February 2015 Group Read - Old Flames 100% spoilers

[Kate]

Old Flames by Jack Ketchum won the vote for February's group read.

Just a reminder that you don't have to post anything in spoilers but you can only discuss up to the % stated in the discussion thread.

I haven't read anything by Ketchum in a while so I'm looking forward to this. :D

[Addy]

Yay! Love me some Ketchum!

[Maxine Marsh]

I'll be participating in this one. It's free on Kindle Unlimited.

[Andy]

Hmmm... so tempting.

[Andy]

Cool. Waiting for my copy to get to the library.

[Justin]

I would like to do this one but money is tight right now, I'm going to check the library.

[Vicki Willis]

I am going to read this one too!

[Andy]

Justin, you should check to see if anyone on HA has a lendable version of the book.

[Justin]

Ok, got my copy I'm in.

[Andy]

Ketchum always gets me. He's suck an amazing writer, but you'd be hard pressed to find more disturbing content.

What's everyone's favorite Ketchum? My vote goes to Off Season. Holy shit, right?

[Justin]

The only Ketchum I have read is off season and I'm not Sam. I loved them both, maybe after this one I will finally get around to offspring since I have had it for awhile now.

[Addy]

My favorite is Stranglehold. It just was so intense and emotional and shocking. Just never read anything like it. The Girl Next Door is a close second. I have not read anything bad by him so I have high expectations;)

[Vicki Willis]

I haven't read anything by this author yet. I just got this book off Amazon Prime so I am in.

[Kate]

Addy wrote: "My favorite is Stranglehold. It just was so intense and emotional and shocking. Just never read anything like it. The Girl Next Door is a close second. I have not read anything bad by him so I have..."

Is that the one he wrote with Ed Lee?
Love the new pic. ;)

[11811 (Eleven)]

Twenty minutes of thumb typing gone after an accidental screen swipe. I'll try again later with a real keyboard in front of me. My summary will have to suffice for now: I liked it.

[Andy]

Justin, I would buddy read Offspring. I've had it for years.

[Justin]

Sounds good let me know when you want to read it.

[Justin]

11811 (Eleven) wrote: "Twenty minutes of thumb typing gone after an accidental screen swipe. I'll try again later with a real keyboard in front of me. My summary will have to suffice for now: I liked it."

I have done that a few times. Sucks don't it.

[Andy]

How about in starting in a week or two?

[Justin]

That works for me. I should be able to finish what I'm reading right now tonight so I can start anytime after that I will probably squeeze one more novel in and then just read some short stories until your ready to start.

[Andy]

Sounds great. I'd been palling to reread offspring first, but that would pron
Baby dampen the sequel ? I'll let you know when I'm ready to go.

[Justin]

I thought about a re-read of the first one but decided not to for the same reason. Also, now that we are buddy reading we can remind each other if important stuff from the first while discussing this one.

[Addy]

Thanks Kate:) Stranglehold is not cowritten with Ed Lee. Maybe ur thinking of Triage? Been wanting to read that one too.

[Kate]

Addy wrote: "Thanks Kate:) Stranglehold is not cowritten with Ed Lee. Maybe ur thinking of Triage? Been wanting to read that one too."

I'm thinking of Sleep Disorder.

[Kate]

Spoilers to 25%. :)

[Kate]

Okay, I'm at 25% and really liking the set up of this one. I'm at chapter 12 in case anyone is reading a paperback.
At the moment I'm liking Dora, I don't what she has planned but she doesn't put up with any crap from anyone. I like that!

[Andy]

Andy wrote: "Sounds great. I'd been palling to reread offspring first, but that would pron
Baby dampen the sequel ? I'll let you know when I'm ready to go."

lol, "pron Baby??" WTF was my ipad talking about?

[Addy]

Lol. I was wondering the same thing....slippery fingers?...;)

[Andy]

Addy wrote: "Lol. I was wondering the same thing....slippery fingers?...;)"

That was pronbably it...

[Addy]

Yeah, pronbaby;) I'll pronbaby use this spelling too from now on.

[Vicki Willis]

I am at 25% (chapter 12). I love this story so far. It was hard for me to stop reading there. Dora is one crazy bitch! I felt bad about Lawrence though. Poor cat was "pron baby" the only one who never let her down. Do you think Will might turn up again?

[Addy]

Lol. I see ur catching on Vicki:) I think I'm at 15% and I really like where this is going. Always love a woman scorned kind of a story. As for Will, I hope they don't see each other. He's married and Dora is cracking after all.

[Addy]

Had a hard time putting this down. I think I stopped at 26%. I'm not sure what her plan is but Dora is a weird chick. I don't understand why she decided to f# around with Mathew. I'm interested to see where this goes. A part of me wants to like Dora, but I can't.

[Justin]

I stopped at 26% also, the story is really just starting to pick up and get good.

[11811 (Eleven)]

11811 (Eleven) wrote: "Twenty minutes of thumb typing gone after an accidental screen swipe. I'll try again later with a real keyboard in front of me. My summary will have to suffice for now: I liked it."

Oh yeah. I was gonna say I'd join in but I already read it and mailed the paperback to a friend. But I'll be lurking. Always lurking...

[Deborah]

The Kindle copy of Old Flames also includes "Right to Life" and "Delivery." Are we including all three in the group read? It only took me an hour or so to read the story "Old Flames" in its entirety.

[Justin]

Yea we are discussing 25% of the entire book (chapter 12) because otherwise it's to hard to figure out where we are at.

[11811 (Eleven)]

Deborah wrote: "The Kindle copy of Old Flames also includes "Right to Life" and "Delivery." Are we including all three in the group read? It only took me an hour or so to read the story "Old Flames" in its entir..."

The paperback didn't have Delivery. I feel cheated.

[Deborah]

My bad. The formatting was off. "Delivery" is the title of the last section of "Right to Life."

[11811 (Eleven)]

Deborah wrote: "My bad. The formatting was off. "Delivery" is the title of the last section of "Right to Life.""

Thanks. I had trouble breathing there for a while :)

Did everyone here see he that he is up for the lifetime achievement Stoker award this year? I think he earned it.

[Maxine Marsh]

I blew through this one very fast, so I guess I'm going to have to wait until next week because 50% is more or less the end of the first novella.

[Kate]

Spoilers changed to 50%. It probably (or pronbaby ;) makes more sense just to finish Old Flames and then start Right to Life next weekend. What do you think?

[Justin]

I read until the end of old flames today, it's close to fifty percent so I stopped there. I say we discuss to the end of old flames for right now.

[Kate]

Sounds good. :)

[Justin]

So anyone else finish it? I was disappointed with this one. it wasn't bad, because at least it was well written but it wasn't very good either.

[Maxine Marsh]

I'm in the middle, too Justin. There was something missing to make this story make sense, if you know what I mean. But the writing was good. I guess we were supposed to get the hint that Dora was a little crazy and off her rocker in the beginning.

[Deborah]

Without spoiling anything, I can tell y'all that "Right to Life" is much better.

I've already archived my copy of Old Flames, so I can't look up the name of the husband/old flame, but did anyone else note that, early on, there was a suggestion that he and Dora had been involved in something bad (maybe a "gun accident") when they were young. I seem to remember there being an allusion to it at the end, too, but it was never explained.

[Justin]

Deborah wrote: "Without spoiling anything, I can tell y'all that "Right to Life" is much better.

I've already archived my copy of Old Flames, so I can't look up the name of the husband/old flame, but did anyone e..."

If there was I didn't pick up on it.

[Andy]

I just finished Old Flames. I pretty much agree with the rest of y'all. Very good writing and nice, slow buildup, but the ending just felt rushed.

I felt there were also a few unlikely scenarios. In the pool scene with Dora and Karen, how likely was it that she just went for the ankle of a larger woman from within the pool and ended up causing that kind of damage. I also thought it was really unlikely that she never was suspected in any of the killings. I mean, cops can trace bullets, right? Did she wipe down the gun and place it in Jim's hand? Linda had clearly been talking to several of her friends about how nuts Dora was. Didn't any of them spill the beans?

With these things in mind, it kind of reminded me of a bad, straight to cable movie.

[Andy]

So, maybe I misread. I just reread the last chapter and Matthew went to see her in jail, right? I got confused by his comment "he must have loved you to do what he did".

Is he implying that Jim killed his kids or that he was crazy to have gotten close to Dora?