying ritualistic cult with nationwide ties who will spare no expense to end the lives of her and her friends, the term 'deadline' has taken on a whole new meaning to Lacey.
* * * * *
I imagine most people reading this are familiar with the film Hollow Man. It starred Kevin Bacon as a scientist working on a way to turn people invisible. Bacon's character tests the formula himself, and while the results are initially promising, he slowly loses his sense of morality when he realizes the implications of the power to walk about undetected. With that in mind, it might be easy to dismiss Beware! as nothing more than 'Richard Laymon's Hollow Man', except that Laymon beat screenwriter Andrew Marlowe to the punch by fifteen years.
Chances are, all of us at some time or another have fantasized about the ability to make ourselves disappear, and what we would do if we woke up one morning having gained that ability. Laymon's hardly the first to have thought about it--H. G. Wells wrote The Invisible Man in 1897 after all--but Laymon always strove to bring something fresh to a jaded, worn out subject. It's part of what makes him such a favorite of mine, even when he didn't quite pull off what he was going for.
Like other early works, Beware! pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. Roy from The Cellar is easily Laymon's nastiest antagonist, but if there's one who'll give him a run for his money, it's the invisible stalker found in these pages. The identity of our visibility-challenged asshole and why he's after Lacey are questions running through much of the story, so I won't spoil them here, but suffice it to say this sociopath's a real piece of work who's done one or two things of which even Roy might be jealous.
Hero-wise, we've got a trio of genuinely likable protagonists, which is a nice change from Allhallow's Eve where pretty much everybody's a colossal dick. There's Lacey herself, of course, who's just a small-town girl trying to stay one step ahead of the insanity. There's Scott, the charming and handsome writer of detective stories who offers his assistance when they meet at a hotel. And then there's Dukane.
It isn't often Laymon pens a badass for the good guys' corner, but Dukane's a hard-drinking, hard-loving, and supremely competent action hero sort. If anybody's the Bruce Willis of the Laymon-verse, Dukane's the guy. Scott may be a writer, but Dukane's the buddy who actually pulls off all the crazy stunts Scott writes about in his stories. It's a good thing he's on their side too, because the secret society hunting both Lacey and Captain No-See-Um have reach and resources enough to track them across the country--a stand-off is inevitable, but Dukane, Scott, and Lacey aren't about to go down without a fight, and the final section of the book is nothing less than one protracted siege.
I remarked in my review for Allhallow's Eve it felt like Laymon was more chastened when he wrote that story, given its relative lack of detail when it came to both sex and violence. Such is not the case with Beware!, which directly followed Allhallow's Eve, leading me to believe Laymon had either purged his doubts with the completion of that manuscript, or Beware! was already partially or mostly finished and was set aside while he worked up something a little more prosaic in case he had trouble securing publication elsewhere. Those fearing the less-splatterpunk streak would continue have little to worry about. In fact, if anything, I'd argue Laymon's writing whiplashes a little too hard.
There's a lot of sexual assault and flat-out rape in Beware!. Lacey herself falls victim to it multiple times from the antagonist throughout the story, and in the later part of the book where the invisible ambulatory asshole explains how he acquired his 'condition', there's an awful lot more. It's tempting to hope the guy is embellishing his story, but he gives too many details of the atrocities and his methods of committing them that this, combined with a lack of reason for him to lie and no evidence to believe he wouldn't carry out attacks like this if the opportunity arose, makes it an empty hope to cling to. This is not an easy book to read in a culture that is actively shining the light on real-life cases of sexual assault and hashtagging the MeToo movement. If it makes you uncomfortable, then that's good. I'm not condemning the book or the writer for it (anyone claiming Laymon was a misogynist or hated women based solely on his fiction has an uphill battle to climb involving his very well-documented love and concern for both his wife and his daughter), just pointing out it's there and it's absolutely not meant to titillate.
Beyond that though, Beware! is high-octane-fueled prose that takes off in the first chapter and doesn't settle down. Laymon's true crowning achievement is his mastery of dialog, something that keeps most of his stories going at breakneck pace, and this one is a prime example. If I'm jealous of anything Laymon managed as a writer (and there are many things one could be jealous of), it's his skill with simple conversations that convey whole ranges of motion and actions despite lacking the stage directions a lesser writer would be tempted to throw in there.
