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The Pond
Little America --
Clayborn, Alabama, was a sleepy southern town that seemed to be free from the problems of the modern world. Crime was nonexistent, the people were friendly, and the local company kept the town prosperous. To all appearances, Clayborn was the perfect place for a family to live.
Little Hell --
That was what Taylor Fredricks thought -- until his teenage son came to him with a tale of murder and mutilated corpses, a tale so unbelievable it couldn't be true. But before long, Fredericks discovered his son had stumbled onto a conspiracy of greed and corruption that lay hidden beneath the town's serene surface. For the people of Clayborn had a secret so evil that its revelation would destroy the town and everyone in it.
Clayborn, Alabama, was a sleepy southern town that seemed to be free from the problems of the modern world. Crime was nonexistent, the people were friendly, and the local company kept the town prosperous. To all appearances, Clayborn was the perfect place for a family to live.
Little Hell --
That was what Taylor Fredricks thought -- until his teenage son came to him with a tale of murder and mutilated corpses, a tale so unbelievable it couldn't be true. But before long, Fredericks discovered his son had stumbled onto a conspiracy of greed and corruption that lay hidden beneath the town's serene surface. For the people of Clayborn had a secret so evil that its revelation would destroy the town and everyone in it.
- GenresHorror
389 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published December 1, 1990
2 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 4, 2022
On my own property is an old natural pond that folks in the area have dubbed "Snapper Lagoon," due to the abundance of large and aggressive turtles that like to make a meal of any unsuspecting waterfowl. I don't mind the ugly buggers so much. I have my fire pit, a raised garden bed, and a few lawn chairs out there. And of course, that's where I read the bulk of this book I'm reviewing today. Since I bought my house four years ago, I've spent quite a few evenings on the bank of this pond, listening to the belches of bullfrogs and the mournful call of an owl while watching the fireflies twinkle like fairies. It's on these warm evenings that I've wondered what secrets (besides the three-foot Gameras) lie beneath the still, duckweed-covered surface. Now that I've read "The Pond," I may never go out to my backyard again.
This is the only book to my knowledge that R. Karl Largent published under the pseudonym "Simon Lawrence." I'm not sure why, since he did publish a handful of horror paperbacks in addition to an extensive line of military action yarns under his real name. And "The Pond" doesn't seem to be a novel from which a guy specializing in sensational pop fiction would need to distance himself, because it is quite a competent and compelling piece of work.
Not to say this book doesn't have its share of problems. Characters are constantly doing the dumbest things simply for the sake of creating suspense or prolonging a mystery or putting them in peril. In fact, the whole series of events that serve as the crux of this novel is set in motion by the bad guys, who take a harmless situation and escalate it for no good reason other than they are bad guys, and the author needed to get the story rolling. The story opens with some 14-year-olds acting like delinquents, who play a prank on a mean old man who catches one of them and rides off with the kid. Now obviously this alerts a few parents that something ain't right in their podunk town, leading to most of the story being about uncovering the mystery of a criminal scheme. If the old guy had just said "Boo!" and scared the kids off, life would have gone on as usual, but that would have required the author to come up with a more sophisticated and clever scheme to move the plot along. Instead, every single significant plot device involves someone doing something stupid, to the point where we've got incredibly sloppy and dim-witted antagonists that only pose a threat because the rest of the characters are equally inept. Quite a few popular horror authors like Graham Masterson tend to make these kinds of narrative missteps, which annoy me to no end.
But with "The Pond," my rating is not hurt too badly, because these choices actually work well within the themes presented. In reality, people are impaired by greed, hubris, ignorance, and just plain lack of ability to play things forward. This novel is ultimately an exploration of political corruption and how the general population is largely uninformed and lulled into a false sense of security when jobs are good and crime is low, as is the case here. Hell, history has shown that people tend to stay asleep even if their whole country is crumbling around them. So "The Pond" actually is a pretty good satire of the dynamics between authority and public.
Also, if you think I gave away too much of the plot already, rest assured that I did not. This novel just piles on the craziness with gusto, making this an unpredictable wild ride that will make 400 pages whiz by quickly. If Edward Lee ever read this book, I suspect he'd have approved.
Speaking of Ed Lee, this novel preceded "The Bighead" by seven years, but horror fans may not be able to help making comparisons to Lee's more infamous splatter fest, particularly since both books share a similar villain--a hydrocephalic giant raised by a redneck to become a murderous force of nature. And while "The Pond" may not be nearly a perverted mess like "The Bighead," it is nonetheless a brutal offering that takes the reader into dark waters, wasting no time in getting to the carnage within the first few pages. The narrative goes places you would not expect for what at times seems like an imitation of Stephen King's "The Body." There is a sweaty grittiness to it that more than makes up for any perceived deficiencies in gore, with much of the horror coming from the despicable behavior of the adult characters. It explores such feel-good topics as domestic violence, child abuse, abortion, religious hypocrisy, and corruption. And along with a solid grounding in horror, the story makes for a decent mystery with a-- well, let's just say interesting--conclusion that's in keeping with the tone of the novel.
