Product Description

In an abandoned hotel in a California ghost town, horror writer Larry and his friends make a chilling discovery. By chance they stumble across a naked woman in a coffin with a stake driven through her heart. Was she a vampire or the victim of a gruesome murder?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #177339 in Books
• Published on: 1991-06-13
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Customer Reviews

A vampire tale without a vampire
The Stake is intrinsically a fairly straightforward tale, but one where the true nature of the vampire is not revealed until the dying chapters of the story. The real horror in this book is the relationship between the main characters and their friendships with others.

Although not your normal vampire tale, the usual elements are all their in abundance but what has become almost a formulaic tale has been given a new breath of life by Laymon. Much of the action takes place in a deserted wild west ghost town and this place could be anywhere, maybe down the end of your road and you know you really want to go incase you too can have the same sort of find as Larry and Pete.
There are two themes running the book, one is the tale of the vampire that is in their midst, well thats if she is really a vampire. The second is the way in which man interacts with each other, the true horror in this story being a psychotic mass murderer who touches on the lifes of Larry and his family.

Whilst not one of Laymon's best books it has his trademark style which makes it engrossing and the midnight oil will burn long as you promise yourself just this one last chapter then I really will sleep!

Well written and gripping from the start.
First published back in 1990, by the time Laymon knocked out `The Stake' he already had a fair old number of well received novels under his belt.

The tale finds itself predominantly focused around the character of Larry Dunbar, a horror writer of varying success, who as of yet has not quite broken through to the best sellers list. Larry Dunbar was obviously based on Laymon himself at this stage in his career, which adds an obvious warmth to the characterization as is so often the case with one of Stephen King's self representing characters.

Described by Laymon as the novel he wrote whereby `nothing actually happens' is a woeful misrepresentation of the carefully written tale that builds in an enjoyably and well written fashion.

The reader is taken through the novel along two separate plot lines that you are no doubt sure will eventually meet before the novels conclusion. The story unfolds at a good pace, never leaving the reader bored, but not at the usual Laymon neck-breaking pace that the majority of his more action packed and blood soaked tales find themselves taking.

Sprinkled with the usual underlying sexual lusts and desires that come out within the thoughts of many of the characters, the novel keeps the characterization lively with each character seemingly to actually exist within the pages. Watching the developing relationships and interaction between all the characters in the novel is an enjoyable read in itself, as with the majority of Laymon's novels.

Not exactly a traditional `vampire' novel as such, even though the premise that `vampires really exist' is the main thrust behind the tale, Laymon weaves a carefully crafted plot whereby the reader follows the growing obsession that the character of Larry Dunbar develops for a mummified corpse of a young girl with a stake through her heart, that he finds in a deserted hotel. Dunbar and his friend Pete decide to take the corpse home with them so that Dunbar can write a non-fiction book about vampires based on the corpse they found.

Dunbar's research into the dead girl lead the writer and his friend to discover a dangerous past that takes them on an action filled adventure.

Whilst this plot unravels, the reader also follows the developing relationship between Dunbar's teenage daughter and her psychotic English teacher. As a sub-plot, this added tension keeps the reader gripped to the storyline well.

True to all of Laymon's novels, `The Stake' has a number of moments which may seem a bit strong for some readers.

All in all the novel was an absolute pleasure to read and would be recommended to any fan of Laymon's work or indeed any reader of horror fiction.

Another disgustingly brilliant book from a brilliant author
Wow, this is one of the best books i have read. Not his best book, which i still think is Ressurection Dreams, but a very close contender. Laymon is a master of horror and i hope he carries on penning work like this, he uses so much.......detail.