Product Description

In the woods are six dead trees. The killing trees. That's where they take them. People like Neala and her friend Sherri, and the Dills family. Innocent travellers on vacation, seized and bound, stripped of their valuables and shackled to the trees to wait. In the woods. In the dark.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #137682 in Books
• Published on: 1991-03-14
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Customer Reviews

Fast pace, rushed ending.
One of Laymon's earlier books retains his usual skill of drawing you into his world and gripping you from the opening line to the last.

The book revolves around a small town, whose inhabitants capture and then offer up unwary travellers to the "Krull"....the evil occupants of the nearby woods. The story centres on three small groups of such victims, bound and tied to the trees where the Krull will come for them, they must escape the woods before they are caught.

There is no doubt that the book is an exciting one, I am not the fastest of readers yet finished this in under two days. The chapters are short and each one changes to a different group, describing their fear and their efforts to escape, thus helping to maintain the quick pace and the sense of urgency that the book achieves so early on.

Typically, there is the obligatory Laymon sex scene, perhaps rather unrealistically between two characters that you honestly can't believe would (or indeed, considering their life threatening situation) should happen. However this is not a major fault and certainly doesn't spoil an entertaining read. On reflection though, you realise that in an attempt to speed up the book, there is little or no development of any of the characters, which is a real shame as many of them would seem to have interesting tales to tell. But little time is spent on such trivialities as we rush headlong into another fight to survive...never mind. A potentially fascinating sub plot of unrequited love between two best friends is skimmed over, leaving you perhaps just slightly unsatisifed over the whole thing...if your not going to explore it, don't put it in would be my advice.

It is this one dimensional approach, which is perhaps my only criticism of most of Laymons early books, that is its only drawback. There is a fascinating history of the local town and the Krull that desperately needs more detail, more depth, yet sadly it isn't delivered. The struggle to survive is well described yet in the end as the story hits climax it is rather like the end of a rollercoaster ride...a bit of a let down. What we build up to in 240 pages, is finished in 6...you get the feeling that Laymon really just wanted this book out of the way and quickly scribbled the end down, breathing a sigh of relief as he finished it.

I have perhaps been a bit too harsh on the book, it is rated a four and deserves it for the exciting pace and the copious amount of gore that features throughout. As long as you don't expect any real character development then you will deinitely enjoy this book....if depth is what you want then I would recommend some of his later work....particularly "The Midnight Tour"...now there you REALLY get to care about what happens to the characters, here, its kind of like watching the news, you feel sorry for the victims but don't really care as you don't know them......

The Woods Are Dark
I have only read a couple of Richard Laymon's books, and they are fun easy reads, this one is no different! With all Laymon books I think you don't get to know the characters too well, as not a lot of information is given about them that said his books are great fun reads. This is no different - a group pff sub-humans living in forestland. The story surrounds the area of Barlow, The inhabitants capture travellers unaware of their fate to "Krulls" the inhabitants of this scary wood.

The story centres of 3 seperate groups of travellers who get tied to the killing trees but, must do all they can to escape.

As always with Richard Laymon's books the pace is very fast, although the book is quite short (240 pages) its quite gory and of course the obligatory sex scenes, the ending is a bit rushed though and it does leave you wondering but, overall pretty good, the usual you would expect from Richard Laymon.

Griping Tale of survival and destruction.
This is one of Laymon's earliest novels, and still one of his best. Despite heavy editing by his editor's in the 80's it manages to retain much of the action and frenzy that makes this one of the most intense fast paced novels on the market.

The action centres around the isolated town of Barlow and its surrounding woodlands which harbour a dark sinister secret...
Barlow appears at first glance to be another normal American town but the residents know only too well whats lurking in the woodlands - and what needs to be done to keep their appetite quelled.
Outsiders are owerpowered at regular intervals and tied to a series of trees, the killing trees, in the midst of an open plain. As they await their fate, little do they know what terror awaits them in the form of the canibalistic 'Krulls'. Death, Danger, destruction and 'The Devil' all feature in this diabolical story which will have you burning the midnight oil to reach its conclusion.
Its quite a short novel (247 pages in the Headline paperback edition) but the exceptionally rare 'woods are dark chapbook' adds a further 48 pages to the tale and relates much of what is missing in the widely published version, mainly telling the tale of Lander and Ruth's plight. A great read and a real showcase of Laymon's talent.