Rating: 
Summary: Gimme A Break!!!!!!!
Review: It is work such as this that propagates the notion in the literary world that horror fiction is second tier material. The plot is ludicrous from the get-go. The author's intent was to clearly pander to the lowest common denominator with respect to readership, when one considers the overt emphasis on gratutitous violence and the (expected) fixation on lewd sex. This book should appeal to anyone seeking cheap literary thrills. If you're seeking a good read, that is, strong writing, believable plot, character development, etc. - skip this one.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty good... 3/4 of the way through
Review: I am a big fan of Richard Laymon and was excited to read Island. It was definatly an exciting and fun read up until the final section. The story is centered around a group of people stranded on a tropical island after their ship explodes. But, all to soon, someone begins to murder the castaways one by one. The book moved along at a fast pace and Laymon wrote it is such a way that kept me turning pages furiously. Unfortunatly, the ending had to be one of the worst i have ever read. Ever. I actually felt angry when i read it, having given the book so much time. It didnt seem to fit with the way he had been writing the characters up until that point. My other complaint with Island was that i felt the violence and sexual content was a little graphic. Sometimes, it is better to leave that stuff up to the imagination of the reader. i certainly dont need to read EVER little detail! Although i thought the ending was horrible, i do reccomend Island. It was very good through the majority of the novel and kept me very entertained even though the ending [was bad]. but isnt the journey more important than the destination?
In my opinion, Night in the Lonesome October, In The Dark, The Traveling Vampire Show,One Rainy Night, Among the Missing, and Midnight's Lair are some of his best work.
Rating:
Summary: Richard Laymon starring as a horny college punk
Review: First off, RIP, Laymon. You've got some pretty good novels behind you (In the Dark, One Rainy Night). This one, however... Pathetic. The protagonist/diarist who's telling the story is an ... from the get-go. An annoying little punk with nought else on his mind but naked women (he's got a couple in his party), even when a number of his party gets slaughtered, raped, beaten or all three at once. It's not a thrilling read at all. The ending, predictable. Also, the common motif throughout the novel is... If you're a drop dead gorgeous, bikini-clad, perfectly toned woman on the outside, chances are you're going to prevail. You're automatically loving, kind, strong, radiant, forgiving...etc... If you're not a commercially attractive woman on the outside, you're probably just as bad on the inside as well. Oops, did I say too much? Well, pass on this one. Read his One Rainy Night instead. Better read, much more believable characters (in an unbelievable situation, of course).
Rating: 
Summary: The third time was supposed to be a charm
Review: ...I realize and am sorry for his fans that he has passed, but, I can only be honest about my view concerning his novel. For my third Richard Laymon experience , it seems we have an author with split personalities telling the story. One is a very mature, self confident, intelligent and seasoned writer, and the other appears to be a pimply-faced, geeky, 12 year old kid who tells the longest and most boring story around the campfire, with his silly and [bad] thoughts being controlled by raging hormones. It seems on every page, the reader is forced to go back and forth from greatness to supremely absurd with each paragraph. This is extremely annoying, and has occurred in all three books. Laymon does indeed come up with some great ideas, but his wishy-washy style ruins them. Also, and this is the biggest complaint, his endings are the most consistantly preposterous of any horror author I have ever read. Island's ending is very bad, so, after three very disappointing reads, I have decided to skip his other work, regardless of how celebrated he seems to becoming after his death. His mixture of fair to good horror with always extreme silliness doesn't appeal to me.
Rating:
Summary: Ten Little Flies, Layman style.
Review: Poor Rupert Conway quickly comes to regret going on a Caribbean outing with his soon to be ex-girlfriend's family. Things take a turn for the nightmarish when the yacht explodes, leaving the group stranded on an island in the middle of nowhere, and one of the party begins killing them off one by one. ISLAND is a sex and sadism heavy blending of Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians (aka And Then There Were None) and Golding's Lord of the Flies told in Layman's own distinctive voice and style. Loaded down with the late author's trademarked sexual tension, shocking violence, taunt suspense, and wicked humor, this novel will no doubt satisfy the late author's growing number of fans.
Rating: 
Summary: One of his very best.
Review: I am not one to award 5 stars to a book very often but this deserves it. Island is my favorite Laymon and believe me, I've read lots(21 and counting). This novel is very unique in the sense that not only is it narrated in the first person, but the events actually take place while the narrator is writing them. We follow the adventures of Rupert Conway, a college student who goes on a spring break trip in the bahamas with his girlfriend and the rest of her family on their private boat. While setting shore on a tiny remote island, the bloat blows up, thus stranding its passengers. Of course many other things will go wrong along the way. Fast-paced, voyeuristic, violent and sadistic, this will undoubtedly please all Richard Laymon fans old and new.
