Off Season / by Jack Ketchum
Off Season / by Jack Ketchum
Leisure Horror Books / 300 pages
Although having been compared to low budget horror films such as the Friday the 13th and The Hills Have Eyes franchises, I personally don't see any feasible comparison. In my own opinion, Jack Ketchum's Off Season is a book that should be placed within the same category as other prolific writes of horror such as King and Barker; original.
Off Season is just that; an original, in-your-face, unrelenting roller-coaster ride of real horror, not to be confused with {or categorized, God forbid} with the seemingly endless ripoffs that have been popping up since the book's release. Now, you may think you recognize an old theme in the beginning {family in peril in the woods} but that old familiar feeling doesn't last for long.
I won't give away any spoilers here, but allow me to leave you with this: I have never in all my life of reading (and I've always been an avid reader of the horror genre) experienced anything so feral and psychologically horrifying as Off Season. It was so unrelentlessly grotesque in its depiction of human dismemberment and cannibalism I couldn't help but become the person staring at the dead bodies beside the car crash. I simply could not look away. There were a few passages that nearly made me nauseous...and that is unheard of in fiction. Do yourself a favor; get Off Season. Show both Leisure and Ketchum that this the kind of book horror fans want; this is what makes us continue to love the genre. When violence is done just right, so it is shocking not just because of it’s intensity but because you actually care about the people it’s happening to, that is what horror fiction is all about and Off Season does it perfectly.
Leisure Horror Books / 300 pages
Although having been compared to low budget horror films such as the Friday the 13th and The Hills Have Eyes franchises, I personally don't see any feasible comparison. In my own opinion, Jack Ketchum's Off Season is a book that should be placed within the same category as other prolific writes of horror such as King and Barker; original.
Off Season is just that; an original, in-your-face, unrelenting roller-coaster ride of real horror, not to be confused with {or categorized, God forbid} with the seemingly endless ripoffs that have been popping up since the book's release. Now, you may think you recognize an old theme in the beginning {family in peril in the woods} but that old familiar feeling doesn't last for long.
I won't give away any spoilers here, but allow me to leave you with this: I have never in all my life of reading (and I've always been an avid reader of the horror genre) experienced anything so feral and psychologically horrifying as Off Season. It was so unrelentlessly grotesque in its depiction of human dismemberment and cannibalism I couldn't help but become the person staring at the dead bodies beside the car crash. I simply could not look away. There were a few passages that nearly made me nauseous...and that is unheard of in fiction. Do yourself a favor; get Off Season. Show both Leisure and Ketchum that this the kind of book horror fans want; this is what makes us continue to love the genre. When violence is done just right, so it is shocking not just because of it’s intensity but because you actually care about the people it’s happening to, that is what horror fiction is all about and Off Season does it perfectly.