Friday Night in Beast House

Beast House Chronicles #4

by Richard Laymon

When Mark finally musters his courage to ask Alison out, she accepts with one that he help sneak her into the notorious Beast House after it closes.

Genres: Horror, Fiction, Splatterpunk, Thriller, Novella, Supernatural, Adult

161 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Richard 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

Reviews

[Fiona MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea that 'Friday Night at Beast House' was so short. I powered through it in a very short time.
We follow a young boy who manages to secure a date with the girl of his dreams. her one request? That he sneaks into the famous 'Beast House' (a well known tourist attraction) and lets her in when the sun goes down. Apparently she has been trying this trick with many hopeful boys in the past, and none have ever got that far. But things are about to take a sinister and terrifying turn...
Laymon has a great feel of old-school horror about him, I found that especially when I read 'Niht in the Lonesome October'. I will be reading more of his work...

[HippieWitch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this was different...Really liked it, until it became a monster porno with underage teens.. Not my cup of tea, Thanks.

[Brina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eigentlich habe ich die Bücher von Richard Laymon immer gerne gelesen und habe mich von dem Autor entweder schocken oder gruseln lassen. Bei "Die Tür" hat mich allerdings nur eine Sache gegruselt und das ist die Gestaltung des Buches.

"Die Tür" wird hierbei mit 256 Seiten beworben, allerdings ist die Geschichte gerade einmal 128 Seiten lang und endet meiner Meinung nach viel zu abrupt mit viel zu vielen offenen Fragen. Man muss zwar sagen, dass die Geschichte im Todesjahr des Autors geschrieben und somit vielleicht nicht final bearbeitet wurde, allerdings muss man sich die große Frage stellen, wieso "Die Tür" überhaupt veröffentlicht wurde.

Die Figuren wirken so, als wären sie nicht vollständig ausgearbeitet und bleiben somit blass, die Handlung selbst strotzt nur so vor Logikfehlern und wirkt ebenfalls so, als hätte der Autor nicht mehr die Zeit gefunden, um das Werk vollständig zu bearbeiten. Da kann man dem Mann absolut keinen Vorwurf machen, sondern vielmehr den Menschen, die sich um eine Veröffentlichung bemüht haben, denn so werden andere, die Laymon bislang noch nicht, bzw. zum erstem Mal gelesen haben, möglicherweise abgeschreckt sein.

Auf den restlichen knapp 125 Seiten befindet sich die Kurzgeschichte "Die Wildnis", wieso die allerdings im Vorfeld nirgendwo erwähnt wurde, ist mehr als fraglich. Man kann zwar sagen "Hey, freu dich doch, so hast du zwei Geschichten auf einmal.", aber was bringt mir das, wenn ich im Vorfeld etwas ganz anderes erwartet habe, nämlich "Die Tür", die eigentlich die Fortsetzung von "Der Keller" sein sollte? Hier hat Heyne Hardcore ganz klar versagt, denn es wurde einfach etwas vollkommen anderes versprochen.

Gut, man muss sagen, dass zwischen "Der Keller" und "Die Tür" inhaltlich knapp zwanzig Jahre dazwischenliegen, dennoch frage ich mich, wieso absolut rein gar nicht auf die Geschichte von "Der Keller" eingegangen wird und auch die Figuren wissen zum Großteil angeblich gar nicht, was damals geschehen ist, was "Die Tür" somit für mich sehr unglaubwürdig macht. Wäre die Geschichte logischer gewesen und hätte sie insgesamt runder gewirkt, hätte ich möglicherweise über die Kürze hinwegsehen können. So frage ich mich allerdings, wieso das Buch überhaupt veröffentlicht wurde.

So gerne ich den Heyne Verlag und Richard Laymon auch mag, aber das war leider überhaupt nichts und ich hätte mir gewünscht, wenn man wenigstens im Vorfeld angemerkt hätte, um was es sich bei diesem Buch wirklich handelt.

