I keep hoping that I'll find a Richard Laymon novel that truly impresses me -- but it hasn't happened yet. Certainly, Laymon was a most competent horror writer, but his work just seems to lack that extra something that would make it vibrant and unforgettable.

Resurrection Dreams is a case in point; one of several novels published after Laymon's untimely death in 2001, it features a most predictable storyline with few surprises along the way, and the supernatural aspect upon which the crux of the story hangs feels rushed and unconvincing. There's a decent amount of blood and gore, of course, but you pretty much know how everything is going to play out by the end of the first three chapters. And there's really no gray area between the good and the bad here, as the "bad guy" is a completely unsympathetic character.

One thing's for sure: Melvin Dobbs is looney tunes. A social outcast virtually from birth, he bought himself a one-way ticket to a mental institution with a high school science project that even Dr. Frankenstein would not have appreciated. When a teenaged girl gets decapitated in a car wreck, that's a tragedy; when a nut case digs up the body, hooks battery cables to it and attempts to resurrect it in front of fellow students, parents and educators -- well, that's something else. The only person who hadn't picked on Melvin back in school was Vicki Chandler, who's now returning home to Ellsworth, M.D. in hand, to work alongside the local doctor who helped pay her way through medical school. Of course, after his science fair "stunt," there's no way she ever wants to see him again -- but there's no way to avoid it since Melvin has also returned home following his release from institutional care. Just as she suspected, Melvin's still sweet on her.

You would think that the police might at least check up on Melvin when a few folks turn up missing or dead, but the entire Ellsworth police force is incompetent. Despite what he says, Melvin is still trying to resurrect the dead -- and that becomes the key point of his strategy to finally claim Vicki for his own. A number of secondary characters get swept into the macabre mix along the way, but the endgame is obvious from the very start.

I will say that Laymon did manage to surprise me at one point, with a nicely done bit of literary sleight of hand, but everything else felt like Laymon was basically just connecting the dots. Resurrection Dreams is by no means a plodding or unenjoyable read; there's just not a lot of meat on the skeleton, if you know what I'm saying.