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Midnight's Lair
Mordock's cave is one of the spectacular wonders of the world... a place where sightseers can take a ride deep beneath the earth's surface to marvel at Nature's handiwork. But the darkness is also the home of things Nature never intended--things violent, bestial, and horrific...
Now a sudden power failure has trapped a group of tourists in the underground depths. Their only escape route is through a sealed-off wall. But what lurks on the other side is something terrifying beyond belief--an obscene, living evil that has been waiting all these years to be set free...
Now a sudden power failure has trapped a group of tourists in the underground depths. Their only escape route is through a sealed-off wall. But what lurks on the other side is something terrifying beyond belief--an obscene, living evil that has been waiting all these years to be set free...
304 pages, Paperback
First published June 16, 1988
45 people are currently reading
2112 people want to read
About the author
Richard Laymon
216 books2,268 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 - 30 of 194 reviews
January 6, 2023
This time we follow Richard Laymon to Mordock Cave. Some people remain entrapped in the cavern after a fire broke out on the surface. The elevators can't be used. What about a blocked part in the cavern? What about about Elizabeth Mordoch? What is the secret of Room 115 and what do Kyle's father the hotel owner and his son at that place? Typical Laymon with lot of Peeping Tom scenes, breasts swinging free, greedy sex scenes, creepy characters and evil people living in that segregated room under the hotel... especially liked the reference to "A Cask of Amontillado" (Poe) and what Laymon made of it. So far, so good, so fresh. Of course totally political incorrect. Love that Laymon blast from the past. A blueprint for modern extreme horror. Recommended!
October 18, 2022
Never expected this would turn out to be one of my fave Richard Laymon books but I've read it at least 3 times and loved it every time.
January 25, 2024
January's pick for the Richard Laymon Bookclub. This one was great after a few average reads of the last few months.
Mordock Cave is a tourist attraction where you can go exploring with guides in the depths below the earth. Up above is a hotel run by Mr Mordock and his teen son Kyle. During one expedition in the caves a group is stranded after the power goes out and the elevators are shut off. Not to worry they will just wait it out for emergency services to rescue them right? Well little do they no they are not the only ones in the cave system and the Mordocks know way more than what they are letting on.
This is genuinely creepy in parts and even for Laymon standards ultra rapey as well with alot of SA going on. There is a very gory scene of a baby being born and some funny characters to add light to the whole story. Definitely one of Laymons better books I have read for sure with the claustrophobic setting adding lots to the story.
Mordock Cave is a tourist attraction where you can go exploring with guides in the depths below the earth. Up above is a hotel run by Mr Mordock and his teen son Kyle. During one expedition in the caves a group is stranded after the power goes out and the elevators are shut off. Not to worry they will just wait it out for emergency services to rescue them right? Well little do they no they are not the only ones in the cave system and the Mordocks know way more than what they are letting on.
This is genuinely creepy in parts and even for Laymon standards ultra rapey as well with alot of SA going on. There is a very gory scene of a baby being born and some funny characters to add light to the whole story. Definitely one of Laymons better books I have read for sure with the claustrophobic setting adding lots to the story.
August 3, 2016
There is a sub-genre of horror called splatterpunk, and Laymon is supposedly considered a master of it by its fans. If that is the case, and he is indeed one of the best, I wonder if I'll venture ever again into the world of splatterpunk.
Now just read the description of this book on Goodreads. Sounds more than intriguing, right? Unfortunately, I thought the same.
The only thing that this book cares about is sex. Everyone in it is obsessed with it.
People are dying around you, but you are aroused. You might die at any moment, but the only thing you want to do is to rape someone.
And what's worse, a sex maniac trapped in the caves along with others is an underage teenage boy, whose only desire is to rape the heroine, even though he knows what is waiting for them in the caves.
This book should be avoided at all costs.
Now just read the description of this book on Goodreads. Sounds more than intriguing, right? Unfortunately, I thought the same.
The only thing that this book cares about is sex. Everyone in it is obsessed with it.
People are dying around you, but you are aroused. You might die at any moment, but the only thing you want to do is to rape someone.
And what's worse, a sex maniac trapped in the caves along with others is an underage teenage boy, whose only desire is to rape the heroine, even though he knows what is waiting for them in the caves.
This book should be avoided at all costs.
March 7, 2025
There's no shortage of libido in this book. Even if it shouldn't, like when being trapped in a dark cave with lots of people, it's there. Richard Laymon. Never wastes an opportunity to mention certain body parts. Hell, he doesn't even need one. Toe-curling is what it is, at times. And I'm fine with it. Love his blunt and awkward style. It gets even better with a bunch of crazies on the loose. Killer backstory! And the present has claustrophobic, horny and hungry horror. Not bad.
January 3, 2013
Trapped in a cave with a bunch of strangers, retired stuntman, horny teens, horny folks in their 20s and...some other surprises...this is an aventure as only Laymon could write it. There is just something so fun about his books, his pacing is always spot on, makes for quick reads. Sold in US as a suspence book, this one doesn't in fact have any supernatural horrors, just the sort humans are capable of. Deeply claustrophobic and thoroughly entertaining. Highly recommended.
