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Book Review of The Traveling Vampire Show

The Traveling Vampire Show
The Traveling Vampire Show
Author: Richard Laymon
Genre: Horror
Book Type: Mass Market Paperback
LaurieS avatar reviewed on + 504 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 10


Despite its title this book is not about vampires. It's about three 16 year old friends and their fascination with visiting the upcoming vampire show. It has moments of gore but mainly it's a coming of age tale focusing on these young kids. The lusty thoughts which I've come to expect from a Laymon book, and which usually crack me up for their out of place silliness, fit these characters and added to the tension of the book. The book takes place in the 60's when drive-ins were much more commonplace and the whole book has the feel of a good scary drive-in movie. It begins when these three hike out to an abandoned field (and reputed to be the dumping ground of a serial killer) hoping to get a glimpse of the vampire before the crowds arrive. Instead they have a bad run-in with a mangy, possibly rabid dog and one of the kid's witnesses something she shouldn't and then weird things begin to happen and they suspect they're being taunted by the vampire folks. It's not until the very end of the book that the all out blood bath begins (and we learn some ugly things about some of our characters) but the tension leading up to it and the nice character study held my attention throughout it's 300+ pages. To date, this has been my favorite of all of the Laymon novels I've read.