Dreadful Indeed
The thing about short stories is that they need some kind of plot twist, something which MOST people will not be able to figure out until they read the very last page (Robert Bloch was a Master at it). Unfortunately, DREADFUL TALES is filled with too many predictable outcomes. I believe these stories are from early in Laymon's career and focus mostly on the crime milieu instead of horror - which he was quite adept at.
There are a couple of exceptions: "Oscar's Audition" (a humorous tale about a hit man) and "Roadside Pickup" (a thriller about a hitchhiker) are quite good. The BEST tale of the bunch is a novella called "Mop Up". It deals with a plague of zombies and the men who are trying to stop them. Laymon writes it as only HE could - though it would make for one Hell of a Grindhouse type movie!!
I believe one of Laymon's greatest strengths is his wonderful characterizations of even the most seemingly insignificant people in his stories. The short story realm does not offer enough space to allow him to dig deep enough into the reasoning behind the actions of his characters.
If you are a casual Laymon reader, you probably will not enjoy this book of his short stories. But if you are true fan of the man, you will definitely want to read it.