January 5, 2020
Two 1-star reads in a row.
2020 is off to a pitiful start...
This is, I believe, my first foray into the “splatterpunk” sub genre of horror lit. I don’t know how—or why— it has taken me this long to discover it... horror holds a special dark place in my heart in all things cinema, literature, and television. I’m a certified gorehound! But this book let me down. I hope this doesn’t set a precedent for the ones to follow, because this book is trashy, and not in a fun way.
Midnight’s Lair was published in the late 1980’s, and it shows—it really felt like I was reading the novel equivalent to a campy, retro slasher film, which was fun... at first. We get a host of the usual suspects you’d find in an 80’s horror, as well as lots of topless women (a good percent of this book is devoted to women being ogled terribly), pervy men/teens, cheeky banter, and all the ill-advised sex and unrelenting violence.
The novel starts off quickly, with no time to develop a real sense of the characters. I thought to myself, “They’re trapped already? That was fast!”. As it progresses, though, we get multiple shifting POV’s, and the characterizations were almost enough to satisfy me (with the exception of Kyle—who I regret sharing my namesake with—because I really, truly loathed him!). A slower build-up of tension would’ve benefitted this book greatly, but it just wasn’t there. And then, the actual “cave dwellers” don’t pop up until about 2/3rds of the way through. Instead, the author chose to focus more on sex, objectifying women, and creepy lechers. I had to skim a lot of this, because it made me feel icky—all the unnecessary sexual violence against the women—it was absolutely abhorrent! Almost every page, there are descriptions of women’s breasts, panties, thighs, “rumps”—and all through the heavy “male gaze”— as well as numerous incidents of slut shaming and someone making off-color comments. If blatant misogyny and shitty horror are your thing, Richard Laymon is for you!
I was hoping to read something campy and fun, but this just left me feeling gross. I’m against censorship, so I don’t mind ultra-violence, gore, and artistic expression in the horror genre when it’s done for a reason and makes sense in the story. But here, it’s just played for shock, titillation, and schlocky exploitation—and I love exploitation films and literature, too—but not when it’s pointlessly crude and mean-spirited.
Also, there were just too many characters for me to focus on or try/care to remember (I believe the initial number started at 40). And while we get many POV’s, I think it would have been better served with a smaller batch of characters.
In the end, I really have nothing good to say about Midnight’s Lair. The author should be ashamed of himself for writing such trash! This book is a waste of time, money, and paper.
2020 is off to a pitiful start...
This is, I believe, my first foray into the “splatterpunk” sub genre of horror lit. I don’t know how—or why— it has taken me this long to discover it... horror holds a special dark place in my heart in all things cinema, literature, and television. I’m a certified gorehound! But this book let me down. I hope this doesn’t set a precedent for the ones to follow, because this book is trashy, and not in a fun way.
Midnight’s Lair was published in the late 1980’s, and it shows—it really felt like I was reading the novel equivalent to a campy, retro slasher film, which was fun... at first. We get a host of the usual suspects you’d find in an 80’s horror, as well as lots of topless women (a good percent of this book is devoted to women being ogled terribly), pervy men/teens, cheeky banter, and all the ill-advised sex and unrelenting violence.
The novel starts off quickly, with no time to develop a real sense of the characters. I thought to myself, “They’re trapped already? That was fast!”. As it progresses, though, we get multiple shifting POV’s, and the characterizations were almost enough to satisfy me (with the exception of Kyle—who I regret sharing my namesake with—because I really, truly loathed him!). A slower build-up of tension would’ve benefitted this book greatly, but it just wasn’t there. And then, the actual “cave dwellers” don’t pop up until about 2/3rds of the way through. Instead, the author chose to focus more on sex, objectifying women, and creepy lechers. I had to skim a lot of this, because it made me feel icky—all the unnecessary sexual violence against the women—it was absolutely abhorrent! Almost every page, there are descriptions of women’s breasts, panties, thighs, “rumps”—and all through the heavy “male gaze”— as well as numerous incidents of slut shaming and someone making off-color comments. If blatant misogyny and shitty horror are your thing, Richard Laymon is for you!
I was hoping to read something campy and fun, but this just left me feeling gross. I’m against censorship, so I don’t mind ultra-violence, gore, and artistic expression in the horror genre when it’s done for a reason and makes sense in the story. But here, it’s just played for shock, titillation, and schlocky exploitation—and I love exploitation films and literature, too—but not when it’s pointlessly crude and mean-spirited.
Also, there were just too many characters for me to focus on or try/care to remember (I believe the initial number started at 40). And while we get many POV’s, I think it would have been better served with a smaller batch of characters.
In the end, I really have nothing good to say about Midnight’s Lair. The author should be ashamed of himself for writing such trash! This book is a waste of time, money, and paper.
February 6, 2024
This book has it all sex crazed people, a small town with a rich history and a cave that holds mysteries no one can even image. This was a read for my book club. This book is about Murdocks cave which sits below the surface but there are things that lie in wait in the dark things that are dying to get out. A unexpected power outage traps a group of tourists in the cave and this is where the adventures begins.