[Scott Johnson · Rating 1 out of 5]

Richard Laymon was, by all accounts, a great and prolific author. His novels, more than thirty, are praised and cited as inspirations by some of the biggest names in the industry. Among his books was the "Beast House" series, stories of murder, rape, bestiality, and all other sorts of depravity. Starting with The Cellar, Laymon created a chilling account of a town that lived in fear of the evil represented by a house. Now, almost ten years after his death, comes Friday Night in Beast House (okay, it was originally published in 2001, but this is a new edition that contains The Wilds tacked onto it). It's a shame that such a respected legacy was tarnished by such an awful "book." To begin with, this is a novella at best, and it contains another novella, called The Wilds, tacked to the end to make up space. But that's forgivable. What isn't is the story itself.

I can't help but think this was found in some forgotten drawer somewhere, and that someone is attempting to cash in on the Beast House mythos. The story is about a sixteen-year-old kid named Mark who wants to ask the girl of his dreams, Alison, out. She agrees, but only if he can get her into the Beast House (which is now a grisly museum dedicated to the horrors that happened there) after hours and they can spend the night there together. Ignoring the notion that a girl who wants him to commit breaking and entry on their first date might be more trouble than she's worth, he manages the task. Up to this point, the story is reading like an episode of Goosebumps, except that Mark can't seem to keep his eyes off of anything with boobs. Ah, puberty. The story contains little in the way of "beasts," save for a rape scene that comes off as laughably implausible, after which the victim gives herself over to her boyfriend willingly and with gusto. In all, it seems like two different writers worked on this story, the first being R.L. Stein, the last being any random bestiality fan-fic writer. It definitely doesn't ring of Richard Laymon.

The second story is slightly better, but still comes across as ill-conceived and more like something that Laymon tucked in a drawer to revisit and flesh out later. The Wilds is the story of Ned Champion, a guy who broke up with his girlfriend just days before a planned camping trip. He decides to go it alone and takes his journal along to record his musings. At some point in the trip, he loses his mind and humanity and starts killing other campers. Why? Well, it's never really fleshed out to the point that we get a reason. The way it comes across, he's just an asshole. While this story does have a twist ending, it's not one particularly well conceived, and comes off as just silly.

Put the two stories together and you get a disappointing read from a respected name. People who pick this book up first, before reading any of his other (better) work will probably be turned off of Laymon forever. Those who are already fans will find these stories disturbing for all the wrong reasons.

[Patrizia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Laymon ist speziell das wissen alle Laymon Leser und seinen Hang zum pornografischen Horror ist bekannt aber dieser Roman war wirklich für nichts ... das Ende ist extrem plump und kommt viel zu schnell. Fragen bleiben unbeantwortet. Dazu wurde das Buch falsche vermarktet, den es ist nur eine Story von 118 Seiten, der Rest ist eine Prolog zu dem Keller Roman und eine andere Kurzgeschichte ...somit ist das Buch den Preis nicht wert

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

A lackluster novella to conclude the chronicles. No prior reading of the previous books is required though there are a couple of references to characters from the earlier books, this is very much a standalone entry. More akin early to a Goosebumps story than Laymon's traditional horror though he does make up for the PG core with an R18 ending.

[Иван Величков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Продължаваме с чекмджето на отишлия си Леймън. „Петък вечер в Къщата на звяра” е малка злобна повест, чието действие се развива в небезизвестната атракция на Малакаса пойнт.
Марк е стеснително 16 годишно момче, което най-накрая се престрашава да покани съученичката си Алисън на среща. Тя обаче има едно условие. Ако иска да излезе с нея, трябва да я вкара в Къщата на звяра през нощта. След доста перипрти Марк успява и естествено, двете разгонени хлапетии не са сами там.
Бих казал, че новелата е посредствена, но вдигам с една звезда, защото се скъсах от смях на коментарите. Честно, хора, ако не искате да четете за абсурдни изнасилвания на непълнолетни, не четете Леймън – толкова е просто.
В книгата има и бонус разказ, който го нямаше в моят вариант. Като го докопам ще допиша.
Докопах го. Казава се The Wilds и си има собствено издание :)

[Stay Fetters · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!
What in the hell is this!?
Did that Beast just!?..... He what!? No, he couldn't have! No way! Whoa! Ummm... Alison got what by who!? What? And did Mark just.... with Alison...after she was...? 😳😳😳😳

My mind has officially shut down after reading this misogynistic drivel.
The writing was so horrendous that you can't help but laugh at parts.

If you read this, make sure you come up with a safe word!!

[Brendon Lowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last book in the Beast House series really doesn't add anything to the series but is a short read and was OK for the most part.

Mark asks Alison out on a date, but her condition for this date is for him to get them into the Beast House after dark. The majority of this story is basically Mark figuring out how to get into the house and hide to let Alison in after it closes. It's nothing remarkable but not overly boring either. As you expect, a Beast shows up, and this is where it turns decent, probably better than some of the full-length novels in the series and a particularly horrific rape scene. It's ends just as quickly as it started, really. Average at best, and I'm glad this series is over as I really didn't enjoy them bar the first one, "the cellar."

[Jeffreyleepierce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Självklart absurt och full fart! Bra avslutning på denna bokserie som jag kommer att läsa igen.

Ställer mig dock fortfarande frågan om varför ingen har filmat än Laymon-bok än?

[Craig · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a very unpleasant little book. It started off like it was going to be a young-adult haunted house story and then ended up with misogynistic pornography. I can't think of anything good to say about it.

[Evans Light · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anything else by Laymon will likely be better.

[FiktiveWelten · Rating 4 out of 5]

RICHARD LAYMON polarisiert – das steht außer Frage. Während ihm seine Fans auch nach seinem Ableben die Treue halten, kehren ihm andere angewidert den Rücken. DIE T��R, jüngst im Heyne Hardcore Programm erschienen, ist der vierte Roman um das sogenannte Horrorhaus in Malcasa Point, unweit San Francisco. Mit einem Zeitversatz von rund zwanzig Jahren knüpft das Buch an IM KELLER, DAS HORRORHAUS und MITTERNACHTSTOUR, alle zusammen im Sammelband DER KELLER ebenfalls bei Heyne Hardcore erschienen, relativ locker an.

Einst Stätte unermesslichen Grauens, ist das Horrorhaus inzwischen eine Touristenattraktion. Ausstellungsstücke zeigen beispielweise das erste Opfer, Ethel Hughes, die anno 1903 ihr Leben ließ. Viele weitere Morde folgten.

Auch Mark kennt die Gerüchte um die Bestie, die einst dort ihr Unwesen trieb und selbst heute noch dazu führt, dass der Zutritt außerhalb der Öffnungszeiten streng untersagt ist. Allerdings winkt ihm ein Rendezvous um Mitternacht mit der angebeteten Alison. Die Sechzehnjährige ist scharf auf ein gruseliges Abenteuer, Mark wiederum ist scharf auf sie. Er will cool sein und beweisen, dass er ihrer würdig ist. Gesunder Menschenverstand hin oder her, das Mädchen ist ihm jedes Risiko wert! Mit List und Tücke gelangt er ins Gebäude und findet überraschend schnell ein Versteck. Nun muss er nur noch ein paar Stunden warten, bis auch Alison erscheint. Doch der Tunnel, den einst die Bestie nutzte, um ins Horrorhaus zu gelangen, ist eng … dunkel … angsteinflößend!
Mark ist allein … Behauptet wer?

Die vierte Geschichte wird in einundzwanzig Kapiteln in dritter Person aus Sicht der Hauptfigur erzählt. Damit umfasst DIE TÜR gerade einmal die Hälfte des Buches. Das Geschehen nimmt mit unterschwelliger Spannung und Unbehagen seinen Lauf. RICHARD LAYMON versteht es wie kaum ein anderer im Genre, den Leser schnell und nachhaltig zu fesseln. Das, für den Autor übliche, Potenzial schöpft DIE TÜR dennoch nicht aus. Zu begrenzt ist der Entwicklungsspielraum, zu schnell folgt der Höhepunkt und zu abrupt ist alles vorbei. Ob man die Vorbände bereits gelesen hat oder nicht, ist dabei irrelevant. Als richtiger Abschluss der Reihe funktioniert Marks Erlebnis im Endeffekt nicht.

Ebenfalls im Buch enthalten ist die Novelle DIE WILDNIS, in etwa ebenso umfangreich. Hier erzählt Ned Champion von seinen Erlebnissen in freier Natur in Form eines dreizehn Einträge umfassenden Reiseberichts.

Der Campingausflug nach Lost River war umfangreich geplant und gut vorbereitet. Nur Ned und Cora. Fünf Tage gemeinsam in der Wildnis. Im Zweierpack gibt es sie nun allerdings nicht mehr, die Beziehung ist passé. Was soll’s! Ned macht sich allein auf den Weg in sein großes Abenteuer als Pfadfinder oder Fährtenleser. Frei nach dem Motto: Einsamkeit ist noch immer die beste Gesellschaft. Zu Beginn hat Ned mit dem Alleinsein, vor allem nachts, noch große Probleme. Schnell spielt ihm die Fantasie einen Streich und er befindet sich im Kreislauf der Todesangst. Seine Furcht erst einmal besiegt, wird er jedoch mehr und mehr eins mit der Natur. Er verschmilzt mit ihr, wird unsichtbar und entdeckt sein Gefallen am Beobachten ahnungsloser Wanderer. Als ihm schließlich die Nahrung ausgeht, muss er sich etwas einfallen lassen.

Ruhig aber stetig nimmt Neds Wandlung zum echten Naturburschen seinen Lauf. Je intensiver die Freiheit, desto skurriler seine Gedankengänge. Der Zwist zwischen Anstand und Überlebensdruck gerät immer mehr auf die schiefe Bahn. Wer LAYMON kennt, weiß, das geht nicht gut aus. Zum Schluss aber zaubert er noch eine Überraschung aus dem Hut! Auch diese Erzählung fesselt auf ihre ganz eigene Weise.

DIE TÜR erscheint in Deutscher Erstausgabe als handliches Taschenbuch bei Heyne Hardcore. Leider hat man es versäumt, irgendwo auf Vorder- oder Rückseite darauf hinzuweisen, dass es sich um zwei kürzere Geschichten in einem Buch handelt. Das hätte womöglich falsche Erwartungen im Vorfeld ausgeschlossen. Das Cover sieht dennoch hübsch aus und ist mit dem leicht erhabenen Spotlack auch ein haptisches Erlebnis. Das Vorhängeschloss ist ein wichtiges Detail im Buch, wenn auch weniger blutig.
Im Anhang des Titels folgen eine Leseprobe aus DER KELLER und der Vollständigkeit halber das Werksverzeichnis der von RICHARD LAYMON im Heyne Verlag erschienen Titel.

Fazit:

Für Fans ist RICHARD LAYMON Kult! Seine Bücher sind extrem und ganz sicher nichts für zarte Gemüter. Das Grauen lauert in DIE TÜR und vor allem in DIE WILDNIS geradezu auf den Leser, umschleicht ihn, wiegt ihn nur scheinbar in Sicherheit und tippt ihm schlussendlich unerwartet auf die Schulter. Natürlich fehlen auch die üblichen Elemente Sex und Gewalt in diesem Buch nicht. Aufgrund der Kürze beider Geschichten, werden sie allerdings vom Autor etwas weniger ausschweifend zelebriert.

