The Woods Are Dark

By: Richard Laymon

Narrated by: Bob Dunsworth

Length: 5 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

A group of deformed, cannibalistic, humanoid creatures live in the woods…as some unlucky travelers are about to find out.

©1981 Richard Laymon (P)2011 Audio Realms, all rights reserved.

Great idea for a story but went<br />nowhere

This story had so much potential but it fell flat. Inbred, cannibal hillbillies could have been so scary but instead it was ridiculous. The narration was awful. I almost stopped listening because of the narrators flat, halting way of reading. I expected much more from this author who has given me real nightmares before.

Reads Like a Sick Porno

Got this thinking it might be a creature feature horror. This is nothing more than a porno, laced with grotesque violence. Rape, murder, pointless sex, and a complete lack of logical character emotion in favor of gratuitous sex. Snuff piece, nothing more.

Not what I expected.

What did you like best about The Woods Are Dark? What did you like least?

Hmmm, not sure, it was kind of creepy, but interesting.

If you’ve listened to books by Richard Laymon before, how does this one compare?

No I haven't

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Hmm, he was good I thought.

Any additional comments?

It was a different kind of story for me.

Would have been perfect if not for narration

I did not think it was going to be so brutal going in, but it was and I loved it. the things that happen in this story are truly savage and it's a delight to read. Unfortunately; the narrator was not very good at all. I almost stopped listening in the beginning. I'm glad I stuck it out though. the book is worth it despite that.

horrible narrator

I think I would like this book, but couldn't get past the horrible, stilted performance of the narrator. Looks like I will have to buy a hard copy.

The second Laymon novel

So my first experience with Laymon was the traveling vampire show. I new of his reputation before hand. And listening to this I’d say that it has all his strength and weaknesses. Dude knew how to write a page turner I’m almost always wondering what’s going to happen next. Briefly the story is about two girls and a family who visit a small town in California we’re the locals kidnapped them and offer them up as sacrifices to a clan of canibelistic goons none as the krulls. As luck would have it. One of the towns people has a thing for one of the girls and wants to get into her pants and comes to the rescue. As the father try to rescue his family. He becomes a goon it’s a great concept but it’s got Laymons normal Pervy writing he will throw in tits all the time witch gets old. No one in a Laymon novel acts normally. But his books is like reading a fun b movie

Nuttier than all get-out

from the first paragraph on, its like aliens wrote this. no one acts like a human being would. you could scuba dive through the plot holes in this

Creepy but a little hard to follow

I had to restart the book a handful of chapters in because I wasnt payimg enough attention and I was lost

Like listening to Talk-to-Text

There are multiple versions of the book, this is the one released after Laymon’s death with all the errors corrected and his original story restored. This is the version you want to read. That being said, the writing isn’t great. There’s a lot of using the same words over and over in close succession, words that don’t match the tone or narrative voice. It’s not horrible, but it shows the age. The story is good despite this, and moves fast with some clever twists along the way. This was written over 40 years ago, so while it may seem retreaded territory, it was fairly ahead of it’s time. Overall, it’s worth checking out… in print. The narrator is atrocious! It’s like listening to the talk-to-text function on Word. Occasionally, he breaks from the boring, monotone reading to throw in an attempt at a different voice which is so out of place to the rest of the reading that it kills all tension and makes the scene a comedy.

Vegan is definitely a possibility now..

Weak stomach?
Strongly moral?
Awkward about sexual fetishes?
*steer clear of this book*
Open minded?
Basically an 'IDGAF' type?
Enjoy random black humor?
*buddy, sit back and prepare to have your mind demolished*
(I enjoyed this very much but im aware of serious issues I might have now)