July 13, 2022
Wow once again another great book from Laymon! This is definite in my top 5 favorite books of his I read so far. This was one of his earlier books & it was just filled with suspense. There was never a dull moment in this book & the suspense never let off. The characters were all very likable & the story was very interesting. Even the back story's were great. It's another book of his that's so good that you wish he was still alive writing & entertaining us. Highly recommend to any horror fans specially Laymon fans!
September 12, 2021
Every year, thousands of sightseers travel to Mordock's Cave to experience the spectacular wonders of nature's handiwork on a lake boat tour beneath the earth's surface. The beauty of nature isn't the only thing lurking in the darkness of the depths, however. The cave harbors many ugly secrets and cruel truths. When a sudden power outrage cuts off all access to exits and elevators, something buried deep below stirs from their watery chambers, preying on the vulnerable tourists who are thrown into a hellish nightmare without food, light or protection.
A decent Laymon novel, but feels very lacking after having just read The Traveling Vampire Show a few weeks ago. It has a lot of similarities to The Woods are Dark since its main features are horny tourists, tribalistic brutality and lots of torture and people getting eaten. It had some good moments of witty banter and shocking plot twists concerning the two main antagonists, and the secret of what was lurking in the cave definitely didn't turn out to be what I originally suspected it was, and I mean that in a good way. The twist was darker and grosser than I predicted.
Midnight's Lair suffers from Laymon's most familiar trappings that I don't care for such as his strange fixation on pervy sex stuff that completely overshadows the plot, lots of groping and ogling, and some cringy B-movie slasher writing, but it does have a few strong moments here and there. If nothing else, he made me hate the main villains and I felt satisfied with how their stories concluded. There were a few good gross-out shockers that got me too.
***
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A decent Laymon novel, but feels very lacking after having just read The Traveling Vampire Show a few weeks ago. It has a lot of similarities to The Woods are Dark since its main features are horny tourists, tribalistic brutality and lots of torture and people getting eaten. It had some good moments of witty banter and shocking plot twists concerning the two main antagonists, and the secret of what was lurking in the cave definitely didn't turn out to be what I originally suspected it was, and I mean that in a good way. The twist was darker and grosser than I predicted.
Midnight's Lair suffers from Laymon's most familiar trappings that I don't care for such as his strange fixation on pervy sex stuff that completely overshadows the plot, lots of groping and ogling, and some cringy B-movie slasher writing, but it does have a few strong moments here and there. If nothing else, he made me hate the main villains and I felt satisfied with how their stories concluded. There were a few good gross-out shockers that got me too.
***
If you're looking for some dark ambient music for reading horror, dark fantasy and other books like this one, then be sure to check out my YouTube Channel called Nightmarish Compositions: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPs...
June 7, 2025
Undecided: ★★½ - ★★★
‘Midnight’s Lair’ was my first Richard Laymon, and if I’m honest, it left me underwhelmed. It gets off to a good start, throwing the characters straight into the action with a nice bit of pace. I thought we were in for a frantic, pulpy horror ride, but it doesn’t last. The story slows right down once the characters are trapped underground, and from there it struggles to keep any momentum going.
The book hops between different points of view, gradually building up a backstory which, frustratingly, ends up being the most interesting part of the whole thing. It’s better written, more developed, and had more potential than the main plot stuck in the cave. I kept thinking the novel might have worked better if it had made that its focus and left the cave ordeal behind.
As for the tone, it felt like one of those straight-to-video horror films from the 1980s — all the familiar ingredients are here: paper-thin characters, instant romances that make no sense, an overload of sex scenes, splatter, gore, and a bunch of the crazies who don’t even show up until two-thirds of the way in. By the time things finally kick off again, it turns into a rushed bloodbath where everything happens at once. I caught myself checking how many pages were left more than once.
I’ll probably give Laymon another go at some point, just to see if this was a one-off, but I’m in no particular hurry. Somewhere between 2½ and 3 stars for me.
‘Midnight’s Lair’ was my first Richard Laymon, and if I’m honest, it left me underwhelmed. It gets off to a good start, throwing the characters straight into the action with a nice bit of pace. I thought we were in for a frantic, pulpy horror ride, but it doesn’t last. The story slows right down once the characters are trapped underground, and from there it struggles to keep any momentum going.
The book hops between different points of view, gradually building up a backstory which, frustratingly, ends up being the most interesting part of the whole thing. It’s better written, more developed, and had more potential than the main plot stuck in the cave. I kept thinking the novel might have worked better if it had made that its focus and left the cave ordeal behind.
As for the tone, it felt like one of those straight-to-video horror films from the 1980s — all the familiar ingredients are here: paper-thin characters, instant romances that make no sense, an overload of sex scenes, splatter, gore, and a bunch of the crazies who don’t even show up until two-thirds of the way in. By the time things finally kick off again, it turns into a rushed bloodbath where everything happens at once. I caught myself checking how many pages were left more than once.
I’ll probably give Laymon another go at some point, just to see if this was a one-off, but I’m in no particular hurry. Somewhere between 2½ and 3 stars for me.
June 26, 2014
Psycho meets The Woods are Dark...underground.