If you like Southern Gothic, backwoods horrors, and crime mysteries, you'll likely want to add "The Pond" to your reading list.
This is the only book to my knowledge that R. Karl Largent published under the pseudonym "Simon Lawrence." I'm not sure why, since he did publish a handful of horror paperbacks in addition to an extensive line of military action yarns under his real name. And "The Pond" doesn't seem to be a novel from which a guy specializing in sensational pop fiction would need to distance himself, because it is quite a competent and compelling piece of work.
Not to say this book doesn't have its share of problems. Characters are constantly doing the dumbest things simply for the sake of creating suspense or prolonging a mystery or putting them in peril. In fact, the whole series of events that serve as the crux of this novel is set in motion by the bad guys, who take a harmless situation and escalate it for no good reason other than they are bad guys, and the author needed to get the story rolling. The story opens with some 14-year-olds acting like delinquents, who play a prank on a mean old man who catches one of them and rides off with the kid. Now obviously this alerts a few parents that something ain't right in their podunk town, leading to most of the story being about uncovering the mystery of a criminal scheme. If the old guy had just said "Boo!" and scared the kids off, life would have gone on as usual, but that would have required the author to come up with a more sophisticated and clever scheme to move the plot along. Instead, every single significant plot device involves someone doing something stupid, to the point where we've got incredibly sloppy and dim-witted antagonists that only pose a threat because the rest of the characters are equally inept. Quite a few popular horror authors like Graham Masterson tend to make these kinds of narrative missteps, which annoy me to no end.
But with "The Pond," my rating is not hurt too badly, because these choices actually work well within the themes presented. In reality, people are impaired by greed, hubris, ignorance, and just plain lack of ability to play things forward. This novel is ultimately an exploration of political corruption and how the general population is largely uninformed and lulled into a false sense of security when jobs are good and crime is low, as is the case here. Hell, history has shown that people tend to stay asleep even if their whole country is crumbling around them. So "The Pond" actually is a pretty good satire of the dynamics between authority and public.
Also, if you think I gave away too much of the plot already, rest assured that I did not. This novel just piles on the craziness with gusto, making this an unpredictable wild ride that will make 400 pages whiz by quickly. If Edward Lee ever read this book, I suspect he'd have approved.
Speaking of Ed Lee, this novel preceded "The Bighead" by seven years, but horror fans may not be able to help making comparisons to Lee's more infamous splatter fest, particularly since both books share a similar villain--a hydrocephalic giant raised by a redneck to become a murderous force of nature. And while "The Pond" may not be nearly a perverted mess like "The Bighead," it is nonetheless a brutal offering that takes the reader into dark waters, wasting no time in getting to the carnage within the first few pages. The narrative goes places you would not expect for what at times seems like an imitation of Stephen King's "The Body." There is a sweaty grittiness to it that more than makes up for any perceived deficiencies in gore, with much of the horror coming from the despicable behavior of the adult characters. It explores such feel-good topics as domestic violence, child abuse, abortion, religious hypocrisy, and corruption. And along with a solid grounding in horror, the story makes for a decent mystery with a-- well, let's just say interesting--conclusion that's in keeping with the tone of the novel.
If you like Southern Gothic, backwoods horrors, and crime mysteries, you'll likely want to add "The Pond" to your reading list.
November 14, 2023
Simon Lawrence, AKA F. Karl Largent, wrote several thrillers with horror aspects, but with The Pond, he went horror all the way, albeit with the relentless pacing of a thriller. The small town of Clayborn, Alabama, several times voted the best small town in America, proves to be the setting of this tale, and also a town with a dark, nasty secret. While hard to identify a main protagonist, the story revolves around some young boys, Joey Bill Fredricks and Chester, who are just starting their summer school holiday.
Joey Bill, Chester and 'Stumpy' one day ride their bikes to a fishing hole and that evening on the way back, decide to play a prank. On the lonely two lane road to the hole, they spy a car coming their way. Quickly, Stumpy undresses and they pack his clothes with leaves and such and leave a 'body' in the middle of the road, complete with a fishing knife stuck in the chest. The car, a pickup really, stops and out comes the two most feared residents of the town-- Milo and Hiram Adcock.
Hiram features in the story's prologue, where he first dumps his third wife (age 14) in a dumpster after she gave birth to the deformed Milo (she died giving birth) and then, 20 years later, Hiram and Milo kidnap a woman in town, dumping another body in the victim's car and setting it on fire with gas. The two live on the outside of town and pretty much keep to them selves, but of course, there are rumors, both of them and a pond behind their house. Anyway, Hiram sees the 'body' on the road and knows a prank when he sees one, and he is pissed. Joey Bill gets scared and runs off in the woods; Stumpy tries the same trick, falls, and gets captured by Milo, a massive, deformed brute of a man. Chester watches and Milo destroys their bikes, puts a subdued Stumpy in the truck, and then searches for him. Finally, they leave and Chester runs home. A bit later, Milo drowns Stumpy in the pond behind their house.
