Cover

After I managed to slog through She Wakes, I moved on to Jack Ketchum’s Cover. In this one, a group of mostly likeable yuppies go on a camping expedition. As luck would have it, they just happened to pick a spot where a crazed Vietnam veteran is growing his marijuana crop. The vet’s wife has just left him and his PTSD has just pushed him off the deep end. Now the yuppies must fight for their lives against a man who has the training to kill but no longer possesses the ability to control himself. Paranoia, drugs, fashion models, pretentious playwrights, and flashbacks; Cover is a pretty great read. It took some time for me to connect or care about the characters or the story but by the middle of the book, I was hooked and couldn’t read it fast enough. Prepare to be shocked as Ketchum piles on the pain and the gore in his usual cinematic style. I can’t believe this one hasn’t been made into a movie yet.

She Wakes

Uh yeah, She Wakes is not an easy read. It is especially difficult after you've read several other Jack Ketchum books beforehand. I was really interested to read his first supernatural tale and I was not disappointed. However, the book is quite divergent from his other work. The pacing is very off and there are a couple of ponderous moments that made me just want to give up. But I slogged through it and I'm glad I did. She Wakes is quite cinematic and feels like a big early 80s supernatural freakout with a star-studded cast. I had a great time casting who would play what character.

So what is this book about? There are a bunch of characters and a bunch of crazy shit happens. And it all takes place in Greece. How's that? Okay okay, there's also lots of sex, gore, zombies, Greek gods, and earthquakes. It is worth the read but if you're expecting another razor sharp and insanely cold Ketchum book about man's inhumanity to man, you're gonna get burned. I had to be very, very patient with She Wakes before the book revealed the good stuff (over halfway through). In the afterword, Ketchum admits he was going for something different here. He humbly admits that he was trying and failing to write a Stephen King-ish book. Don't rush to run out and read this one but don't pass it up if it falls into your lap either.

Offspring

After I devoured (woops) Off Season by Jack Ketchum, I decided to go for its sequel, Offspring. In it, survivors of the cannibal tribe return 11 years after their slaughter at the hands of Sheriff George Peters and his men. With some new recruits (babies kidnapped and now grown), the tribe goes searching for some more babies to steal so that their family can grow. I made a conscious decision to set my expectations pretty low for this sequel. Not too surprisingly, Offspring turned out to be really good. Despite its sequel status, the book has some fascinating themes and delves into what is going on inside the minds of the (mostly) inbred cannibal killers. The action and pacing is perfect with some white knuckle moments that will make you want to read this in one sitting.

Off Season

Once again, I am so behind the times that it’s frightening. I kept reading the name Jack Ketchum over and over again in Rue Morgue. Big (not really) revelation: This is not a new guy fresh on the scene. Ketchum has been producing some very disturbing horror fiction (sometimes based on real events) since the 80s and I can’t believe I had no idea who this duder is. His debut novel, Off Season, is a disgustingly gory and twisted tale about a pack of inbred cannibals living in some seaside caves in Maine and terrorizing vacationers most foully. Ketchum has the home invasion and the incestuous cannibal children markets cornered here with some intense and nail-bitingly scary scenes. You have to check this out. If you already have, don't tell me. I want to pretend I'm not the last to know about this guy's work. Hopefully the rest of his books are half as good as Off Season. That way they'll still be totally awesome.

Screen adaptations of Ketchum’s work: