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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN num: 9780843956962
ISBN number: 0843956968
Label: Leisure Books
Manufacturer: Leisure Books
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 308
Printing Date: May 30, 2006
Publishing house: Leisure Books
Sale Popularity Level: 17901
Studio: Leisure Books
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Rated by buyers -
I just cannot stop flicking over pages once I have started reading this book. I have been mesmerized into the scenario created by the author and left with goosebumps long after I finished it. In total, it took me just 2 days finishing the whole book and I could not help feeling a strong urge to ask for more.
Rated by buyers 
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Jack Ketchum has built his reputation on writing books that take violence and horrors of human depravity to the extreme. "Off Season" is no exception. It was Mr. Ketchum's very first novel and at the time of its original publication needed to edited to make it more palatable for a national release.
In Jack Ketchum's novella "Red" I was impressed with his take on a generic revenge story that was more of a commentary regarding the blind eye of justice. "The Girl Next Door" then exposed me to Mr. Ketchum's ability to horrify with the grotesque and his talent for going outside the lines of expectations to make his writing dangerous. However, "Off Season" did not offer anything unique to Mr. Ketchum's resume other than a vehicle to showcase his penchant for shock and gore. I suppose the book was intended to illustrate how man is nothing but an animal underneath his civilized façade, but it read more like a gleeful expose on violence.
The story is a straight forward tale about a group of innocent victims savagely attacked by an uncivilized family who see other humans as food and receptacles for their sexual desires. The novel is driven entirely by its horrific elements with no character development or any endeavor at developing an understanding behind anyone's actions.
The very first quarter of the book reads like a Cliff Note summary as you are introduced to one-dimensional characters that have no depth. Once the attack at a remote house in the woods of Maine commences, the reader has no connection with the victims and is left with little else than slash and burn gore as horrible atrocities are committed upon the people.
The action moves along swiftly and Ketchum does at times set nice mood with good tension (the escape from the attack is one such scene). The violence is extreme (and must have been much more powerful in the early eighties when it was written) and fans of gore and shock will not be disappointed. The book also should be given credit for pushing the genre into new territory, but it just did not have enough real emotion or character development to make it much more than a gross-out pulp novel.
Rated by buyers -
Off Season is (to quote Thomas Hobbes) a nasty, brutal and short thrill ride of a novel. Very, very highly recommended.
It reminded me (in a good way) of going into the living room at midnight, tuning in one of those low budget '80's splatter flicks like The Evil Dead or The Hills Have Eyes (which, like Off Season was based on the Sawney Bean legend).
Ketchum builds the tension slowly and expertly, interchanging chapters between three disparate groups of characters, watching them come together into what you already know will be a very bad night. This is a good example of a thriller where knowing what is coming serves to ratchet up the suspense.
The characters are believable, the explanation and origins of the cannibal clan is well handled and the action is fast paced and exciting while maintaining enough plausibility so you aren't smacking your head saying 'come on!' The violence is extremely graphic and matter-of-fact for those put off by such things.
Overall I was very impressed with this novel. I will be reading the sequel Offspring, though I've heard that like many sequels it doesn't quite hold up.
(My edition (from Leisure Horror) also has a nice afterword where Ketchum explains some of the battles with editors this book underwent, prior to being released in this current uncensored edition.
It also includes a nice tangentially related short story called 'Winter Child' that was originally intended to be a part of She Wakes.)
Rated by buyers 
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Gut-wrenching, dirty gore at its best. This book is how horror should be written. Fantastic twists, perfectly written ending, literally have to unglue your eyes in order to turn the subsequent page.Do not waste another minute without this book!
Rated by buyers -
Off Season is the most disturbing book I've ever read. This is not for the faint at heart, and believe me, people who also read this know what I'm talking about. Jack Ketchum has a twisted and sick mind, and I mean that in a good way. His writing here is flawless and it really takes you into the heads of these demented characters. There were scenes in this book that honestly made me feel queasy. I had to put it down for a whole week before going back to it. No book I've read has had that affect on me, not even Stephen King's novels. Ketchum shows the raw brutality of this savage family and the desperation that Nick and Marjie go through to survive. This novel makes Ketchum's The Girl Next Door look tame. Not taking anything away from The Girl Next Door, that is also a very scary and disturbing story, but Off Season absoulety takes the cake on the sick factor.
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