Search - Blood Games

This is the first "horror" story I have read in a very long time and I was very disappointed. I am not into blood and gore and this book did not have much so that was nice, but the writing was so detailed that I felt like I had to make sure I soaked in every detail because it would be relavent later in the story, it was not, It rarely takes me more than 3 days to read a book, especially one that keeps me interested, but this one has taken me more than 5 days. I lost interest. This book could have been so much better as the plot is interesting and I think it could have been a good 250 page book rather than a long and boring 460 page book. To me it was not worth the effort.

Great book. This is the third Laymon book that I have read and probably my favorite so far. Not a lot of blood and gore as some of his books are prone to, but a good solid story that makes you want to keep reading. The book jumps back and forth between present day and the past when the five friends were in college. It tells the story of how the girls met and became friends. They were always 'adventuresome' and made a pact when they graduated that they would meet for a week once a year to go on an adventure together. Only this adventure is more than they planned. Excellent read!!

They meet for one week every year, five young women, best friends since college, in search of fun and thrills. Each year they choose a different place for their reunion. This year it's Helen's choice, and she chose the Totem Pole Lodge. Bad choice.
The Totem Pole Lodge is a deserted resort hotel deep in the woods with a gory, shocking past. Helen has a macabre streak and she can't wait to tell her friends all about what happened at the lodge and why it's now abandoned. But Helen and the others are in for a nasty surprise.The resort isn't quite as deserted as they think. And not all the gruesome events at the Totem Pole Lodge are in its past. The worst are still to come...

Five young women met as freshmen in college. Although all quite different, circumstances of their initial meeting bonded them together. One thing they all had in common was they did not like injustice and wrong-doing (particularly when aimed at one of themselves). During college they have a number of wild adventures where they dole out their own brand of justice. These stories are portrayed as flashbacks throughout the book.

Just after graduation they decide to get together once a year for new adventures. Each year a different one chooses where they will go and what they will do. This time Helen, a fan of horror movies, has chosen an abandoned hunting lodge where a slaughter took place many year earlier. But things quickly turn serious when they realize that the place is not completely abandoned. But it is when they decide to cut their visit short and leave the first day that things begin to go wrong. Now the ladies must pull together and use their skills in their most serious adventure.

Unlike many other Laymon books, we do not see characters become uncontrolled when the bonds of civilization are broken. This book really focuses on characters standing up for themselves and taking the law into their own hands. Also unlike many others, this one offers better explanations as to why the characters make the decisions they do and why the police are not an option. Definitely chilling in parts with great atmosphere. Things really do proceed right to the final page. A must for Laymon fans.

Waited a long time for this book but---what a disappointment! Starting out I thought, oh boy a creepy deserted lodge, ghosts, etc., but didn't happen. The chapters go back and forth between the past when they were in college and the pranks they pulled to the present time when they arrive at this lodge, but it just doesn't get much better, there is too much detailed conversation and the girls are just smart alecks and they get to be very annoying. A long about the middle you get kind of bored and tired of all the dialogue and the fact that nothing is happening. What a disappointment!