To Wake the Dead

By: Richard Laymon

Narrated by: Gene Engene

Length: 13 hrs and 5 mins

Publisher's summary

Amara was once the beautiful Princess of Egypt. Now, 4,000 years later, she and her coffin are merely prized exhibits of the Charles Ward Museum. If you were to look at her today, you would see only a brittle bundle of bones and dried skin. But looks can be very deceiving, as Barney, the museum's night watchman, finds out. You cannot kill what is already dead.

©2006 Books in Motion (P)2006 Books in Motion

Critic reviews

"This exuberantly entertaining horror novel is grade-A Laymon....this one hurtles from start to finish - never mind the large cast and tripartite plot - and as in all Laymons, the sex, violence and violent sex will leave even jaded readers gasping." ( Publishers Weekly)

Richard Laymon is an under appreciated writer

I'm glad to see audible post some Richard laymon titles, however these are not really his best work. I recommend "In the Dark" or "The Traveling Vampire Show"

Bad first impression

This was my first Laymon book and after listening to this I am not sure I will give him another chance. Too mutch sex not enough blood and terror. Its supposed to be a horror novel not a graphic romance!

off-putting

I read the reviews so I had some inkling this might be bad, but well, the reviews were right. It started off fairly good, but went downhill rapidly. I'm sad to say I couldn't finish. Deleted it from my iPod.

Vulgar and unnecessary

So I was looking for a good mummy story to put me in the spirit of Halloween. This. was. not. the. one. The story started off with potential, but it soon became something that took 6 months for me to finish listening to as it was so extreme and spiritually draining. There are various subplots that all seem thrown out there - no rhythm nor reason to any of them at all. All the characters are tossed around and thrown into a blender for good measure, culminating in a grand finale which is anything but grand. The author seems to have no notion whatsoever into the mindset of the obese, which struck a cord with me early on when a "crush" loses her mind and nails a cat to one of the protagonist's doors when he rejects her for the pert, know-it-all (and quite annoying) blonde. Why this level of obsession so quickly and without warning? And a cat to the door? Please. Come on. Really. As for the rest of the book, it was extremely sexually violent with little to no reason behind any of it. The author also seems to have trouble with the motivations of the truly, desperately lonely as well, turning them from sympathetic characters and into murderers and sexual sadists. And I haven't even mentioned the tale behind the mummy yet! Take from this review what you will, but my advice is to not waste your credit on this train wreck unless you're already a fan of this particular author and his writing style. Very disappointed.

Repulsive

What would have made To Wake the Dead better?

I was only able to make it through half of this book. I'm not familiar with Richard Laymon, but I kept thinking that this book was written by a very horny 13 year old. The sex scenes were graphic and unnecessary for the most part.Mr. Laymon cannot get into the mindset of any of the characters, it seems. But where I really threw in the towel was in one of the many many many subplots when the sex slave was portrayed as enjoying the rape?? Please! And there isn't enough focus on the mummy herself.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Gene Engene?

Gene Engene while a good reader, made this bad book even worse. His style didn't fit the story at all.

A Tale Of Potential

A scary romp is what I wanted and it was indeed there! My only criticism is that I found the handling of most of the subplots didn't tie in well with the title character. I felt as though the writer had half a dozen ideas that could have been great novellas but instead, tied all of them together with the title character to create the book.

weird story but good

Probably one of the strangest stories ive read. it is a post-humous release so its a bit disjointed. Overall as a Laymon fan I give it high marks and for any Laymon fans I recommend it.

Another creative story from a master

Laymon did a great job on this story. While there is blood, gore and sex, the atmosphere and tension are what really make the story a classic.
The narrator does perfectly l, though I am not sure what a "pacel" is...worth a listen for sure.

Richard Laymon is a 'love' or 'loathe'

Laymon is a great writer in the way he puts words together, but the modern-day reader might gulp at the sex and sexism in his books. This one was no exception. I was really hoping for mummy lore and horror, but it was more like: Your tomb, or mine?

Not so good Laymon sorry

Story is very slow and very disjointed not one of laymons best and ending is abrupt to.

Not one of his best

I'm a great fan of Richard Laymon's books, but found this very disappointing. It reads like three independent short stories that have been poorly knitted in an attempt to make a single novel. However lack of a central character and continuous storyline, characteristics of Laymon at his best, let this work down badly. I find it hard to recommend this, despite it being one of the few of Laymon's novels on audiobook.

Move onto the next book

One thing I love about Audible is the daily deal. It has taken me into books that I would not normally risk.

The downside is that at times there is rubbing like this. Not even sure why I saw it through to the bitter end.

Several stories that interweave for no apparent reason and an unbelievable scenario with a blind woman that seems to be in the narrative only to introduce sex scenes. Which are totally unnecessary.

The narrator also, whilst not bad has the wrong tenor of voice for such a subject matter would be much better narrating a serious drama.

Unless you like really really really pulp fiction avoid