What the hell is going on? Chester wants to tell someone, but his step-father, a nasty piece of work and the local preacher, is not an option. We suffer with Chester through multiple forms of child abuse, including being whipped with barb wire and locked in a animal cage for hours for his 'atonement'. The sheriff tells Stumpy's mom some tall tale of Stumpy getting drunk and falling in the river, but she calls that bullshit. Why is the sheriff covering for Milo and Hiram? We quickly learn of some secret 'council' that the sheriff, the mayor and Hiram among others are on, but what they are doing remains a mystery until the end. We know it involves dead bodies and is connected to the fertilizer plant in town, but that is about it at first...
What makes this stand out revolves around the believable characters and the villains; humans always make the best monsters after all! While this may feature some teenage boys, it is not a coming of age tale by any means. The town's secret is slowly revealed via the relatively slow but relentless pacing of the story, building up to a surprising denouement. This one hooked me early and just never let up! I love finding horror gems out of the morass of the 70s/80s horror boom and this one qualifies for sure. 4 icky stars!!!
Joey Bill, Chester and 'Stumpy' one day ride their bikes to a fishing hole and that evening on the way back, decide to play a prank. On the lonely two lane road to the hole, they spy a car coming their way. Quickly, Stumpy undresses and they pack his clothes with leaves and such and leave a 'body' in the middle of the road, complete with a fishing knife stuck in the chest. The car, a pickup really, stops and out comes the two most feared residents of the town-- Milo and Hiram Adcock.
Hiram features in the story's prologue, where he first dumps his third wife (age 14) in a dumpster after she gave birth to the deformed Milo (she died giving birth) and then, 20 years later, Hiram and Milo kidnap a woman in town, dumping another body in the victim's car and setting it on fire with gas. The two live on the outside of town and pretty much keep to them selves, but of course, there are rumors, both of them and a pond behind their house. Anyway, Hiram sees the 'body' on the road and knows a prank when he sees one, and he is pissed. Joey Bill gets scared and runs off in the woods; Stumpy tries the same trick, falls, and gets captured by Milo, a massive, deformed brute of a man. Chester watches and Milo destroys their bikes, puts a subdued Stumpy in the truck, and then searches for him. Finally, they leave and Chester runs home. A bit later, Milo drowns Stumpy in the pond behind their house.
What the hell is going on? Chester wants to tell someone, but his step-father, a nasty piece of work and the local preacher, is not an option. We suffer with Chester through multiple forms of child abuse, including being whipped with barb wire and locked in a animal cage for hours for his 'atonement'. The sheriff tells Stumpy's mom some tall tale of Stumpy getting drunk and falling in the river, but she calls that bullshit. Why is the sheriff covering for Milo and Hiram? We quickly learn of some secret 'council' that the sheriff, the mayor and Hiram among others are on, but what they are doing remains a mystery until the end. We know it involves dead bodies and is connected to the fertilizer plant in town, but that is about it at first...
What makes this stand out revolves around the believable characters and the villains; humans always make the best monsters after all! While this may feature some teenage boys, it is not a coming of age tale by any means. The town's secret is slowly revealed via the relatively slow but relentless pacing of the story, building up to a surprising denouement. This one hooked me early and just never let up! I love finding horror gems out of the morass of the 70s/80s horror boom and this one qualifies for sure. 4 icky stars!!!
April 18, 2022
A really great book by "Simon Lawrence" who, I assume is really R. Karl Largent. He wrote "Black Death" another great book. The Pond is along those lines. Where Black Death has a lot of gore and blood. The Pond has less. It's still bloody, but The Pond has more plot going for it. More mystery, as well. It was written in 1990 but is set it the 1970's in rural Alabama.
Three kids play a prank that goes terribly wrong. It's played on an old man with a mutated son. The same old man with "The Pond" on his property. One kid is grabbed and put in his truck. Never to be seen again. The other two kids try to find out what happened to their friend.
The ending is one that I never saw coming. It worked great and made perfect sense. Everything you could want from a horror book and more. Five solid stars.
Three kids play a prank that goes terribly wrong. It's played on an old man with a mutated son. The same old man with "The Pond" on his property. One kid is grabbed and put in his truck. Never to be seen again. The other two kids try to find out what happened to their friend.
The ending is one that I never saw coming. It worked great and made perfect sense. Everything you could want from a horror book and more. Five solid stars.
July 10, 2020
Horror paperback fun from 1990. I didn't really expect much out of The Pond, but I was surprised at how entertaining this book was. Damn, shit got really dark, yo. There were a few times that I was shocked when the story "went there", or even just touched upon some really dark and gruesome scenes. The story jumped around between the main protagonist that made things feel a bit disjointed, and there were a few times that I found myself thinking that people wouldn't really respond the way they did...plus you definitely had to suspend some belief with the way the overall story rolled out...but goddamn, shit was entertaining.
May 4, 2021
3.5 ⭐
August 16, 2015
I wasn't expecting to read the whole book. I usually read trash books for about 15% of their pages before deciding whether or not to continue. For some reason, this one made me want to read it all. I like the ending. I don't understand why Taylor was so upset though, especially considering what happened to his wife. Of course, it might be kind of ableist when it comes to Milo.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews