Jack Ketchum, aka Dallas Mayr, is a renowned horror writer who can boast Stephen King as one of his many fans. He burst onto the scene in 1981 with his debut novel Off Season, and he’s been thrilling fans of horror ever since with graphic tales of violence and insanity. A number of his stories have been adapted for the big screen, and he’s received the coveted Bram Stoker award on multiple occasions. Do yourself a favor and try at least one of these top 10 Jack Ketchum novels.
10. Old Flames – A suspense thriller in which a woman decides to track down her high school sweetheart and force herself back into his life – whether he likes it or not. Originally conceived by Ketchum as a screenplay.
9. Only Child – A chilling story of how child abuse can affect numerous generations. It also takes an unflinching look at our so-called justice system, and what’s shown isn’t very pretty.
8. Hide and Seek – A group of young people agree to play hide-and-seek in a local haunted house. As you might have guessed, things go south from there. Nice and violent, just the way fans of Ketchum like it.
7. Peaceful Kingdom – Collects 32 Ketchum short stories into one magnificent book. Fans can enjoy tales of the Old West and vampires, but my personal favorite is the Bram Stoker award-winning story “Gone.”
6. Cover – A Vietnam war veteran slowly loses his mind. If you’re a Ketchum fan, you can already see where this one is going.
5. Red – When a trio of teenagers kill his dog for no reason, Avery Allan Ludlow sets out to make things right. This story of tragedy and class warfare was also adapted into a movie starring Brian Cox and Tom Sizemore.
4. The Lost – Three teenagers go camping in the ‘60s, and one of them decides to murder a couple of women he comes across. Four years later, his two friends live in fear of what happened that day, and a determined cop continues to pursue justice. The climax is filled with blood and bullets. One critic called it the “prose equivalent of an X-rated slasher flick.” Sounds like a ringing endorsement to me.
3. Offspring – The sequel to Off Season, this Ketchum novel features a clan of cannibals eating their way through a rural Maine setting. Two women must try to save their children from the cannibals and survive abduction at the hands of the violent flesh-eaters.
2. The Girl Next Door – When he was a young man, David simply stood by and allowed a young girl to be tortured by all the local kids. Now an adult, he looks back on those events and tries to find some peace within himself. Loosely based on the real-life case of Sylvia Likens, the suffering inflicted on the young victim is sure to make you squirm.
1. Off Season – An editor and her friends enjoy some quiet time in the countryside of Maine, but they’re unaware that a family of cannibals is looking for some fresh meat. Highly controversial when it was released back in 1981, Off Season still remains Ketchum’s most visceral masterpiece.
This entry was posted on Thursday, June 11th, 2009 at 11:31 am and is filed under Best Horror Books, Best Horror Writers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
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