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Richard Laymon Collection #7
The Richard Laymon Collection, Volume 7: Darkness Tell Us / One Rainy Night
The seventh volume in a gruesome collection of Laymon classics - 'A brilliant writer' Sunday Express
757 pages, Paperback
First published September 4, 2006
132 people want to read
About the author
Richard Laymon
216 books2,282 followersRichard Laymon was born in Chicago and grew up in California. He earned a BA in English Literature from Willamette University, Oregon and an MA from Loyola University, Los Angeles. He worked as a schoolteacher, a librarian, and a report writer for a law firm, and was the author of more than thirty acclaimed novels.
He also published more than sixty short stories in magazines such as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, and Cavalier, and in anthologies including Modern Masters of Horror.
He died from a massive heart attack on February 14, 2001 (Valentine's Day).
Also published under the name Richard Kelly
He also published more than sixty short stories in magazines such as Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, and Cavalier, and in anthologies including Modern Masters of Horror.
He died from a massive heart attack on February 14, 2001 (Valentine's Day).
Also published under the name Richard Kelly
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
December 29, 2015
I read this book in single volumes. They were both equally exciting and kept me on the edge of my seat.
August 22, 2025
Volume 7 of the Richard Laymon Collection contains the novels “Darkness, Tell Us” (DTU) and “One Rainy Night” (ORN). Both novels were originally published in 1991. Laymon is a key writer in the “splatterpunk” genre of horror - lots of blood and gore and sex and violence.
DTU deals with a bunch of university students heading out to a remote location on the promise of treasure after getting a tip from a ghost after playing with an Ouija board. Definitely nothing ominous about that…
When you read an author who has penned nearly 40 novels you are going to get an occasional stinker. Unfortunately, DTU was possibly the worst book of Laymon’s I’ve read. Key plot points made absolutely no sense or were not explained, too many times the story just seemed contrived, inner monologues by and conversations between characters were repetitive, and absolutely nothing happens for about 50% of the book.
DTU gets 1.5 restless spirits communicating from the other side out of 5.
ORN deals with the town of Bixby after a mysterious and heavy black killer rain which turns the population against itself. Can anyone survive…?
With ORN Laymon takes on the “strange environmental incident causing mayhem for the population” trope and for the most part it does it pretty well. The book follows roughly nine key characters across four concurrent storylines over the course of the titular rainy night and their battles for survival or attempts through commit bloody murder. Action aplenty and in some parts Laymon really raised the tension and discomfort levels which meant the story ticked along without losing my interest.
How the rain affected people (most in similar but different ways) was interesting in that some people could manage the violent urges whilst some lost all sense of reason.
The explanation for this unnatural rain and why it was only impacting one small town was also interesting but also left a few unanswered questions. The resolution for each of the storylines ranged but collectively they were ok.
ORN is a solid novel overall and gets 3 dark and stormy nights out of 5.
While ORN provided a better finish than start it still didn’t do enough to fully salvage DTU. Volume 7 of the Richard Laymon Collection gets 2.5 out of 5
DTU deals with a bunch of university students heading out to a remote location on the promise of treasure after getting a tip from a ghost after playing with an Ouija board. Definitely nothing ominous about that…
When you read an author who has penned nearly 40 novels you are going to get an occasional stinker. Unfortunately, DTU was possibly the worst book of Laymon’s I’ve read. Key plot points made absolutely no sense or were not explained, too many times the story just seemed contrived, inner monologues by and conversations between characters were repetitive, and absolutely nothing happens for about 50% of the book.
DTU gets 1.5 restless spirits communicating from the other side out of 5.
ORN deals with the town of Bixby after a mysterious and heavy black killer rain which turns the population against itself. Can anyone survive…?
With ORN Laymon takes on the “strange environmental incident causing mayhem for the population” trope and for the most part it does it pretty well. The book follows roughly nine key characters across four concurrent storylines over the course of the titular rainy night and their battles for survival or attempts through commit bloody murder. Action aplenty and in some parts Laymon really raised the tension and discomfort levels which meant the story ticked along without losing my interest.
How the rain affected people (most in similar but different ways) was interesting in that some people could manage the violent urges whilst some lost all sense of reason.
The explanation for this unnatural rain and why it was only impacting one small town was also interesting but also left a few unanswered questions. The resolution for each of the storylines ranged but collectively they were ok.
ORN is a solid novel overall and gets 3 dark and stormy nights out of 5.
While ORN provided a better finish than start it still didn’t do enough to fully salvage DTU. Volume 7 of the Richard Laymon Collection gets 2.5 out of 5
December 20, 2014
Horrible, horrible book. This is me officially not bothering with Richard Laymon any more.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews