From the Bookshelf of Splatterpunk…

Off Season (Dead River, #1)

Jack Ketchum

Start date: August 1, 2024

Finish date: August 31, 2024

Discussion: Group Reads

Why we're reading this: This is the August 2024 poll winner.
[close] This is the August 2024 poll winner.

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Group Reads

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What Members Thought

Aug 11, 2024 Cheng Bogdani rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2024, topic_cannibals, status_acquired, bookclub, genre_horror, topic_rednecks-gone-wild, topic_final-girl

I picked this up for the August groupread for the Splatterpunks group. It's been a few years since I've read any Ketchum, so I was excited to go back to the roots of extremely gruesome horror. I was not disappointed. This book, as old as it is, is better than most of the splatterpunk being written today.

The plot has become a pretty standard setup: A group of friends from New York City centered around a pair of sisters go out to a cabin in the wilds of Maine for a getaway and get targeted by a b I picked this up for the August groupread for the Splatterpunks group. It's been a few years since I've read any Ketchum, so I was excited to go back to the roots of extremely gruesome horror. I was not disappointed. This book, as old as it is, is better than most of the splatterpunk being written today.

The plot has become a pretty standard setup: A group of friends from New York City centered around a pair of sisters go out to a cabin in the wilds of Maine for a getaway and get targeted by a band of inbred illiterate semi-feral cannibals. As discussed in the foreward, there's more than just a passing nod to Stephen King and his obsession with Maine. The book's setup takes place over just a couple of days, and the action and resolution all happen in less than six hours of book time - it's a frenetically paced book; it does not let up for a moment. I finished it in two sessions; the action is so incessant that it's too easy to keep reading "just a little bit more." No feelings or delicate sensibilities are spared in the gruesome ebb and flow of the battle between the cityfolk and the cannibals, this is a dark and twisted story designed to push all the yuck buttons.

The ending is exactly what aficionados of the genre would expect. The afterword explains the brutal editing and eventual abandonment the book got at the hands of Big Publishing; I'm glad I'm reading an edition that's true to Mr. Ketchum's vision with the redacted bits added back in. The ending insisted on by the original publisher would take at least a star off my rating. (view spoiler)

I really liked the over-the-top horror; I'm a fan of the genre and I'm not going to justify that fandom here and now. It was done well and every scene, paragraph and word drives the plot forward. It successfully pushed my yuck buttons, I LOL'd at the dark humor, and I enjoyed following the characters to their ends. My only gripes are the subplot with the local police - I understand why it took so long to setup; getting them at the right place at just the right moment needs a lot of justification. But the author leaned too heavily into his homage to Stephen King here - I didn't feel like I needed as much backstory on the cops as we got. (view spoiler). Secondly, the way a particular character handled the trauma (view spoiler) - that whole scenario felt a bit forced and clumsy to me.

Overall, this is a classic of the extreme horror/splatterpunk genre, and it absolutely deserves to be part of the canon. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys gruesome horror. It's engaging, gory, entertaining and has enough meat on it's bones to sit with you for a while.

Reading Level: easy adult
Romance: barely
Smut: yes, but not erotic
Violence: very
TW: sexual assault, cannibalism, child endangerment, pedophilia, torture, explicit gore ...more

12 likes · Like · see review

Dec 14, 2024 Cheryl P. (review hiatus) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"Every so often life reminded you of how grimy and carnal a creature man could be if he set himself to it."

This novel by the legendary Jack Ketchum tells the story of a woman who rents a vacation home off the coast of Maine in order to get some work for her job done. She invites some friends up to visit her. Unbeknownst to them, a cannibalistic tribe is nearby and stalking them.

I thought this book was well written and kept a good pace. The characters were interesting a well described. There are ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Sep 01, 2024 Joey Frick rated it it was amazing

This was gross in all the good ways! I don’t know why but I just kept thinking about wrong turn while reading this which is good because that’s one of my favorites! Honestly just something you have to experience for yourself, highly recommend.

3 likes · Like · see review