Cuts: Richard Laymon

Albert Prince loves his knife. When he follows a random lady home from the supermarket and ultimately ends up murdering her and her husband, what starts in Illinois is a cross-country murder spree with no destination in mind, just a teenage kid, his knife, and so many young girls for the taking. Meanwhile, in California, Janet Arthur is leaving her boyfriend Dave because he wants to abort her baby. But Dave is not willing to let her go easily and he'll use and threaten her friends to get her back.

As Albert's random killings draw him closer to the West Coast, a series of incidents in California eventually give Albert and his knife a destination. And wherever Albert shows up, bad things happen to people.

Like many of Richard Laymon's novels, Cuts weaves two very different storylines that eventually twist together with violent and shocking results. One of Laymon's earlier novels, we can see some of his themes and trademarks quite clearly, such as perverted and violent sex, antagonist psychology as evidenced by Albert's crossdressing, and people being held captive for the sole purpose of sex slaves. Plus Laymon has a knack for dialog that just oozes realism and makes anything he writes absorbing and enjoyable.

My issue with Cuts is that that being one of Laymon's earlier novels, it doesn't have the follow-through his later novels do; for example, what happens with Dave? He's this sinister presence in the background of California and then suddenly he's nowhere to be found. And Karen, one of Albert's victims, is talked up a lot in Albert's head as this wonderful opportunity but ends up being a few mere pages as opposed to the lengthy chapter and frequent referencing some of Albert's earlier and less exciting victims get. Kind of a disappointment there, as I was really looking forward to her being worked over for a while.

Undoubtedly, Laymon is my favorite author and although I would recommend anything he'd written (except The Lake, which was posthumously hackwritten garbage and should be avoided like scabies), I must honestly say grab In the Dark or Island if you're just starting out reading him, or save this one for a rainy day or long trip if you're just a casual fan. Die-hard fans, however, if you weren't lucky enough to have a copy of this already, Cuts is a nice, juicy steak with your name on it, raw and bloody, just how you like it.

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Mass Market Paperback: 416 pages
Publisher: Leisure Books (February 26, 2008)
ISBN-10: 0843957522
ISBN-13: 978-0843957525