The Girl Next Door
by Jack Ketchum
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jack KetchumEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-01
ISBN: 0843960973
Number of pages: 370
Publisher: Leisure Books
Book Reviews of The Girl Next Door
Book Review: Girl Next Door Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Monsters don't always have a set of horns and fangs for teeth with dark demonic voices, hailing from some otherworld. Sometimes they come from middle America, wearing a plain dress, lipstick, speaking in a cool, calm voice. The only fire and smoke that follows is that of some cheap brand of cigarettes. This is the case for of Jack Ketchum's the `Girl Next Door'.
Based upon the true events of Syliva Likens in Indiana while with her Aunt Getrude Baniszewski, the story is of Young Meg and her crippled sister Susan as they are placed under the care of their Aunt Ruth and her three boys after their parents are killed in an automible accident. Aunt Ruth is every neighborhood kids dream adult because of her lenient, lazy-fare, idea of child care. All the kids want to hang out at her house with her three boys. She lets them smoke, gives them beer, and lets them do what they will, things that most parents would find inappropriate, especially for 10 to 12 yr olds. Although more of a friend than a parent, Ruth is still the iconic parental figure. For children of such a young age still trying to understand right wrong, Ruth is by far the worst guidance figure as she progressively becomes more and more warped and instills her sense of sick morals on the children
.
The dream quickly turns into a nightmare for Meg and her sister. It starts with verbal abuse, harsh chores, but escalates to beatings and humiliation in front of the boys. Quickly it takes a turn far worse than one would imagine. Evolving from the kids game of capture and confession, Meg is tied up in an old bomb shelter in the basement of the house and is brutally humiliated, tortured, mutilated to where she eventually dies. The story is told through the narration of David. Now in his adult years, David struggles internally since those dark days in 1960 as a 12 yr old boy. He explains how he witnessed the tragedy that befell Meg, the delusional Ruth as the ringleader of the neighborhood children, and the constant debate with himself as he realizes the events unfolding are wrong, yet he does nothing to help in fear of ridicule from his peers or of having the same fate. In the end he does make an attempt to save Meg, but it is far too little too late.
As an avid horror fan, I have read endless words of horror and watched films old and new that were meant to make you squirm. None of which have fazed me, however, this truly made me feel uneasy. I was disturbed on so many different levels of this book. Realizing that this book is based not on a fictional event but yet a true crime, is what set it apart from any twisted moment you would see in say a "Saw" movie. A number of times I would stop for a few moments from reading, out of shock of the words I have just read. The things that were done to this girl, none of which I will elaborate here, were truly horrifying. After completing the novel, I did research on the true crime it was based from and was appalled as to how comparable the novel was to the truth. Aside from horrific acts of violence, the thought that people like this exist and that more often than not things such as this occur but are not reported is not a shock to me but yet it sends a chill through my spine.
As growing up, we depend on our parents and other adults to teach us good and bad, right from wrong. Adults are our guides, our templates. Adults are suppose to mold us to be upright, good citizens. Well, what happens when the guide it the furthest thing from that. What happens if that so called template is without a shred of decency, has no sensibility, that they themselves don't understand right from wrong, and can potentially be the darkest murderous person you will ever meet, but would not be able to tell because they look just like you. What then?
Once again, Jack Ketchum captures the horror in something familiar and what some would believe safe and normal. Ketchum's writing flows and literally pulls you in from the beginning. The book is a quick read save for any moment you have to stop just out of pure shock of what transpires in the text. The main characters are well developed, especially that of Aunt Ruth, Meg, and David, and the relations between them. Although Meg is the victim here, Ketchum portrays her as quite possibly the strongest out of all characters. Despite all the torture she tolerates, the humiliation, even on her dying breath, she displays an inner strength, defiance to her wrong doers that she has yet to give up. David's character is a secondary victim in his youth and even at his adulthood. His abuse was not the physical that Meg endured, but a constant tug of war in himself, knowing that he could have done something much earlier to end all the tragedy but did not. Even as an adult, the events he witnessed will forever haunt him. Ruth is the quiet unexpecting evil. In the beginning, Ruth reminded me of one of my childhood friend's mother. The single mom, who was not the strict adult my parents had been. Staying up late or even being out late was not an issue. She smoked and cared not if we smoked. She drank and cared not if we drank. She is what we considered the cool mom. But that is where it ended. Ruth on the other hand never knew where it ended. The further she fell to mental rock bottom, the worse she became. She instilled her sick beliefs on her children and others. She acted as a ringleader of the atrocities done to Meg. And in doing so, made the children believe that the violence they were performing was perfectly okay.
After finishing this book, it reminded me that every home can hold a secret or two. Some secrets can be darker than others and some can be the darkest. I realized that you don't have to go to Transylvania or some deep dark place to find a monster. The monster can be living in the 2 story, red brick, American flag waving house next door to you
Summary of The Girl Next Door
A teenage girl is held captive and brutally tortured by neighborhood children. Based on a true story, this shocking novel reveals the depravity of which we are all capable.Horror Books
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