Although this book wasn't a complete disaster, and did contain a few classic Laymon gross-outs, overall the story was thin and not particularly well told.
The initial set up promised more than the plot delivered, so for those new to Laymon I'd recommend starting elsewhere.
Although this book wasn't a complete disaster, and did contain a few classic Laymon gross-outs, overall the story was thin and not particularly well told.
The initial set up promised more than the plot delivered, so for those new to Laymon I'd recommend starting elsewhere.
April 17, 2014
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.
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.
November 29, 2022
A tour group of 38 people - including the two guides, Darcey and Tom, descend until the Mordock caverns. During the routine boat tour, right as the group is about to head back, the power goes out, leaving them in pitch blackness. Not only can they not see, but there will be no way out anyways - because the elevators required to get them to the surface, no longer have power. The group is totally trapped. Amidst the chaos, Darcey and a passenger named Greg take charge, trying to calm the guests and figure out a solution.
Darcey suggests taking a pickaxe to the wall that was erected to divide the cavern in two, and trying to lead a small group to the surface that way, to bring back help. But there is a good reason a part of the cavern has been sealed off. The story is that Ely Mordock sealed it off, due to the danger, after he lost his wife from a fall - but that's not the truth at all. The Mordock men have a horrible secret they've been protecting for generations... and it's waiting in the sealed off part of the cavern. Right where Darcey and Greg are leading four guests, trying to reach the surface.
As soon as Greg and another man break through the wall, creatures are there waiting for them. What were once normal people are now savage, inbred cannibals, from being thrown down into the cavern and forced to survive in the dark for all these years. They are violent, more animal than human, and will not hesitate to attack anyone they see.
Can Darcey lead her group to safety before it's too late?
-------------------------
Another great Laymon book - the premise of anything lurking in a cave is definitely right up my alley.
Darcey suggests taking a pickaxe to the wall that was erected to divide the cavern in two, and trying to lead a small group to the surface that way, to bring back help. But there is a good reason a part of the cavern has been sealed off. The story is that Ely Mordock sealed it off, due to the danger, after he lost his wife from a fall - but that's not the truth at all. The Mordock men have a horrible secret they've been protecting for generations... and it's waiting in the sealed off part of the cavern. Right where Darcey and Greg are leading four guests, trying to reach the surface.
As soon as Greg and another man break through the wall, creatures are there waiting for them. What were once normal people are now savage, inbred cannibals, from being thrown down into the cavern and forced to survive in the dark for all these years. They are violent, more animal than human, and will not hesitate to attack anyone they see.
Can Darcey lead her group to safety before it's too late?
-------------------------
Another great Laymon book - the premise of anything lurking in a cave is definitely right up my alley.
July 28, 2010
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.
July 15, 2015
The caverns below the Mordock Hotel have been a popular tourist attraction for years, but what people don't know is the sinister goings on that goes back decades. When a tour group is stranded below, after the power goes out and elevators to the surface stop working, they decide to try and find another way out. But there's others in the caverns with them. And they are very hungry.
While a lean novel, MIDNIGHT'S LAIR was pure, unadulterated Laymon fun. A definite must read.
While a lean novel, MIDNIGHT'S LAIR was pure, unadulterated Laymon fun. A definite must read.
January 22, 2024
Mordock’s Cave. It’s a place where a huge number of sightseers visit each year by boat, to explore the darkness and hear the tales of this subterranean place.
Darcy Raines is one of the tour guides and today she’s taking a group of around 30 people underground, including creepy Kyle Mordock, the boss’s son who constantly looks at her like he’s undressing her.
When a power failure traps the tour group down in the cave Darcy has to use her head to keep people calm. She plans to break through a sealed off wall at the other end of the cavern. But that wall is there for a reason - and knocking it down could result in all hell breaking loose, literally!
Ahh I love Richard Laymon. I read all his books back in the 90s and I’m heartened to discover I still feel the same about him now. Yes there is a lot of sexy talk, way too many panties references, but if you can get past that you’re onto a winner cause his books are so much fun. Creepy, scary and super entertaining. I loved every page of this one.
Darcy Raines is one of the tour guides and today she’s taking a group of around 30 people underground, including creepy Kyle Mordock, the boss’s son who constantly looks at her like he’s undressing her.
When a power failure traps the tour group down in the cave Darcy has to use her head to keep people calm. She plans to break through a sealed off wall at the other end of the cavern. But that wall is there for a reason - and knocking it down could result in all hell breaking loose, literally!
Ahh I love Richard Laymon. I read all his books back in the 90s and I’m heartened to discover I still feel the same about him now. Yes there is a lot of sexy talk, way too many panties references, but if you can get past that you’re onto a winner cause his books are so much fun. Creepy, scary and super entertaining. I loved every page of this one.
May 10, 2022
The excitement started right at the beginning of this book and did not stop. I love Richard Laymon books!
May 17, 2025
Mordock's cave is one of the spectacular wonders of the world... a place where sightseers can take a ride deep beneath the earth's surface to marvel at Nature's handiwork. But the darkness is also the home of things Nature never intended--things violent, bestial, and horrific...
One thing you can’t deny about Laymon is that he packs a lot into a story. Here, Darcy Raines is a guide on the cave tour and, as the story begins, the power goes pitching them into darkness and immobilising the elevators that will get them back to the surface. Up top is her mum, Chris and Hank, the father of a teenaged girl in her party. Also there is Kyle Mordock, who is not only the owner’s son but a real little creep. It quickly transpires that Mordock senior has a room set up to isolate and torture single female travellers, dumping their bodies in a sealed off section of the cave where the people live in almost total darkness and have to resort to cannibalism to survive. When a fire breaks out (in a cracking set piece), Chris and the claustrophobic Hank have to try and rescue their daughters, while Darcy takes the lead below ground and leads a party into the sealed off area to try to escape.
Back in the 90s, I loved Laymon and it was only when his books got bigger and the plots thinner (bolstered by misogyny and sexism, I found) that I dropped away from him. But this was always a favourite of mine so, when I decided to revisit him (a note on the inside cover says I bought this book on 6/1/96, so it’s 29 years old), this was the book of choice and I think it worked well. Yes, he does dwell on the female characters bodies (and really, really likes the word ‘rump’), but he also sets things off at a cracking pace and has no problems with gore or taking an unpleasant turn. His atmospheric descriptions of the cave work brilliantly, the lead characters are well defined, the supporting cast aren’t just there to be killed and there’s some nice turns of humour. But the key for this are the cannibals and when they attack, all hell literally breaks loose. I had a good time with this and would recommend it.
One thing you can’t deny about Laymon is that he packs a lot into a story. Here, Darcy Raines is a guide on the cave tour and, as the story begins, the power goes pitching them into darkness and immobilising the elevators that will get them back to the surface. Up top is her mum, Chris and Hank, the father of a teenaged girl in her party. Also there is Kyle Mordock, who is not only the owner’s son but a real little creep. It quickly transpires that Mordock senior has a room set up to isolate and torture single female travellers, dumping their bodies in a sealed off section of the cave where the people live in almost total darkness and have to resort to cannibalism to survive. When a fire breaks out (in a cracking set piece), Chris and the claustrophobic Hank have to try and rescue their daughters, while Darcy takes the lead below ground and leads a party into the sealed off area to try to escape.
Back in the 90s, I loved Laymon and it was only when his books got bigger and the plots thinner (bolstered by misogyny and sexism, I found) that I dropped away from him. But this was always a favourite of mine so, when I decided to revisit him (a note on the inside cover says I bought this book on 6/1/96, so it’s 29 years old), this was the book of choice and I think it worked well. Yes, he does dwell on the female characters bodies (and really, really likes the word ‘rump’), but he also sets things off at a cracking pace and has no problems with gore or taking an unpleasant turn. His atmospheric descriptions of the cave work brilliantly, the lead characters are well defined, the supporting cast aren’t just there to be killed and there’s some nice turns of humour. But the key for this are the cannibals and when they attack, all hell literally breaks loose. I had a good time with this and would recommend it.
March 12, 2018
I feel sorry for all the people who didn’t pick this up, thinking they knew what it was about by the cover and back copy. You think you know what it’s about. People trapped in a cave and they’re getting killed off by something or someone one-by-one. But you don’t know the half of it. And if I gave you a thousand guesses, you’d never guess what’s going on down in that cave or how it got there! This is the kind of creativity that lets me know someone was born to write this stuff.
I’m a bit wowed by the writing and what he’s able to accomplish seemingly effortlessly. This guy is supremely good at, not only placing you in a character’s head, but into their personality. A good author will tell you about a character, let you know what they’re thinking, make you empathize with a character. But I’m impressed at how Layman lets you become that character -- to think what they think and feel what they feel, through their personality. One chapter, I was a fourteen-year-old boy with all the raging hormones and sexual thoughts and impulses. A chapter or two later, I was a thirty-nine-year-old single mother. I read for escapism, and that Laymon allows you to become someone else for a little while just adds a bit more to that feature of enjoying a book for me.
This is only my second book by him but I’m going to keep it forever because it’s the one that convinced me he’s a genius. I’m a Laymon fan now.
I’m a bit wowed by the writing and what he’s able to accomplish seemingly effortlessly. This guy is supremely good at, not only placing you in a character’s head, but into their personality. A good author will tell you about a character, let you know what they’re thinking, make you empathize with a character. But I’m impressed at how Layman lets you become that character -- to think what they think and feel what they feel, through their personality. One chapter, I was a fourteen-year-old boy with all the raging hormones and sexual thoughts and impulses. A chapter or two later, I was a thirty-nine-year-old single mother. I read for escapism, and that Laymon allows you to become someone else for a little while just adds a bit more to that feature of enjoying a book for me.
This is only my second book by him but I’m going to keep it forever because it’s the one that convinced me he’s a genius. I’m a Laymon fan now.
