The Woman by Jack Ketchum & Lucky McKee (CBR-V #26)

Cannonball Read V: Book #26/52
Published: 2011
Pages: 208
Genre: Horror

I picked up this book because I really like Jack Ketchum for the most part (The Girl Next Door is one of my favorite horror novels) and I really enjoyed the first two books in this particular series (Off Season and Offspring). I didn't even know there was a third book until recently.

The Woman would read fine as a stand alone book, but if you've read Off Season and Offspring, you have more of a background on who the Woman is and where she came from. After the massacre at the end of Offspring, she is wandering the woods on her own and is found by a guy named Christopher Cleek. For some reason that I'm not entirely sure of (just insane, I guess?) he decides to take the Woman and lock her up in his cellar then try and bring his wife and kids in on the fun of trying to "domesticate" her. Turns out Chris is a pretty sick guy (and so is his pervert son) and there's lots of blood and rape. 

Sadly, this book disappointed me, especially since I know Ketchum is capable of a much better story. This one felt like he just sort of threw it together last minute. It doesn't help that I just recently read the excellent The Summer I Died, which also involves a crazy person holding someone against their will in a basement. This isn't a terrible book (Ketchum is an excellent writer in general), but it just fell short in the character department. The Woman was alright because I knew her character from the previous two novels, but the family who kidnapped her weren't as fully formed as I'd like. I never got a clear reason WHY the father was insane and WHY THE HELL DID HIS WIFE OR DAUGHTER NOT RUN TO THE POLICE THE FIRST CHANCE THEY GOT?? I'm sorry, but if my husband or my dad told me that he had a wild woman chained up in the basement the last thing I'd do would be to stay in that house. The whole family just took the whole thing in stride. It was weird. 


I'd definitely recommend Off Season and Offspring, but maybe skip the third book in this trilogy as it doesn't really seem to add much to the story from the first two novels. 

Offspring by Jack Ketchum (CBR-III #45)

Cannonball Read III: Book #45/52
Published: 2006
Pages: 336 (18,005 total pages so far)
Genre: Horror

Offspring is the sequel to Off Season, which I just reviewed. It was published 26 years after the first book and you can tell that Ketchum's writing has gotten a little more polished since 1980. Other than that, it's pretty much the same book.

It follows the same classic horror novel plot as the original: A group of crazy, inbred cave dwellers hunt and torture a bunch of people in Maine. One of the cave dweller kids from the original book survived the massacre that took place at the end and ran. Over the years, she hunted up and down the coast of Maine/Canada and stole a couple of kids along the way to grow the family back. Now they're back in their original territory and pick a new family to hunt. The police also bring back retired Detective Peters who worked on the original case.

Overall, I liked this book. It was a very similar formula to the original, but it's a classic formula that works. I liked how they tied the two books together with Detective Peters coming back and the kid who we didn't know survived the massacre trying to start a new family. It's a quick read and worth it if you're into the genre.

Off Season by Jack Ketchum (CBR-III #44)

Cannonball Read III: Book #44/52
Published: 1980
Pages: 308 (17,669 total pages so far)
Genre: Horror

Carla rents a cabin up in the woods of Maine to work on her novel in peace. She decides to invite her sister and some friends up for a visit. Then things get ugly. Apparently a clan of cave-dwelling cannibals live nearby and target the cabin that our group is staying in. It's a pretty basic horror plot, but it's very effective here.

The story opens up with a bunch of kids chasing a terrified woman and hitting her with sticks while laughing. It's disturbing and really sets the tone for the rest of the novel. Not only are there crazy mountain men and women out there, these kids are vicious.

The one problem I had was that the main characters weren't very fleshed out. It found it hard to tell them apart and didn't really care about them. It's hard to root for someone to live when you barely know their name. Also, a few things really dated the novel such as one character reminiscing about fighting in Vietnam, but that's sort of expected since it was published in 1980.

Overall, this book was a good, quick read. It's a classic horror tale with plenty of blood and guts thrown in.