Richard Laymon’s 1988 tale “Midnight’s Lair” was his 28th full length novel to be published. The tale concerns a group of thirty sightseers who take an organised tour around an underground cavern named Mordock’s Cave. During their guided tour, the power fails due to a fire breaking out within the hotel that is located directly above the cavern. The cave is submerged into total darkness, with the tourists left stranded underground. Soon the storyline takes a turn for the more macabre, with gore-fuled horror waiting for these prone individuals.The story starts off in the style of a character driven disaster tale, until before long the storyline takes a swerve towards a much more grotesque and horrifying scenario. As with the vast majority of Laymon’s novels, “Midnight’s Lair” involves two main storylines that run parallel to each other. As the plot continues, the storylines merge, bringing with them a truly horrifying reality.The tale has many similarities to Neil Marshall’s 2005 horror flick “The Descent”. Obviously Laymon’s novel predates this film but quite some time. To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised if “Midnight’s Lair” wasn’t the original inspiration for the film.Written with Laymon’s usual fast-paced, action packed, no holds bared style of writing, you’ll find the novel difficult to put down at any point, with the next horrifying event just around the next corner.The plot builds well, with regular references to past events that create a well constructed and cleverly developed story. Laymon uses multiple subplots throughout the tale, often revolving around individual characters that are amongst those trapped within the cave. This was achieved with detailed and beautifully developed characterisation that really draws the reader into the plot.With the storyline drawing to a conclusion, Laymon throws in some all out splatterpunk that gives Shaun Hutson or even James Herbert a run for their money. The grand finale to “Midnight’s Lair” really shows the bottomless depths to Laymon’s dark and twisted imagination.This is 253 pages of pure splatterpunk heaven, delivering classic Laymon horror with a no holds barred approach and a reflection of his truly twisted imagination. Absolutely great stuff!
MIDNIGHT'S LAIR is an entertaining read that doesn't give a crap how fundamentally stupid it is. Laymon gleefully delivers his particular brand of action-packed, gore-soaked, sex-starved storytelling, and it's difficult to determine whether his target audience is either incredibly cynical adolescents or incredibly adolescent-minded adults. A little bit of both, I suspect.I suppose that, at 33-years-old, I fall squarely into the latter camp.MIDNIGHT'S LAIR comes across like a less interesting version of the movie THE DESCENT (one of my faves!). Though, in all fairness, it was Laymon's idea first. The man is definitely skilled at coming up with some pretty twisted storylines. And he's a certifiable genius at finding reasons for keeping his main characters in various states of undress throughout the entirety of his stories. You'd think it was all a person could do just to keep their clothes on. Considering that we're talking about a horror novel which takes place in a cave over the course of a single afternoon, it's amazing how many characters find themselves in newfound romantic entanglements, thereby allowing Laymon to depict the occasional grope scene. It's also amazing how often Laymon finds occasion to use the word "rump" (seriously, more than twenty times). I doubt that's a word often employed by most "extreme horror" authors, who I suspect would probably go with something more edgy, like "fanny" or "caboose."MIDNIGHT'S LAIR is certainly not for the faint-of-heart (cannibals, serial killers, and rapists, oh my!), but it's just too dumb to be considered shocking or offensive.It is kinda fun, though, in a undiscerning, superficial kind of way.
What do You think about Midnight's Lair (1994)?
A blowtorch of a story from Richard Laymon.A tour group gets trapped in the subterranean Mordock's Cave, beneath the hotel of the same name, when a fire breaks out in the hotel and cuts the power to the elevators that lead down to the cave. The guides decide to try and get out by tearing down Ely's Wall - a wall erected by the hotel's owner at the time almost 70 years previously to block off the chasm in which his wife was reported to have fallen in and perished. Little do the guides/guests real
—Michael
what can i say? it's a richard laymon book. it's either perfect, or a piece of garbage, or maybe both, or neither... in any case, i feel like a junkie forever trying to recapture that first time; first time being when i read The Cellar with no idea what i was getting myself into... none of his other books have ever matched up to that, but that might just be because i got used to them... which seriously is a frightening thought. in any case, don't read this unless you're into rape and murder. and cannibalism, don't forget cannibalism.
—Ben Loory
my personal favorite Laymon book (i've read a few now). Laymon for me is like eating at my favorite fast food restraunt- you know what you're getting- it's fast, not healthy at all, messy with globs of ketchup and grease flying everywhere, well it's just something to pick up on the go when you just want a quick fix. And boy did i just gobble this up! please pick this up for some tasty horror ;) i loved the characters, but most of all the creepy back story behind the cave! I read this in one night! couldn't put it down until i licked each bit of gooey sauce from the pages! Here's to Laymon my fast food horror!
—Andrew Cochrane
