Quake - Richard Laymon

Written by Tom Clare in Book Reviews, Sunday 8 August, 2004

Won't make the earth move

I must say I was rather disappointed with Richard Laymon's 'After Midnight', the first of his books I had read. Inspite of it's initial promise boasted by the praise on it's cover and an energetic opening few chapters, it ultimately descended into a mediocre horror story, with ridiculous plot twists that became more and more unlikely as the story went on.

But, being the forgiving type that I am, I decided to give the author another go after being recommended a couple of his other books. One of them was Quake, which I managed to track down a little while ago.

Published in 1994, Quake is a half-horror, half-action novel set in Los Angeles prior to a huge earthquake. When the earthquake arrives, it is massively destructive - it's force is felt for many miles around. The "Quake" brings chaos to much of the city, and the novel involves three separate stories that in some way focus on a member of the Banner family - husband, wife and daughter all have a battle on their hands to survive the various hazards and get home safely, as the stories slowly begin to link together.

Firstly, there is Sheila Banner; a beautiful, strong woman who has attracted the attentions of the reclusive Stanley Banks. In a rather unlucky turn of events (for Sheila), the quake pulls down her house. Whilst it is falling down around her, she just happens to be naked and jumps into the bathtub to avoid the worst of the debris. She survives relatively unscathed, though unfortunately for her, she is pinned down by a couple of huge beams. Stanley meanwhile finds that that the earthquake is the catylist for his own insanity, and now that Sheila is where he wants her, he will stop at nothing to get what he wants...

Meanwhile, Sheila's husband Clint has been stranded several blocks away, and has no car. He befriends sarcastic business-woman Mary and lovable thirteen year-old Emerald (or Em as she prefers to be known) on his trek home, finding himself in some decidedly odd situations.

Finally, there is the daughter, Barbara Banner. She is taking a driving lesson along with other teenage companions Earl, Pete and Heather. Getting home is an arduous ordeal similar to that of her father's, though group problems and the threat of vicious, patrolling gangs are more prominant in this third of the book.

Despite the setting and plotline appearing quite different to 'After Midnight', it soon becomes clear that the same kind of things have been written in - namely great quantities of violence, pointless chit-chat and sex even at the most inappropriate times. The gore-factor is once again pretty high throughout, as deaths are free-flowing thanks to knives, guns, fists, saws and scissors.

And because Quake travels across much the same path as 'After Midnight', familar problems occur - namely the idle dialogue and increasingly unlikely situations the characters find themselves in. Once again the seemingly innocent central characters are able to kill when called upon and not appear the least bit bothered afterwards. The earthquake may have encouraged looters and scavengers, but it wouldn't turn the entire population of Los Angeles into blood-thirsty murdering maniacs. As Richard Laymon himself writes, 'Not even in L.A'.

The characters are a mixed bag. Stanley is a superb sadistic psycho - the reader is frequently given glimpses of his rather unsavoury plans, and can soon predict that his downfall may be brought about by his greed. The others are hit and miss; whilst Clint, Em and Mary make for enjoyable contrasts in personality, Sheila fails to warrant much sympathy despite her being pinned down and at the mercy of Stanley. Her apparent lack of fear at the prospect of being raped and an unlikely feeling of sarcasm and boredom about her just don't seem to fit the role or the situation at all.

It is however a pretty readable story; Laymon's writing flows nicely and you wont find yourself getting bogged down in anything too scientific. The idea of the three seperate events eventually blending into one is nice, though it is badly let-down by the way it is executed in the last few pages, and by the sheer lack of impact the finale has after the 370-odd pages previous had built up the anticipation so well.

So after reading this, Richard Laymon has gone up in my estimation, albeit only slightly. He has proven that he can write with a bit of imagination and ambition, but still comes across as rather lightweight when compared to the bigger names in fictional writing.

To enjoy Quake, you would have to be a keen action fan. As a horror novel, it fails to scare with it's over-the-top violence, but manages to keep the reader entertained and gripped due to the often-relentless pace and tense endings to chapters. Worth a try.

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