‘Off Season’ by Jack Ketchum: Thanksgiving with cannibals!
Off Season is a horror novel that throws all the rules out the window! Cannibals, sadism and violence await you within these dripping pages. Be warned!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Yes, the holidays have once again snuck up on us whether we were prepared to meet them or not. It’s that special time of year. A time of warm family togetherness. A time of happy memories, laughter, eggnog (!) and cheer! So let’s talk about cannibalism, shall we! That’s right, friends. Just in case the holidays have kicked you in the teeth it’s time to bite back with your buddy, Manic! So get ready to snuggle up by the fire as we dive right into Jack Ketchum’s immensely controversial Off Season!
Controversial, ha! That’s the typical summery when it comes to reviewing the splatterpieces of good ol’, Jack. The man is a literary sadist, but in life he’s the nicest guy you’ll ever meet. If he’s ever a guest at your local convention it’s certainly worth your time to meet him.
Off Season – Shocking And Required Reading For Horror Heads.
So have you ever been out on a good hike when suddenly, catching you by surprise, you stumble upon a rotting corpse? It could be anything from a deer, a coyote or raccoon – it doesn’t matter because Death always smells the same. It sounds the same too. The buzzing legion of flies who make their meal out of the burst guts blackly spilled out in a bubbled tar of gore. Once you see it your relaxing hike becomes something macabre. There’s no getting around it, no matter how desperately you try to cover your nose and mouth. You can’t hide from Death. The smell has stained the air near you. It touches you with its foul presence, catching you entirely off guard. In so many ways that’s the kind of shock you can expect from picking up one of Jack’s books.
If you’re not prepared, his writing can hit your senses and leave you feeling somehow ravaged. As someone who prides himself in exploring the darkest regions horror literature has to offer (both comics and novels) I don’t say lightly that Ketchum is the most severe horror novelist I’ve ever read.
image via Too Much Horror Fiction
"“Who’s the scariest guy in America? Probably Jack Ketchum, the outlaw horror writer whose terrifying first novel is… Off Season … If you read it on Thanksgiving, you probably won’t sleep until Christmas. Don’t say your Uncle Stevie didn’t warn you (heh-heh-heh).” – Stephen King."
Off Season was Ketchum’s first novel, and what a debut! The story itself features a maniacal family living out in the deep woods far removed from the civilized world. And yes, they are cannibals. They’ve survived for generations by preying on hapless people woefully unfortunate enough to have been caught up in their violent snares. Much like Wes Craven’s The Hills Have Eyes, the book is heavily reminiscent of the Sawney Bean clan.
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The book opens up with children – yup kids – who torment a woman for (unfortunately) being a Good Samaritan: Seeing a little girl stranded by the side of the road (and in the middle of the night) the woman pulls over to check if the child is alright. The girl was well-trained bait though. The woman is quickly surrounded and preyed upon by the feral children. To them she’s nothing but meat and game, a thing that can scream and bleed for their amusement. The littlest ones squeal and clap their hands at her frantic helplessness. So right away the book lets you know what kind of story you’re getting yourself into.
The story itself centers on a holiday getaway for friends and lovers who want to leave the cares of the city behind. The coast of Maine offers them some lovely experiences, but in a hellish turn of events it soon becomes a berserk fight for survival as the human hunters make themselves known and slaughter, eat, and rape those unlucky enough to still be alive.
I have to stress this book is not for the faint of heart, which is true of all Jack Ketchum’s works. This book may contain triggers, so be ye warned, dear reader.
Ketchum’s writings really do belong in a category of their own, much like Lovecraft’s. Sadistic and cruel, that they are. Violent and extravagantly graphic? Oh yeah. This is stuff that easily stands alongside films like Cannibal Holocaust, I Spit On Your Grave, and Nekromantik.
But I’m telling you to indeed read him! I’m amazed by his talent and skill. He’s the unsung poet of the ripe macabre. The most unsettling aspect of most of Ketchum’s work is how easily they can happen. That bothers me. Imagine taking your lover and some friends out to the woods for a calm little get away. A place to forget about the politics on the news and the demands of your job. Romance, drinking, good times, and memories are all you want. Then it all turns to Hell in the blink of an eye. This is Off Season. Our poor victims never saw it coming and become trapped in the loneliness of the wilderness with no escape back to suburbia.
Read up, my friends!
Next: Dracula: The Universal and Hammer Spectacular!
This has been Manic Exorcism wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving. Bon appetite and dig into all the juicy horror goodness you can get ahold of this holiday season. There is still so very much for us to getting into, dear reader. So I’ll be seeing you all again very soon.