Felt very much like a Stand by Me story, in fact at times I could picture the movie of this book in my head so clearly. It wasn't horrible, I wanted to finish the story to find out what would happen next but I also wasn't staying up late just to read one more page or one more chapter. ( )

DNF at 40%.

I just couldn't get past all of the tits and ass descriptions on every page. Dwight and Rusty were creepy af to me. I won't be reading another book by this author, their writing style is unappealing to me. ( )

Wow! After reading THE STAKE by Laymon, I was anxious to read another book and see if they are all as good as that one. They are! This is another fantastic story that involves real characters living life with all its little problems. The adventure begins in the early 1960s when three teenagers decide to try to see a traveling vampire show. The story starts off slow enough but quickly builds in to a suspenseful page turner. Without giving anything away, I can safely say that Laymon is a master at making a tense and scary moment out of nothing. Both of these novels hold off on any "true" supernatural causes until the last scene of the book. Definitely don't miss this novel! ( )

Pretty uneven. Not terrible but it's no delight. How many erections can one character have in a night? I lost count. This is just bad pulp. ( )

2.5/5 stars!

As I was listening to this, I came to realize that I've read it before. A few things, like the name Julian Striker and one of the character's sisters rang a bell with me. Other than that, because I have a mind like a steel sieve, the rest of the story seemed new, so I went with it. Now that's it over, I am glad that I read it while at the same time I wish I ditched it. As you can see, I'm torn.

What I liked: The beginning. The coming of age portion-kids walking around and learning about the town, popping into each of their houses...these things I enjoyed. Unfortunately, they were a very small portion of the book. I did enjoy the narrator, though the quality of the recording itself didn't seem as good as others I've listened to recently.

What I didn't like: The sexy-times coming of age portions. One or two would have been fine, but at times, it seemed like the majority of the book was talking about hard-ons and breasts. Especially breasts. Every single woman in this book had time dedicated to her breasts. I mean, I HAVE breasts. I LIKE them. But J.H.C.- enough already!

What I didn't like (continued): This entire book took place in one day, which was fine. However, it seemed like out of 404 pages, 325 were taken up just getting TO THE SHOW. Lastly, once they got there the situation spiraled out of control and became completely unbelievable. There's just....no way. I understand I'm reading a book about vampires, but believe me when I say there are believable stories about them and this one isn't it. (Kelli Owen's TEETH perhaps, or Yvonne Navarro's AFTERAGE for example.) I can disregard the realism factor if the book is intriguing or interesting in other areas. This one is not.

I rated THE TRAVELING VAMPIRE SHOW 2.5 stars, (rounded up to 3), because I do feel it is representative of horror being written at that time, (2000-2001), and in a way, it is often thought of as a classic. I wanted to rate it higher than that, but I'm sorry to say that this tale didn't earn it.

I can't say that I recommend this, but I AM glad that I finally read it, (or re-read it, as the case may be), because I would forever be wondering about it, if I hadn't.

I bought this audiobook with my hard earned cash. ( )