EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm pleased to introduce The Leisure Chair, Fear Zone's new column by J.G. Faherty. Each month, Faherty will cover Leisure's two new horror novel releases and will also chime in from time to time with his thoughts on the horror genre.

THE LEISURE CHAIR

Leisure Book Reviews and Random Thoughts

by JG Faherty

Welcome to my new monthly column, THE LEISURE CHAIR. Each month, I'll be giving my opinions, for what they're worth, on two of Leisure Book's upcoming novels, along with any thoughts on the horror genre in general that come my way. So, without further adieu, let's get started.

The Pines, by Robert Dunbar

A good book, better than half the stuff you'll probably read this year. A solid B.

This Leisure release is actually an unabridged reprint of a well-received book published more than 10 years ago. When first released, The Pines garnered huge accolades from horror readers and reviewers, but somehow it slipped away and became one of those highly sought after out-of-print books. I never had the chance to read this tale of the New Jersey Devil when it first came out, so I was really looking forward to reading it now.
I almost didn't finish it.

The first twenty pages didn't do a thing for me. A young hitchhiker becomes the first victim in what will be a rash of killings by the Jersey Devil, a mythical creature who has stalked the New Jersey Pine Barrens for as long as people can remember. I immediately had problems with this scene. First, the woman's dialogue, as she's fending off an old man who's trying to molest her, was hard to believe:

"What are you, crazy? You seemed like such a nice person. God, all of a sudden, you're an obscene phone call. Now, would you quit it?"

Who talks like that when someone's molesting them? When the old man keeps it up, the girl asks him to let her out of the car. Then, when he stops and pushes her out, she can't believe he's left her in the middle of nowhere, on a sandy side road a mile or two from the highway.

Huh? You're surprised why?

In any case, the scene gets worse from there. She actually has trouble following the road back to the highway. How hard can this be? I've camped in the Pine Barrens - those roads, while not paved, are pretty easy to follow. You just turn and walk back the way you came.

When the obligatory attack happens, it's pretty graphic. I had no problem with this, though. It wasn't over the top. Her flesh is torn away, and she's gutted so bad her intestines are hanging down. Finally, she passes out.

Okay so far. Except she later wakes up, after the beast has dragged her somewhere, and remains conscious just long enough to feel the thing rape her.
Dunbar explains away this absurdity of human physiological response by mentioning she was high on amphetamines. And sure, it's possible that someone hopped up on speed might live through all that, and still have conscious thoughts.

Possible, yes, but in this reader's case, it really pushed the boundaries of suspended disbelief.

And that was my main problem with the book overall. In several instances the characters just didn't act or speak like real people, and it jarred me from the story. The shame of it is, except for those occasions, Dunbar is an excellent writer. In the scenes where the Jersey Devil is stalking someone, or in scenes where an attack occurs and stays within the boundaries of logic, the prose and plot are gripping, far superior to the average 'monster' tale. I'm sorry I missed this book when it first came out; I probably would have really dug it then. Now, with a decade more of reading experience under my belt, I'm a bit jaded.

With a little sprucing up, The Pines could have been a home run (sorry, I've still got baseball on my mind!); instead, it's a long double. I'm actually surprised Mr. Dunbar didn't go back and rework the manuscript, using the benefit of his own additional 10 years of writing experience to touch up the rough spots.

What it comes down to is this: The Pines is a good book, better than half the stuff you'll probably read this year. It's full of twists and surprises and characters that will you're your interest, but there's no disguising it's the work of a young writer, still new to the game. My grade? A solid B; you won't be disappointed, but I'm not sure I agree with those who say it's a masterpiece of horror.

***

Beware, by Richard Laymon

A good book for the beach, or to read on the couch during a rainy weekend. Campy, gory, and sexy. A solid B+.

Every time Leisure re-releases one of Richard Laymon's books, I smile and give thanks to Don D'Auria and his staff. I'm one of those who never discovered Laymon the first time around, so each release is like a new one to me.
In Beware, Laymon does what few before him have attempted: he takes on the Invisible Man. No, not the same fellow who bumbled through the Universal movies, but rather a modern take on Well's original plot: a person who becomes invisible will eventually become mentally unstable as the power he wields corrupts him.

Laymon does a fantastic job of letting us know just how unhinged a man - who could be any of us - can become when given the opportunity to commit practically any crime without fear of retribution or capture. Murder, rape, violence - it's all there. How many of us have wished to be invisible at one time or another, whether it was as a child who wanted to peek in on a sibling's or neighbor's make out session, or as an adult who merely wished to carry out some kind of revenge for a real or imaginary hurt?

In that respect, Laymon captures the mind of a disturbed individual with pinpoint accuracy. Unfortunately, the same can't be said for the other characters in the book. They are too quick to initiate violence, to quick to carry out vengeance without calling in the police. The main character, a reporter named Lacey, gets raped three separate times in the book, yet suffers no real effects from the attacks. In fact, she's even still able to have sex with someone. I doubt any real rape victims will find her a believable character.

But in the end, that's all pushed aside as the reader turns one page after another. This is the pulp Laymon at his best; lots of action, violence, sex, and graphic gore. The people are basically caricatures, existing only to move the plot forward through their sometimes dumb, sometimes telegraphed, actions. Yet you forgive Laymon for all the mistakes, just like you overlook the fact that in today's era of crime detection, a simple rape kit would probably make half the story unnecessary.

Naturally, there's more to Beware than just a rampaging invisible man. Subplots include a detective searching for a missing girl, a voodoo cult whose rites include lots of group sex and human sacrifice, and a possibly immortal being. All of it connects in the end, and naturally there's a twist in the final pages.

If this was summer, I'd classify Beware as a great beach read. If you're not heading to the beach anytime soon, curl up on the couch during the next rainy weekend and have yourself a good time with this book.

My grade? A solid B+, as much for the well-handled, if over-the-top, graphic violence, sex, and gore as for anything else.

###

JG Faherty is a writer of dark fiction. His recent credits include Cemetery Dance, www.wrongworld.com, Shroud Magazine, and the anthologies Bound for Evil, Bits of the Dead, and Dark Territories. He writes regular columns, book reviews, and interviews for the Horror Writers Association newsletter, FearZone, and several other online and print venues. You can visit him at JGFaherty.com