October 22, 2009
3.5 out of 5 stars. Yet another lean, mean killing machine of a horror novel from Richard Laymon. This one wastes no time getting to the scary stuff, and it keeps getting more twisted and insane as it chugs along. Not the first time I've read Laymon and said to myself, "damn, this would make a great movie." If you are frightened by creepy hotels, caves, and darkness, this is a must-read. Or maybe not, as it will scare the hell out of you! I would recommend reading this book without reading the summary that is on the back of the book. The events unfold in an extremely unpredictable fashion, and the less you know about the story, the better. People on a cavern tour are trapped there after a power outage and the book is by Richard Laymon. That is all you need to know! Highly recommended.
October 31, 2020
I went into this book expecting it to be similar to the 2005 movie The Descent. That's the whole reason I wanted to read this book. The premise sounded vaguely similar. I thought I knew what I was about to read, but I was very very wrong. I couldn't have predicted what this story was going to be about, even if I'd come up with a hundred possibilities. In all honesty, it turned out to be better than I was expexting. The story was much deeper than I was expecting; it really shows that the author put a lot of thought into the entire story, and not just what was happening in the present. I loved this book! It was my first read by this author, as well as my first book in the horror subgenre Splatterpunk. It was gory, scary, and kept me hooked from the very beginning. This book just shows that humans can be just as scary as the things from our nightmares.
February 15, 2016
Midnight's Lair was the first Laymon book I read, over twenty years ago, and bits and pieces of the story have stayed with me all that time. It's a great idea -- a group of tourists touring an underground lake are plunged into darkness and have to find a way out -- and a lot of the scenes have power, so I was looking forward to re-reading the book, even though his books have been mostly misses with me. This one, I thought, would show me whether there was something good about Laymon's style.
The short answer is: Mostly. The novel starts off with its hook, unspooling the rest of the events from that moment, and it works surprisingly well. I finally saw Laymon's characterization skills at its best, since he managed to create his main characters very well, in a short span of time. I think he minimizes them, though, by giving them romantic entanglements that develop in the span of minutes or hours. My guess is he's hoping to get the readers more engaged in the characters by giving them something to live for, so to speak, but the relationships develop so quickly that they seem trivial. Darcy, the main protagonist, is capable, smart, tenacious, and has more of a reason to get out of the cave than just survival (her mother is above ground, and events develop to the point where she has to get out to make sure her mother is all right), but when she starts smooching and loving on Greg, the male protagonist, she suddenly becomes a lot less interesting. I think developing a romance from the two characters is fine (in fact, it would be disappointing had they not hooked up by the end of the story), but let them get out of their predicament before they start giving over to their physical desires. Speed may be a cheesy action flick, but at least it got the romantic aspect of the story right.
Midnight's Lair would make an excellent premise book, except for the fact that Laymon has to go and make it about more than just escaping an underground lake cavern in the dark. He has to bring in a group of people who live in that darkness feeding on the people who are unfortunate enough to become trapped down with them. Laymon populates his group of people just right, so there's internal conflict to go along with the main conflict of just surviving long enough to escape, and that alone is enough to carry the story. I get that this is a horror novel, and that Laymon needed to add an unknown protagonist, but I thought the idea of forty people trapped underground in pitch blackness, along with a sexual predator, was enough of a story by itself.
I do my best to separate an author from his or her fiction, but with Laymon, I have to wonder what his worldview was like to write these kinds of books. In Midnight's Lair, there's a scene where people are watching a hotel burn to the ground, and one guy comes on to a woman in her bathing suit. She rebuffs him, mentioning that her daughter is trapped beneath the fire in the caves, and as she walks away, she hears him call her a "tightass cunt". I'm probably showing my privilege here, but are there really men out there who would act like that in that kind of a situation? That sort of thing isn't limited just to this book, though; there's usually a character like that (sometimes more than one) in every one of his books. Laymon at least portrays his male protagonists as being respectful, but did he think all other men were like this? Or are they, and I'm just unaware?
By contrast, the novel also features a character -- a sexual predator -- in the caves who takes the opportunity to take his stalking of another character up a level, despite the situation being one of life or death. I could accept that, since I can accept that a sexual predator would be self-absorbed, obsessed, and unable to judge the appropriateness of a situation, but I had a hard time with the casual misogyny of the other male characters in the novel. I should note that I started reading Laymon's books after finishing up Jack Ketchum's books, where I didn't see this kind of problem, even when his books were much more brutal, much darker, and committed worse atrocities toward women. There was misogyny there, too, but it didn't seem to be as prevalent and consuming as it is in Laymon's books. In Ketchum's books, the misogyny was the main problem; in Laymon's books, it's just part of the background.
Laymon also makes his female protagonists fit, and usually has at least one overweight female character (described by other characters -- bad and good -- as "gross"), who is either an antagonist, or marked to be killed off later in the story. Later, when the group first get a hint of being saved, they start talking about the first thing they're going to do on getting out. The men talk of eating steak and drinking alcohol, but the women want baths. Laymon makes it explicit in his narrative: "'All I want's a long, hot bath.' That was a woman, of course." It's disappointing in lots of ways, and where some critics can look at his other portrayals of women and write them off as satire of some kind, that kind of casually sexist portrayal can't be dismissed as easily.