Beware! is obviously not for everybody, and it's one of his books I don't recommend blindly to anyone unless I already know they're a fan. If you could stomach The Cellar and are looking for something in a similar vein but with a slightly more upbeat ending, it's worth checking out if only to see Laymon systematically bankrupt himself of all the fucks he hoarded during the creation of Allhallow's Eve. It's also worth pointing out, in case it wasn't obvious given the subject matter of invisible naked dudes streaking around, this is one of Laymon's less grounded-in-reality stories, though the only real supernatural/paranormal element is the ritual and group surrounding the invisibility itself. Everything else plays straight with the rules of the known universe, so if you're worried the whole story is more sci-fi or fantasy, rest at ease: by the time the action truly revs up and bodies start hitting the floor in splattery pools of crimson gore, you'll forget all about a little bit of voodoo.
Three hurled meat cleavers out of five.
Missed Connections:
Laymon, much like Stephen King, enjoys throwing in the occasional bits and pieces to connect his books with previous ones. Some of these are obvious (references to Malcasa Point, where his Beast House chronicles take place, are frequent choices), but others you're unlikely to find unless you're truly versed in Laymon lore or are doing a re-read project.
The latter is the case with Beware!, as the invisible slasher brags he was responsible for the murder of news anchor Sandy Chung. It's a single name in the middle of a flood of humblebrags about how great the guy is at his job, but this does actually connect to Laymon's earlier book, Night Show, where one of the characters is watching Sandy deliver the nightly news report.
That's it, a single, blink-and-you-miss-it scene. But sometime between Night Show (1984) and Beware! (1985), Sandy Chung delivered her final news broadcast in the Laymon-verse.
Best Scene:
Dukane's introduction in chapter two is over the top insane. Sent to infiltrate a cult and retrieve the teenage daughter of a pair of prominent parents for deprogramming, he's witness to some insanely depraved acts involving blood sacrifice, dark magic, and an orgy. Despite not being invited, he mingles with the crowd anyway, works his way to the girl, renders her unconscious, and extricates her from the chaos without being noticed. Despite the certainty he'd be killed if anyone realized he didn't belong there, he pulls it off while unarmed and butt naked. I've seen James Bond and John McClane manage some pretty insane things, but bad things happen to Bond when he's disrobed around opponents (see: Casino Royale), and McClane was nearly done in by a lack of shoes.
We've not seen a Dukane movie yet why...?
Unfortunately for the quiet rural community, evil has come to Oasis. It's settled in Hoffman's Market, but it's not content to stay there. First, a passing couple are accosted by a hurled meat cleaver. Then a German Shepherd, loaned out as a guard dog, is butchered like a spring lamb. The owner and her friend are next: boned, jointed, and wrapped in cellophane for the police to find the next day. What started as a case of theft and vandalism turned into the most brutal murder anyone in the community can remember.
Now the evil has set its eyes on Lacey. It knows where she lives. It followed her home. She managed to escape once, but how can anyone feel truly secure when the predator hunting her cannot be seen? Now on the run, pursued by a killer invisible to the naked eye, and unwittingly caught up in the schemes of a terrifying ritualistic cult with nationwide ties who will spare no expense to end the lives of her and her friends, the term 'deadline' has taken on a whole new meaning to Lacey.
* * * * *
I imagine most people reading this are familiar with the film Hollow Man. It starred Kevin Bacon as a scientist working on a way to turn people invisible. Bacon's character tests the formula himself, and while the results are initially promising, he slowly loses his sense of morality when he realizes the implications of the power to walk about undetected. With that in mind, it might be easy to dismiss Beware! as nothing more than 'Richard Laymon's Hollow Man', except that Laymon beat screenwriter Andrew Marlowe to the punch by fifteen years.
Chances are, all of us at some time or another have fantasized about the ability to make ourselves disappear, and what we would do if we woke up one morning having gained that ability. Laymon's hardly the first to have thought about it--H. G. Wells wrote The Invisible Man in 1897 after all--but Laymon always strove to bring something fresh to a jaded, worn out subject. It's part of what makes him such a favorite of mine, even when he didn't quite pull off what he was going for.
Like other early works, Beware! pulls no punches and takes no prisoners. Roy from The Cellar is easily Laymon's nastiest antagonist, but if there's one who'll give him a run for his money, it's the invisible stalker found in these pages. The identity of our visibility-challenged asshole and why he's after Lacey are questions running through much of the story, so I won't spoil them here, but suffice it to say this sociopath's a real piece of work who's done one or two things of which even Roy might be jealous.
Hero-wise, we've got a trio of genuinely likable protagonists, which is a nice change from Allhallow's Eve where pretty much everybody's a colossal dick. There's Lacey herself, of course, who's just a small-town girl trying to stay one step ahead of the insanity. There's Scott, the charming and handsome writer of detective stories who offers his assistance when they meet at a hotel. And then there's Dukane.
