''Blood Games'' is a 1992 horror novel by American author

Richard Laymon Richard Carl Laymon (January 14, 1947 – February 14, 2001) was an American author of suspense and horror fiction, particularly within the splatterpunk subgenre. Life and career Laymon was born and raised outside of Chicago, Illinois, then li ...

Synopsis

The novel centres on a group of young women who have been best friends since college. They go on their annual vacation together, each year to a different location of one member of the group's choosing. This year's trip takes them to the Totem Pole Lodge, an abandoned resort that was allegedly the site of a gruesome mass murder twelve years earlier. When one of the women, Helen, mysteriously disappears, her friends begin a search of the resort and the surrounding wilderness in an effort to discover what happened to her.

Structure

The novel employs a flashback structure alternating between present-day events at the resort and the group's experiences together in college, beginning when the girls met during their freshman year and proceeding through their graduation and three previous reunions. The story is told from the point of view of one of the women, Abilene, but focuses mainly on her four friends: tough, confrontational Cora, tomboyish Finley (the practical joker), fashion model Vivian, and timid, insecure Helen, whose disappearance and eventual fate are foreshadowed by a frightening experience in a dormitory restroom during her freshman year.

Connections with Laymon's other works

The bulk of the novel's flashbacks takes place at Belmore University, a fictional liberal arts college referenced in several of Laymon's novels (and based largely on his own experiences at

Willamette University Willamette University is a private liberal arts college with locations in Salem and Portland, Oregon. Founded in 1842, it is the oldest college in the Western United States. Originally named the Oregon Institute, the school was an unaffiliated ...

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

). In addition, one of the girls quotes a passage from "

Ulalume "Ulalume" () is a poem written by Edgar Allan Poe in 1847. Much like a few of Poe's other poems (such as " The Raven", " Annabel Lee", and " Lenore"), "Ulalume" focuses on the narrator's loss of his beloved due to her death. Poe originally wrote t ...

", a poem by

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...

, which was also the basis of Laymon's 2001 novel ''Night in the Lonesome October''.

Reception

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' described ''Blood Games'' as "middling", like "so much of aymon'smid-career work". The review concluded by saying that it is a "brisk but routine entertainment from the controversial author".

References

{{Reflist *Yamashita, Brianna, and Jeff Zaleski.. "BLOOD GAMES (Book)." Publishers Weekly 250.44 (03 Nov. 2003): 59-59. 1992 American novels Novels by Richard Laymon