The story is engaging, and is certain to be memorable, but it's not without its problems. I'm thinking that these problems are just part of reading a Laymon book. I still like his style enough to keep moving forward, but I'm not sure what the difference is between him and, say, Bentley Little, whose casual sexism made me quit reading his books. Though, if I'm being honest, Little's stories started to get boring. Laymon's novels, at least, are anything but, even with all the problems.
The short answer is: Mostly. The novel starts off with its hook, unspooling the rest of the events from that moment, and it works surprisingly well. I finally saw Laymon's characterization skills at its best, since he managed to create his main characters very well, in a short span of time. I think he minimizes them, though, by giving them romantic entanglements that develop in the span of minutes or hours. My guess is he's hoping to get the readers more engaged in the characters by giving them something to live for, so to speak, but the relationships develop so quickly that they seem trivial. Darcy, the main protagonist, is capable, smart, tenacious, and has more of a reason to get out of the cave than just survival (her mother is above ground, and events develop to the point where she has to get out to make sure her mother is all right), but when she starts smooching and loving on Greg, the male protagonist, she suddenly becomes a lot less interesting. I think developing a romance from the two characters is fine (in fact, it would be disappointing had they not hooked up by the end of the story), but let them get out of their predicament before they start giving over to their physical desires. Speed may be a cheesy action flick, but at least it got the romantic aspect of the story right.
Midnight's Lair would make an excellent premise book, except for the fact that Laymon has to go and make it about more than just escaping an underground lake cavern in the dark. He has to bring in a group of people who live in that darkness feeding on the people who are unfortunate enough to become trapped down with them. Laymon populates his group of people just right, so there's internal conflict to go along with the main conflict of just surviving long enough to escape, and that alone is enough to carry the story. I get that this is a horror novel, and that Laymon needed to add an unknown protagonist, but I thought the idea of forty people trapped underground in pitch blackness, along with a sexual predator, was enough of a story by itself.
I do my best to separate an author from his or her fiction, but with Laymon, I have to wonder what his worldview was like to write these kinds of books. In Midnight's Lair, there's a scene where people are watching a hotel burn to the ground, and one guy comes on to a woman in her bathing suit. She rebuffs him, mentioning that her daughter is trapped beneath the fire in the caves, and as she walks away, she hears him call her a "tightass cunt". I'm probably showing my privilege here, but are there really men out there who would act like that in that kind of a situation? That sort of thing isn't limited just to this book, though; there's usually a character like that (sometimes more than one) in every one of his books. Laymon at least portrays his male protagonists as being respectful, but did he think all other men were like this? Or are they, and I'm just unaware?
By contrast, the novel also features a character -- a sexual predator -- in the caves who takes the opportunity to take his stalking of another character up a level, despite the situation being one of life or death. I could accept that, since I can accept that a sexual predator would be self-absorbed, obsessed, and unable to judge the appropriateness of a situation, but I had a hard time with the casual misogyny of the other male characters in the novel. I should note that I started reading Laymon's books after finishing up Jack Ketchum's books, where I didn't see this kind of problem, even when his books were much more brutal, much darker, and committed worse atrocities toward women. There was misogyny there, too, but it didn't seem to be as prevalent and consuming as it is in Laymon's books. In Ketchum's books, the misogyny was the main problem; in Laymon's books, it's just part of the background.
Laymon also makes his female protagonists fit, and usually has at least one overweight female character (described by other characters -- bad and good -- as "gross"), who is either an antagonist, or marked to be killed off later in the story. Later, when the group first get a hint of being saved, they start talking about the first thing they're going to do on getting out. The men talk of eating steak and drinking alcohol, but the women want baths. Laymon makes it explicit in his narrative: "'All I want's a long, hot bath.' That was a woman, of course." It's disappointing in lots of ways, and where some critics can look at his other portrayals of women and write them off as satire of some kind, that kind of casually sexist portrayal can't be dismissed as easily.
The story is engaging, and is certain to be memorable, but it's not without its problems. I'm thinking that these problems are just part of reading a Laymon book. I still like his style enough to keep moving forward, but I'm not sure what the difference is between him and, say, Bentley Little, whose casual sexism made me quit reading his books. Though, if I'm being honest, Little's stories started to get boring. Laymon's novels, at least, are anything but, even with all the problems.
August 5, 2022
Sjukt intensiv med allt som kännetecknar en Laymon-bok. En grupp människor som fastnar i en grotta där mörkret inte är det enda de behöver oroa sig för är ett perfekt upplägg och det är helt galet att inte någon av Laymons böcker fått en ordentlig filmatisering. Om man bortser från de helt upp åt väggen karaktärerna där sex och våld fyller deras tankar så döljer det sig nästan alltid grymt effektiva historier. The Midnight’s Lair är helt klart en av Laymons bästa skapelser!
September 22, 2022
5 stars for a combo of horror, tension, pervy cringe and laughs!
Thanks to Jimmy Mango (YouTube) for recommending Laymon on his channel. I've already purchased a few other Laymon titles already to read soon.
Would not recommend to anyone with claustrophobia :)
Thanks to Jimmy Mango (YouTube) for recommending Laymon on his channel. I've already purchased a few other Laymon titles already to read soon.