[Wally Flangers · Rating 3 out of 5]

You are unarmed, terrified, and attempting to slay a beast twice your size, who is known to rip people to pieces, just to save a chick you barely know for a chance that you could get laid in return? No problem…. Welcome to the one-track mind of a heterosexual male….

Published posthumously in 2001, “Friday Night in Beast House” is a short novella and the final installment of “The Beast House Chronicles”. Although it’s the sequel to “The Midnight Tour”, it doesn’t compliment the series or acts as a sequel – aside from Beast House itself being the focal point…. The book reads like an unfinished novel or a side story from another Beast House volume that was edited out. You get a sense that after Richard Laymon died, his editor came along and started poking around his cob-webbed attic and stumbled upon pages of Beast House material from other books, scattered all over the place, and he decided to piece them all together and then have a ghost writer fill in the blanks to make it work.

The writing style just doesn’t quite feel like Laymon at times….. Out of all the Laymon books that I’ve ever read (which is a lot more than what is listed on goodreads), I’ve never come across the mentioning of pop culture like this before. Laymon’s writing was definitely always dated in some form, but he never did it with pop culture like say, Stephen King. He dated his books by mentioning VHS players, “Walkmans”, phone booths, typewriters, etc. Not specifically referencing cultural icons and hit TV shows like “The Simpsons” and “X-files”. That doesn’t sound like Laymon at all….

Another thing that wasn’t consistent with Laymon’s writing style is the fact that a key reoccurring character, Eve Chaney, is mentioned in passing. There is no focus on her at all….. You get a glimpse of her and that’s it. Unless Laymon was smoking crack during this writing period and forgot her significant role in “The Midnight Tour”, I do not feel like he wrote the entire novella. Laymon would have spent a lot more than three seconds on a key character in the series. Stephen King is the one who, at times, drags in a key characters from another book in passing, not Richard Laymon.

Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the novella for what it was and had a lot of fun reading it…. But, I’d like to forget that it was the final book in the series and want to replace that thought with “The Midnight Tour”….. “Friday Night in Beast House” can be read as a stand-alone novella, anyway. There are very few references to the other three books and these are brand new characters we’re talking about here, so I think this can be enjoyed by someone who is unfamiliar to the series.

So, what’s “Friday Night in Beast House” actually all about you ask? Well, it has a very simple plot that is fun for the entire family…. A teenaged dude named Mark Matthews is trying to boink a hot chick named Alison and will do whatever it takes to achieve that goal – even if it means spending an evening alone in the most notorious horror house in the country…. Pretty straightforward and pretty typical.

Since this book is more of a side story than a sequel, many questions have been left unanswered which created a lot of frustration for me as the book concluded. Aside from Eve Chaney, where the hell were all the characters from the previous books? What happened to Dana after Eric snatched her ass? Where is the old staff that ran the tours who lived by the Beast House code? I could go on and on…. How can “Friday Night in Beast House” really wrap up the series?

Note: I found it interesting that Mark’s last name is Matthews…. In “The Midnight Tour” there was a Harry Matthews, who helped Lib and Sandy Hayes dispose of Marlon Slade’s body, remember? Is there a family relation there or is it just coincidence? Another question we will never know the answer to….

FINAL VERDICT: I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. “Friday Night in Beast House” is a very short, but fun read and that is what kept it hovering just above the 2 star mark and into the 3 star realm. If you enjoyed the first three books, then this one is a “must read” to conclude the series…. Just keep in mind that it really is just a simple story of a single event that took place sometime after the events in “The Midnight Tour”. Laymon actually could have capitalized on that concept and written tons of other books with side stories of Beast House if his life wasn’t cut short. Damn heart….

[Mike (Hail Horror Hail) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than I had heard, but still pretty lackluster, at least it's a quick read.

[Clarissa · Rating 1 out of 5]

???

