Old Flames by Jack Ketchum

 

Old Flames by Jack Ketchum - 287 pages

Burned again. Men never treated Dora well. This latest cheated on her and dumped her. The last decent guy she knew was her old high school boyfriend, Jim. He'd said that he loved her. Maybe he did. So with the help of Flame Finders, Dora's found him again. Turns out he's married with two kids. But Dora isn't about to let that stand in her way...

This was an ok short story, not quite what I expected but ok, it also includes the short story called "Right to Life", which was brutal but a bit predictable, it was just ok as well.

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum

 

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum -370 pages

Suburbia. Shady, tree-lined streets, well-tended lawns and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan. On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make.

Surprisingly as a horror fan this is only the second book by this author I've read.  I'd heard this on was great, and boy was it.  I just could not put this down, I finished it all on one rainy day.  What was done to Meg was hard to read at times and was definitely harsher than I'd expected, but, it is a horror book after all.  Fans of horror, if you haven't read this one yet, pick it up and give it a spin.

Off Season by Jack Ketchum

 

Off Season by Jack Ketchum - 320 pages

September. A beautiful New York editor retreats to a lonely cabin on a hill in the quiet Maine beach town of Dead River—off season—awaiting her sister and friends. Nearby, a savage human family with a taste for flesh lurks in the darkening woods, watching, waiting for the moon to rise and night to fall...

And before too many hours pass, five civilized, sophisticated people and one tired old country sheriff will learn just how primitive we all are beneath the surface...and that there are no limits at all to the will to survive.

Holy moly, what a ride...this one definitely made me cringe a bit, it got pretty gross.  And the ending...nice.  I read the note from the author that this was a re-write on the ending.  The publishers originally wanted one of the characters to live, but Jack didn't want it that way, so this edition is how he wanted it.  And might I say, bravo Mr. Ketchum, bravo.  This was the first book I've read by this author, but it probably won't be the last.  After this one I definitely needed a nice quiet palate cleansing book.