Off Season
by Jack Ketchum
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.99 You Save: $5.00 (72%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of Off Season
Book Review: Entertaining Filth
Summary: 4 Stars
Looking back at Ketchum's afterword for this reprint of his novel Off Season its easy to see how this can be a somewhat controversial printed novel. Descriptions of violence usually have no real effect on me while reading. Only once while reading Shirley Jackson's The Haunting have I ever felt the dread that a truly great writer can instill in their readers. But in Ketchums novel, purchased on a whim, did I find myself sickened by what the feral clan of killers do to their victims in this novel. Some of what he describes is over the top, disgusting, and more graphic than can be represented in gory Horror films like Hostel or High Tension. To me the writing in these scenes effectively conveyed a feeling of dread and disturbance I haven't felt in a long time. After describing the fate of the first major victim I didn't want to see other characters go through the same process to wind up a vittles for their killers and was definitely riveted to the action presented.
As for Ketchum's writing, after reading two Dan Brown novels its refreshing to read a book that isn't overly melodramatic. In his afterword Ketchum mentions inspiration for one factor of the novel coming from the classic film night of the living dead. Add to that a plot twist ala Psycho, and writing that made the chapters of the novel feel somewhat reminiscent of Hoopers Texas Chainsaw Massacre with quiet almost normal scenes leading up to the fast paced scenes of action in the final chapters and I think you have a very good idea of what makes this an effective if somewhat limited novel. People who go queazy to violence will be parroting the idea of "gore porn" while horror fans will definitely dig what Ketchum offers.
Book Review: "Scariest guy in America"
Summary: 5 Stars
Stephen King once wrote, "Who's the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum..." King was onto something.
Jack Ketchum has written some of the most horrific, disturbing fiction of this century, and the scariest thing is most his monsters are human. The monsters in Off Season are no exception.
Raised in the woods, stripped of civilization, the antagonists of this story have reverted to savagery and cannibalism. They hunt and kill humans and have several interesting recipes for human flesh. To think that man can regress to such bestiality is horrifying, and only because it's possible. If society can churn out serial killers, then a lack of society can produce something much worse. Off Season shows man at his darkest.
The protagonists of this story are, at first, unsympathetic because of all their flaws and aloofness: we have a no-nonsense editor with a boyfriend who entertains rape fantasies; we have a weak, self-conscious sister. But these imperfections render the characters all the more real, and when contrasted with the cannibals, they quickly become people to root for--especially once Ketchum establishes no one is safe. The character flaws also allow for redemption; the protagonists illustrate that, while man can stoop to depravity, he can also rise to loyalty, bravery, and selflessness, even when hope is futile.
As Stephen King said, Jack Ketchum very well could be the scariest guy in America. But even scarier is his depiction of man's potential for evil.
Book Review: Hard core horror
Summary: 4 Stars
As many previous reviewers have pointed out (and this reviewer won't waste you time in rehashing), "Off Season" is hard-hitting, visual, unblinking horror from an author who makes Richard Laymon look like Dr. Suess. "Off Season" was Jack Ketchum's debut novel and if you get a copy of the 2006 edition of the book, you will be able to note that this version has been rewritten more to the liking of the author.
As Ketchum points out as the end of the book, the original 1980 version was tamed down by Ballantine Books so that it would have a broader audience. Ketchum was never happy with the edits. Now, as an established horror author with Leisure Horror, Ketchum has the pull to call some of his own shots which led to this "director's cut" of the novel.
Without another rehash of the plot, let me simply compare "Off Season" to "The Hills Have Eyes" on steroids. I am a veteran horror reader and have read many books by Leisure authors, Ray Garton, Simon Clark, Brian Keene, Edward Lee, Al Sarrantonio, and the aforementioned Richard Laymon. Ketchum is harder core than any of them and would make even the most grizzled horror reader somewhat uncomfortable.
With that being said though, if any of the above novelists are favorites of yours, then you need to add this novel to your list of must-reads. Ketchum gets free rein in "Off Season" and, unlike some of the body parts and stomach contents of the poor unfortunates in the book, this one will stay with you for a long time!
Book Review: A Bloodbath For Your Mind!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'd really enjoyed Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, so ordered this book soon after. I had an idea of what I was getting into here, but what I was ready far exceeded my expectations. Ketchum is able to take us into a world like our own where things are familiar yet have an edge that cuts us deep without us realizing what's going on...until it's too late.
The first hundred pages set up the background for the characters, as is usually the case in novels. But passed that and it's like a marathon to the finishline. I just couldn't put it down! There are many parts that people will find disturbing, and it must be the intent of the author. It is one of the only books (another being American Psycho) that I had to take a break from reading. The level of intensity does ease up at times, leading to suspense, and then right back into the horror of humanity.
This edition is the uncut version, unsanitized in its rusty flavor that proves Ketchum to be deeply connected to his subconcious at its most perverse level. It also contains an afterward by the author explaining the book's history in the editing room, and a short story many will find interesting.
If you're not easily scared or grossed out I urge you to pick up this book. And may you never look at humanity the same again!
Book Review: Like a very bad slasher movie
Summary: 1 Stars
The biggest problem I had with this book is that there is no character development. The characters are hard to tell apart from one another, with the exception of one girl who once the fighting starts just stops moving and the only reason she stands out is because she does nothing and exists solely so that there will be three couples in the woods rather than two couples and the odd man out. The cannibals who we assume have been doing this for generations decide that rather than raid through the entire house and kill everybody they should only kill two and leave the others to organize into a well organized defense force, from then on the New York city dwellers show miraculous skill in killing X number of cannibals. It doesn't get really bad until the police show up and begin to get massacred by the cannibals who were just getting their asses kicked by untrained unarmed civilians.
This is without a doubt one of the worst books I've ever read, mostly because I hate someone being in a book for 100 plus pages and not being able to tell them apart. The only thing in here that could possibly appeal to anyone is the gore, which to me it doesn't even come close to making up for the lack of characterization and cheesy plot. I made it all the way through this, but only because it was such a short and easy read. I'm going to give Jack Ketchum one more shot though, I read The Girl Next Door last year and found that to be very entertaining and would greatly reading that over this.