[Cujo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not gonna lie. I was extremely disappointed with this. I thought the 4th and final installment in the see Beast House series would be a riveting conclusion, but it was not to be. Instead we got a short novella that could've been titled,"Beast House Seen as Seen Thru the Eyes of a 16 y/o Fanboy"..There was another novella in this as well that was ok, bordering on good. It honestly was good but the disappointment in the Beast House novella took away it's luster

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fun addition to the Beast House Chronicles. This particular addition included drawings throughout which added to the story. My favorite drawing was of the Kutch House which brought an awesome visual to this house with no windows. I just love this image.

[Crystal · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why was this published?
Let me say this-Richard Laymon was a great and prolific author and the godfather of the splatterpunk genre. Mad respect for the man. But, help me lord, this book is awful and should have never been written. It's thin in characterization and plot, it's too short and a horrible continuation to the other Beast House books (which were quite good in their own right). This book felt like it was written by a completely different author. I mean, the beginning was very R.L. Stine and then, out of nowhere, we have weird shock value gore. It wasn't cohesive and such a disappointment for Laymon fans.

[Therese · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was an awful, misogynistic, and nasty piece of work. And, no, I'm not particularly squeamish. I just hate bad books. If you have a seriously short attention span and you're a fan of one-dimensional characters, 80 or so pages describing a teenage boy doing nothing but hiding in a hole, and girls who enjoy being raped by beasts, then you'll probably love this. Otherwise I'd recommend avoiding it.

[Maicie · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book also contained the short novella "The Wilds" which was a little better than the main story...but not much. Authors - heads up. Women who are raped do not immediately hop into the sack with the next available man. This is not rocket science, guys.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This feels like a short story, The kind that would be made into an episode of one of the many '80s horror anthology shows that were popular at the time.

[Jay V. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a quick read. I enjoyed it for the story it was but nothing like the first 3 books in the series. Just a taste of the Beast House with a date night.

[John Bruni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love is in the air in Laymon land! In this short book (for him) there are two novellas. Very horny novellas, but you already knew that. It's a Laymon book, after all.

The first one is about Beast House, so you know how that one goes. As per usual someone wants to sneak in after hours (and the tour they go on in the day is tedious and penis-engorging as ever). This time it's a teenage girl who has suckered a teenage boy into helping her get in, in exchange for . . . well, guess. All the same, it doesn't turn out the way you think it will. And the reason why love is in the air is a bit of a spoiler, so I'll skip it.

"The Wilds" is about a horrible young man who goes out into the wilderness to get away from it all. His girlfriend is supposed to come with him, but he caught her cheating on him, so he decides to go alone. Anyone who has read a Laymon book about the great outdoors knows that there is someone out there hunting humans. I kept waiting for that person to show up, but (and I don't think this is a spoiler, since it's a little early in the novella) that person turns out to be our narrator! And yes, if you've read Laymon's works, you also know that if it's about the great outdoors, there *will* be a bodybuilder in the middle of nowhere in a banana hammock. Sure enough, Laymon has just such a dude in this one. Usually they're the guys hunting humans, but not this time. And yes, love is in the air on this one, too, but that is also a spoiler, so I'll also be skipping that.

There's just one more thing I'd like to mention about "The Wilds." I really, really did not like the protagonist. The longer I read about his musings, the more I realized that the girl who cheated on him probably had a very good reason to do so. In my humble opinion, he deserved it, and she lucked out. But the longer I read, the more I wondered if we'd find out that he killed her before he left for the wilderness. I started wondering just how unreliable is this narrator? We didn't get that, but still.

As with all Laymon books, this is an excellent read.

[Quentin Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars

Okay so I was hoping this was a sequel to The Midnight Tour, but it really wasn't. It was a short one shot tale featuring a beast raping a hot young girl (damn those are some horny monsters) who enjoys it so much she gets turned on and has sex with her wanna be bf right after. Literally right after. I just have an issue with how much women love sex with these monsters, seems a little misogynistic to me.