It isn't often Laymon pens a badass for the good guys' corner, but Dukane's a hard-drinking, hard-loving, and supremely competent action hero sort. If anybody's the Bruce Willis of the Laymon-verse, Dukane's the guy. Scott may be a writer, but Dukane's the buddy who actually pulls off all the crazy stunts Scott writes about in his stories. It's a good thing he's on their side too, because the secret society hunting both Lacey and Captain No-See-Um have reach and resources enough to track them across the country--a stand-off is inevitable, but Dukane, Scott, and Lacey aren't about to go down without a fight, and the final section of the book is nothing less than one protracted siege.
I remarked in my review for Allhallow's Eve it felt like Laymon was more chastened when he wrote that story, given its relative lack of detail when it came to both sex and violence. Such is not the case with Beware!, which directly followed Allhallow's Eve, leading me to believe Laymon had either purged his doubts with the completion of that manuscript, or Beware! was already partially or mostly finished and was set aside while he worked up something a little more prosaic in case he had trouble securing publication elsewhere. Those fearing the less-splatterpunk streak would continue have little to worry about. In fact, if anything, I'd argue Laymon's writing whiplashes a little too hard.
There's a lot of sexual assault and flat-out rape in Beware!. Lacey herself falls victim to it multiple times from the antagonist throughout the story, and in the later part of the book where the invisible ambulatory asshole explains how he acquired his 'condition', there's an awful lot more. It's tempting to hope the guy is embellishing his story, but he gives too many details of the atrocities and his methods of committing them that this, combined with a lack of reason for him to lie and no evidence to believe he wouldn't carry out attacks like this if the opportunity arose, makes it an empty hope to cling to. This is not an easy book to read in a culture that is actively shining the light on real-life cases of sexual assault and hashtagging the MeToo movement. If it makes you uncomfortable, then that's good. I'm not condemning the book or the writer for it (anyone claiming Laymon was a misogynist or hated women based solely on his fiction has an uphill battle to climb involving his very well-documented love and concern for both his wife and his daughter), just pointing out it's there and it's absolutely not meant to titillate.
Beyond that though, Beware! is high-octane-fueled prose that takes off in the first chapter and doesn't settle down. Laymon's true crowning achievement is his mastery of dialog, something that keeps most of his stories going at breakneck pace, and this one is a prime example. If I'm jealous of anything Laymon managed as a writer (and there are many things one could be jealous of), it's his skill with simple conversations that convey whole ranges of motion and actions despite lacking the stage directions a lesser writer would be tempted to throw in there.
Beware! is obviously not for everybody, and it's one of his books I don't recommend blindly to anyone unless I already know they're a fan. If you could stomach The Cellar and are looking for something in a similar vein but with a slightly more upbeat ending, it's worth checking out if only to see Laymon systematically bankrupt himself of all the fucks he hoarded during the creation of Allhallow's Eve. It's also worth pointing out, in case it wasn't obvious given the subject matter of invisible naked dudes streaking around, this is one of Laymon's less grounded-in-reality stories, though the only real supernatural/paranormal element is the ritual and group surrounding the invisibility itself. Everything else plays straight with the rules of the known universe, so if you're worried the whole story is more sci-fi or fantasy, rest at ease: by the time the action truly revs up and bodies start hitting the floor in splattery pools of crimson gore, you'll forget all about a little bit of voodoo.
Three hurled meat cleavers out of five.
Missed Connections:
Laymon, much like Stephen King, enjoys throwing in the occasional bits and pieces to connect his books with previous ones. Some of these are obvious (references to Malcasa Point, where his Beast House chronicles take place, are frequent choices), but others you're unlikely to find unless you're truly versed in Laymon lore or are doing a re-read project.
The latter is the case with Beware!, as the invisible slasher brags he was responsible for the murder of news anchor Sandy Chung. It's a single name in the middle of a flood of humblebrags about how great the guy is at his job, but this does actually connect to Laymon's earlier book, Night Show, where one of the characters is watching Sandy deliver the nightly news report.
That's it, a single, blink-and-you-miss-it scene. But sometime between Night Show (1984) and Beware! (1985), Sandy Chung delivered her final news broadcast in the Laymon-verse.
Best Scene:
Dukane's introduction in chapter two is over the top insane. Sent to infiltrate a cult and retrieve the teenage daughter of a pair of prominent parents for deprogramming, he's witness to some insanely depraved acts involving blood sacrifice, dark magic, and an orgy. Despite not being invited, he mingles with the crowd anyway, works his way to the girl, renders her unconscious, and extricates her from the chaos without being noticed. Despite the certainty he'd be killed if anyone realized he didn't belong there, he pulls it off while unarmed and butt naked. I've seen James Bond and John McClane manage some pretty insane things, but bad things happen to Bond when he's disrobed around opponents (see: Casino Royale), and McClane was nearly done in by a lack of shoes.
We've not seen a Dukane movie yet why...?
mellabella's review against another edition
3.0
I like Richard Laymon. I don't think this was one of his best. But I definitely don't think it was one of his worst. It was a fast read about an invisible perverted psychopath and the paranormal cult headed by an evil blood drinking temptress. There is the usual Laymon fare (rape and gore) but, it kept you interested and was somewhat still edgy.
mxsallybend's review against another edition
3.0
Although often problematic, with serious consistency issues, and even bigger flaws of logic, Beware is the kind of over-the-top horror that only Richard Laymon can deliver. It's gratuitous in both sex and violence, and once again plays to his fetish for rape, but it is cruel fun from beginning to end.
What makes it so much fun, as is so often the case with Laymon, is the depth and creativity of his villain. While his protagonists are usually stock characters plucked from the roster of horror clichés, his bad guys are bestowed with well-developed backstory, personality, and motivation. Hoffman is a monster, no doubt about it, but he's amusing one. He's obsessive, violent, psychopathic, and (best of all) completely invisible. While he could be out robbing banks or overthrowing governments, all he wants to do is make a sexual slave out of his high school obsession - oh, and escape the evil cult goddess who made him invisible in the first place.
Yes, there are two parallel plots here, the first involving that cult goddess and her orgies of blood and sex, and the second involving that girl from high school and her attempt to stop a murderer. To be honest, it feels as if Laymon just mashed two short stories together, relying on a lot of coincidence and deus ex machina to make them fit, but the combination does make for a suitably explosive, gore-soaked climax. I would have loved to see the evil sex cult explored in greater depth (we never do get to know what their purpose is), and there is so much more our invisible villain could have done (something akin to Body Rides), but Laymon tends to go on too long, so I guess I shouldn't complain that he reigned it in here.
While Beware is far from his best, it is still an entertaining read, so long as you don't think about it.
https://wtfrureading.blogspot.ca/2017/11/beware-by-richard-laymon.html
What makes it so much fun, as is so often the case with Laymon, is the depth and creativity of his villain. While his protagonists are usually stock characters plucked from the roster of horror clichés, his bad guys are bestowed with well-developed backstory, personality, and motivation. Hoffman is a monster, no doubt about it, but he's amusing one. He's obsessive, violent, psychopathic, and (best of all) completely invisible. While he could be out robbing banks or overthrowing governments, all he wants to do is make a sexual slave out of his high school obsession - oh, and escape the evil cult goddess who made him invisible in the first place.
Yes, there are two parallel plots here, the first involving that cult goddess and her orgies of blood and sex, and the second involving that girl from high school and her attempt to stop a murderer. To be honest, it feels as if Laymon just mashed two short stories together, relying on a lot of coincidence and deus ex machina to make them fit, but the combination does make for a suitably explosive, gore-soaked climax. I would have loved to see the evil sex cult explored in greater depth (we never do get to know what their purpose is), and there is so much more our invisible villain could have done (something akin to Body Rides), but Laymon tends to go on too long, so I guess I shouldn't complain that he reigned it in here.
While Beware is far from his best, it is still an entertaining read, so long as you don't think about it.
https://wtfrureading.blogspot.ca/2017/11/beware-by-richard-laymon.html
vikingwolf's review against another edition
1.0
A cult leader finds a way to turn a human invisible and uses it on one of her follows. How invisible, he proceeds to murder a few locals and rapes the unfortunate Lacey who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Becoming obsessed with Lacey, he stalks and terrorizes her-but how can you escape someone you can't see? And of course the cult have some people that they need to silence.
This is not one of the better stories but ironically it has one of the best plot ideas. I just felt it didn't deliver what it promised. The way the characters reacted at times was just too stupid to believe. Lacey and Scott both annoyed me with the daft things they were doing. Forget interviewing the damn murdering rapist! Just deal with him as you are being chased!!!
This is not one of the better stories but ironically it has one of the best plot ideas. I just felt it didn't deliver what it promised. The way the characters reacted at times was just too stupid to believe. Lacey and Scott both annoyed me with the daft things they were doing. Forget interviewing the damn murdering rapist! Just deal with him as you are being chased!!!