Richard Laymon – The Glory Bus (Published as “Into The Fire” in the US)
It’s probably going to be quite painful to write a review of Richard Laymon’s The Glory Bus, since I hear it’s the last of his posthumous manuscripts that will be published. Needless to say, after his sad and untimely death, it has been a real treat to see a steady stream of his works still reaching the bookstores, but the supply was always going to be finite. Since I have read all the other Richard Laymon novels, one day soon it will be time to start re-reading them!
It’s fitting that this last novel should be classic Laymon, who comes up with a story as gory as it is original, as shocking as it is twisted, as interesting as it is bizarre! The action involves two separate groups of characters who gravitate towards their inexorable impact in the second half of the novel, and in typical Laymon fashion these characters are as interesting and captivating as they are hateful and mean. Take Boots, one of Laymon’s most bizarre and shocking female characters, the indisputable bad boy Duke (of all he surveys, or so he believes), and the hapless college boy Norman, hoodwinked into a nightmare journey and companionship that could happen to anyone when they just stop off for gas and jerky one day. Seriously, it could. Laymon’s style has never been to dwell on the nicer side of human nature, and in his horror novels even the heroes and heroines often have a thoroughly nasty side – it’s just that the villains are every so slightly nastier! We do have heroes in this novel, but heroes who are completely bizarre, although our heroine Pamela soon finds her lot thrown in with them for better or worse.
As gory as any Laymon novel, The Glory Bus has it’s moments of shock horror, putrefying dead bodies, caved in skulls, shootings, knifings, beatings and the constant threats of such. It also has Laymon’s dark humour underpinning the text throughout; these characters might be hateful bastards, but they’re kind of funny in their own twisted way – Laymon even manages to make the carnage seem funny at times, almost like real life, where certain events are so terrible, you have to laugh to deal with them, or you just can’t stop the hysterics.
The Glory Bus, or Gory Bus, then, is a fast-paced thrillfest of shock and horror with captivatingly nasty characters and good guys with their own morbid twists and secrets. Classic Laymon, as I said, The Glory Bus ends the flow of posthumous manuscripts on a glorious note. Rest in Peace (or Pieces!), Richard, and thanks for all the thrills 