The bonus novella, The Wilds, is pretty sick as well. The killer in the story won't rape but he sure will kill some people.

Laymon's stories are entertaining but everyone has sick fantasies, the men are mostly perverts that are always horny (even moreso than real life!) and the women are almost as bad. But as I've said before, there's something so compelling in his books that you can't put them down. I guess things are just so outrageous you want to see what happens next.

I would like to have seen a definitive end to the Beast House saga, but since Laymon has passed away I suppose we never will.

[Squire · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short, 2-hour read.

I feel sorry for readers who approached "The Beast House Chronicles" first through this novella. In fact, I read a few reviews from people who did just that (and I had to laugh.) It's horror. You roll the dice and take your chances.

Richard Laymon's signature blend of teenage angst, sex, and violence is crude at times, but always on point. This is a less meaty work compared to the first three instalments, but still is a suspenseful and sometimes chilling read. The biggest problem is that it doesn't add anything new to the legend of the Beast House. I suppose that because the beast did not take Alison captive to make her the mother of the next generation of beasts raises questions, but that alone wasn't enough to make me think anything new had been added.

As for the ending...well, the first three BH books prepared me for that.

[Jo_Scho_Reads · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A somewhat random novella (154 pages) which is the final story in the Beast House series.

Basically Mark fancies Alison. Alison agrees to go on a date with him - on the proviso that it’s overnight in the infamous Beast House. Obviously he’s going to do everything in his power to keep this date, but breaking into the Beast House isn’t going to be easy, and let’s not even mention what happens in there overnight…

I really have no clue what this extra novella brought to the series. I think Laymon fans could quite easily have lived without this one.

However I do love his style of writing and it was reasonably entertaining. And I read it in an hour, so I’ll give a 3.5 rating and be thankful that my time in the Beast House is done forever more.

[Magdalena Lux · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meinung:

Zuallererst muss man sagen, dass "Die Tür" nur die Hälfte des Buches einnimmt und der Rest des Buches die Novelle "Die Wildnis" enthält.

"Die Tür":

Total komisch und unlogisch und für mich nicht wirklich nachvollziehbar.
Die Charaktere fand ich auch komisch und es war mir auch zu kurz.

Muss man wirklich nicht lesen. 🤷‍♀️

Sterne: 1/5

"Die Wildnis":

Diese Novelle hat mir viel besser gefallen.
Blutiger und brutaler als "Die Tür" und ich fand sie auch wirklich interessant zu lesen.
Nur halt leider auch wieder zu kurz, um dementsprechend viele Sterne zu vergeben.

Sterne: 3/5

Sexuelle Anspielungen waren zum Glück in beiden eher wenig und dezent enthalten.

Ein Buch, das man lesen kann, aber nicht muss.

Außerdem würde ich es mir lieber ausleihen, als es zu kaufen und dabei unnötig Geld auszugeben.

gesamt Sterne: 3/5

[DJMikeG · Rating 2 out of 5]

First two thirds of this novella were mostly great. And then that ending. Ugh, not good on any level. The ending is so terrible that it negates most of the book's positive traits. But, at least this is short and moves quickly! I read the whole thing in one sitting. So it doesn't waste too much of your time like a bad full length novel will. Laymon wrote some undeniably excellent horror novels. But, once you have read the best of his, the rest of his is ... well, not for me, we'll say. He has more than once made me ask myself why I keep reading him and why I read horror at all. And those are not great feelings to have when you finish a book.

[A1Cvenom · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5 stars) Definitely not one of Laymon’s best books. This was prime 13 year old boy, minded, pulp horror. It was way too short and had way too little action. I have a feeling the story was not completed or unfinished before his death. Allison might be one of the most deranged and unstable characters in lore. That being said it was an easy read that kept me turing pages lighting fast. lol