Rating:
Summary: Island
Review: This is Richard Laymon at his best. The book typifies all that makes it impossible to put down a Richard Laymon book. There is mystery and humour as well as the usual liberal sprinkling of violence and sex.
A must for anyone who has enjoyed any of Laymon's books.
Rating: 
Summary: Gruesome and shocking, but man is it a page-turner!
Review: I read forty pages the day I got the book after a non-reading stretch of about a year or two. The next two days, I stayed up until midnight and even two in the morning reading over two hundred pages each day. I don't know how I managed to stay hooked but I blazed through it. This is the ONLY book I can say I couldn't put down. Any other book that others said "Man, you won't be able to put this one down! You'll be glued to the pages!" I'd be able to take a break from at a moment's notice. The violence is savage and the sex content is extreme but the book has a flow and a voice that just seems to tell the reader the story like your best friend was telling you what exciting thing they went and experienced over the weekend. Huck Finn, though a TOTALLY different book and not my type of story, I remembered from reading in school having a similar tone, like the author became the character they were writing and told you through writing about a new world. First-person books usually aren't that good but this one had me hooked. I would have to say, however, that those who offend easily or even not very easily stay away. Those who are repulsed by violence look for another book. Even the most hardened will go "Whoa" by the end. If someone describing in detail women's breasts and pubic mounds make you disgusted stay away. But if you can handle a WAY different style of writing, like this one, I bet you'll be caught up in it's lightning-fast pace, also.
Rating:
Summary: A terse, taut novel of bloody good fun
Review: Island remains one of my favorite Richard Laymon novels. I first read the UK edition some years back, but kudos for Leisure Books for releasing the novel in the United States. Richard Laymon takes the "stranded on a deserted island" concept and turns it on its ear. After their boat explodes, dumping a small group on an island, our young hero has to battle his lust for the surviving women and battle the insane villains who've sabotaged the ship. Mayhem and murder soon follow as various members are picked off one by one and the rest struggle to outwit their tormentors.
Richard Laymon was no stylist by any means, but he knew how to tell a straightforward no-holds-barred tale. Island is one of his best, working on a couple of different levels as relationships are formed and then broken amidst the high-tension setting. If you're a fan of Laymon, this one should shoot to the top of your favorite list.
Rating:
Summary: Gruesome and shocking, but man is it a page-turner!
Review: The minimal research I had done regarding Richard Laymon quickly informed me that he was one author to look out for, especially since he was so lauded by his peers: Bentley Little, Dean Koontz, and Stephen King -- just to name three -- couldn't say enough good things about him. So, on seeing Island on my next visit to the library, I picked it up. That's one decision I'll never regret. Island is 500 pages of tropical terror. Rupert Conway tells the story through a journal kept on what was supposed to be a day-long picnic, but turned into a harrowing experience when the boat of the family who invited him exploded, killing one member and leaving the rest of them stranded on an uninhabited island. Their main issues at first are keeping a fire going and getting enough to eat, but their troubles increase when they find out that the island isn't uninhabited as family members start being killed off one by one, the men first. Rupert is one of the most realistic characters I have read in recent fiction: delightfully flawed in his obsession with the opposite sex. Eighteen years old, he spends an inordinate time in appreciation of how the female castaways look in their bikinis, with especially loving descriptions of the differences in their breasts. Not surprisingly, he has fantasies of the daughters (the youngest of which is his age and invited him on the trip), and their mother figure (who isn't much older than the eldest daughter). But the main point of recommendation for me is that Island constantly surprised me. All through the five hundred pages, I never knew what was going to happen next. This is partially because Rupert often lets his libido rule his decision making and so makes stupid choices, but it is also due to Laymon's imagination. He kept me guessing all the way up until the final sentence and if there's one thing about a novel that will cause me to instantly recommend it, it is that it surprised me because, after all I have read through the years, that is increasingly difficult to accomplish. Combine that with the humorous way Laymon has of looking at even the most terrifying situations, and you've got yourself one cracker of a great read. Despite its length, Island is also a quick read. It blazes by and Laymon's plotting kept me reading far later than I should have been. I can usually put a book down if it's time to sleep, but I had to know how Rupert's predicament was going to turn out. Although I lost a couple of hours of sleep, it was worth it and I was most definitely not disappointed. Richard Laymon is now on my "must read" list and Island is the cause of it.
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