Would not recommend to anyone with claustrophobia :)
July 22, 2023
the actual horror in this was good but the sexual stuff was GROSSSSSS and the ending was rushed
April 17, 2021
Un'escursione in una caverna che si trasforma in un incubo per i claustrofobici e fa nascere la stessa paura in chi non ce l'ha. Un gruppo di persone è costretta nel buio fitto, più nero della pece stessa a causa di un qualcosa accaduto in superficie. Intrappolati, tra mancanza di luce, freddo e nessuna via d'uscita usufruibile, lo stress prende lentamente il sopravvento rischiando di trasformarsi nel perfetto pretesto per recare danni, ma forse no, lo scoprirete leggendo.
Un male più oscuro è nascosto tra le pareti della grotta, pronto a dar vita ad un vero e proprio inferno
Una storia da incubo che vi farà ricredere sull'esistenza dell'uomo nero, celato nel buio che aspetta solo il momento adatto per straziare e dilaniare le vostre carni. Ma niente di sovrannaturale, qui i soli mostri che troverete saranno umani: alcuni più ragionevoli e manipolatori, altri ormai disumanizzati e prede degli istinti più animaleschi
La storia è raccontata su due piani differenti: da una parte abbiamo il gruppo rinchiuso nella caverna, capitanato da Darcy (la guida dell'escursione) e Greg; dall'altra abbiamo Chris (madre di Darcy) e Hank (padre di Paula, una delle ragazze nella grotta) che si trovano in superficie e cercano il modo di poter salvare le figlie
Non voglio fare spoiler per non rovinare l'effetto sorpresa che vi assicuro essere una vera bomba, ma vi do un piccolo indizio: c'è un richiamo a Psycho, seppur qui sviluppato in maniera molto più malata e cruenta, che vi farà rabbrividire in un primo momento e sentire male in un secondo.
Kyle e il padre sono due personaggi di questo romanzo dalla mente altamente contorta e sadica, privi di ogni buonsenso e di cuore. Due automi che rappresento l'essenza stessa del male e della crudeltà
Nonostante io abbia amato alla follia questo romanzo, ho trovato un pecca che, soprattutto sul finale, mi ha un po fatto storcere il naso, ovvero le interazioni personali tra alcune coppie.
Un male più oscuro è nascosto tra le pareti della grotta, pronto a dar vita ad un vero e proprio inferno
Una storia da incubo che vi farà ricredere sull'esistenza dell'uomo nero, celato nel buio che aspetta solo il momento adatto per straziare e dilaniare le vostre carni. Ma niente di sovrannaturale, qui i soli mostri che troverete saranno umani: alcuni più ragionevoli e manipolatori, altri ormai disumanizzati e prede degli istinti più animaleschi
La storia è raccontata su due piani differenti: da una parte abbiamo il gruppo rinchiuso nella caverna, capitanato da Darcy (la guida dell'escursione) e Greg; dall'altra abbiamo Chris (madre di Darcy) e Hank (padre di Paula, una delle ragazze nella grotta) che si trovano in superficie e cercano il modo di poter salvare le figlie
Non voglio fare spoiler per non rovinare l'effetto sorpresa che vi assicuro essere una vera bomba, ma vi do un piccolo indizio: c'è un richiamo a Psycho, seppur qui sviluppato in maniera molto più malata e cruenta, che vi farà rabbrividire in un primo momento e sentire male in un secondo.
Kyle e il padre sono due personaggi di questo romanzo dalla mente altamente contorta e sadica, privi di ogni buonsenso e di cuore. Due automi che rappresento l'essenza stessa del male e della crudeltà
Nonostante io abbia amato alla follia questo romanzo, ho trovato un pecca che, soprattutto sul finale, mi ha un po fatto storcere il naso, ovvero le interazioni personali tra alcune coppie.
May 26, 2015
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 realize what lurks behind the wall...
Yeah, I didn't get into any details - however, the reason I ticked-off the spoiler tag is because as anyone who has read Laymon before knows... he's about as fond of having his characters survive to the end of the story as George R.R. Martin would later show to be - surprisingly, Midnight's Lair has one of his more uplifting endings.
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 realize what lurks behind the wall...
Yeah, I didn't get into any details - however, the reason I ticked-off the spoiler tag is because as anyone who has read Laymon before knows... he's about as fond of having his characters survive to the end of the story as George R.R. Martin would later show to be - surprisingly, Midnight's Lair has one of his more uplifting endings.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2020
Yes some of the language and the heavy male gaze is problematic and dated, and yes, the word rump should probably never need to appear 18 times in one book, but Midnight's Lair is a very fun read if you're into trashy horror. It is exactly what you'd expect if you were watching an old gruesome video nasty, which is what I'm often found doing. This is only my second experience with Laymon and it certainly won't be the last.
July 29, 2008
What a wild ride! Thanks to this book, I will never again visit a cave, let alone check into a motel by myself like Amy Lawson. Midnight's Lair is 253 pages of suspense and terror, a short one for Laymon, and just when I thought it was over... If you are claustrophobic, you might want to avoid this one.
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