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Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780843961546
ISBN number: 0843961546
Label: Leisure
Manufacturer: Leisure
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 394
Printing Date: 2008-04
Publishing house: Leisure
Sale Popularity Level: 491123
Studio: Leisure
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Product Description:
It was the summer of 1965. Ray, Tim, and Jennifer were just three teenage friends hanging out in the campgrounds, drinking a little. But Tim and Jennifer didn't know what their friend Ray had in mind. And if they'd known, they wouldn't have thought he was serious. Then they saw what he did to the two girls at the neighboring campsite--and knew he was dead serious.
Four years later, the 60s were drawing to a close. No one ever charged Ray with the murders in the campgrounds, but there was one cop determined to make him pay. Ray figured he was in the clear. Tim and Jennifer thought the worst was behind them, that the horrors were all in the past. They were wrong. The worst was yet to come.
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Rated by buyers 
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I had read three of Ketchum's earliest novels (Off Season, Hide and Seek and The Girl Next Door) and liked them, and the description for The Lost sounded interesting, so I decided to read it. The very first 20 pages sets up the book, but between that and the last 100 pages, this book was incredibly BORING!
A ridiculous number of pages were devoted to the actions and internal thoughts of a cat (I only wish I was making that up) and similar minutiae like detailing the making of a bouillabaise. I don't need a book to have action every page, or even every chapter, but this book reached a new level of boredom, with page after page of virtually nothing happening (at least nothing interesting). That isn't my only criticism, but it is rare that I wonder why I'm bothering to continue reading a book while I'm still reading it.
I did finish the book, and the ending was okay (not great), but I expect this will be the last of Ketchum's novels I will read. If you're new to Ketchum, read the far superior Girl Next Door. This one barely gets 3 stars.
Rated by buyers -
This is the very very first book I read by Jack Ketchum. I really wanted to buy The Girl Next Door but the store didn't have that, so I got this. It's pretty good, but I disagree with where the book was-in the horror section. This is more of a crime thriller than flat-out horror. I even searched the True Crime section looking for The Girl Next Door, but couldn't find it.
About the book: I enjoyed the suspense, and I was definitely excited from the chapter when Ray took the guns from his apartment and walked out, onward, because I knew this was the beginning of the shocking climax.
There's gruesome scenes in here, but I have read worse in other books.
The part that really got to me thought were the scenes with the cat. I'm a huge animal lover and I didn't like reading out how lonely and scared that cat was. It bothered me even more than the killings of the people.
I will most certainly check out Ketchum's other novels.
Happy Reading!
Rated by buyers 
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The Lost is perhaps the best of Ketchum's novels. The characters are as vivid as any you'll ever find on the page. The antagonist Ray Pye is one of the most human yet frightening villains in fiction. This book pulls you in on page one and doesn't let go until the final chapter. Be sure to see the movie after you've read the book.
Rated by buyers -
Jack Ketchum is one of those rare writers that never disappoints. "The Lost" is a close second right behind "Off Season" as my favorite book from him. Previously released by Cemetery Dance and now by Leisure Books, leaders in the world of horror publishers, it reads more like a suspense novel rather than a horror book. Its ultra violent third act itself might just push it over the fence as a horror book after all.
Its main protagonist/antagonist is Ray Pye, one of the most despicable characters in recent memory. One night in 1965, Ray, along with his sometime girlfriend Jennifer and his best friend Tim (acting solely as witnesses), shoots two camping women on the suspicion that they might be lesbians. He kills one of them on the spot while the other one escapes, only to die later on in the hospital. Four years pass and one of the cops on the investigation is still trying to catch the murderer. His only suspect is Ray Pye and he doesn't have any evidence to put him away.
Some might find this book slow moving because after the double murder, it takes a good two hundred pages for the plot to really thicken. But believe me, it's well worth it and the fact that the characters and events are so well developed leads to a much stronger and much more explosive third act than you could ever expect. Layer by layer, Ketchum weaves a compelling tale involving many characters. We follow Ed Anderson, a retired cop who worked on the double murder case. He's dating a girl named Sally who is young enough to be his granddaughter. His ex-partner Charlie Shilling is on Ray's trail and hovers over him like a hawk, always edging on the thin line of the law to get his man. Ray, aside from his drug dealing and sleeping around, is after a new girl in town, Katherine. She's the very first time he's ever had a challenge in the dating department and he begins obsessing about her. We also get a glimpse of how sick Ray really is when he seems to be getting off on hearing the grisly details of the Charles Manson - Sharon Tate murders--an event that will echo all the way to the third act. Meanwhile, Tim and Jennifer never orbit too far from Ray, but a storm is brewing and their relationship will be put to the test.
Ketchum's portrayal of Ray as a troubled young man trying to deal with his feelings of inadequacy (he always wears cowboy boots to gain a few inches, amongst other things) paint a crystal clear picture of what a monster man can be. The novel moves at a good pace, even though there isn't much action or a whole lot of gruesomeness in between the very first and third act. What goes on between the characters is so engaging that you'll catch yourself saying "one more chapter" until you've reached the finale. All the different roads traveled by the characters will crisscross, culminating into a cleverly orchestrated chaos; one that will stay fresh in your mind days after the book is closed. If you're a fan of Ketchum, you have to pick up "The Lost"; it's the author at the top of his game. If you're a horror aficionado, I think you'll get your fill as well. This is a brutal book that doesn't flinch from its excesses.
Alan Draven,
Author of Bitternest
Rated by buyers -
My very first Ketchum novel was "The Girl Next Door," this was my second. I supposed that it is hard to follow up such a shocking novel as "The Girl Next Door" but honestly although they are both about murder, there were very few similarities.
In "The Lost" the murder happens in the beginning, and we follow the aftermath and the investigation rather than in his other novels where we follow everyone up to the climax of the murder. Many have called this book "Shocking" I really didn't find it overly shocking. Death by gun is much less horrifying to me than what Ketchum did in "Off-season" or some of his other works.
Short Plot Synopsis: Ray, Tim and Jennifer, a group of local looser teens are out in the woods camping when they run across some other campers - Ray's true mental problems come bubbling to the surface. Skip to 4 years later and the kids dealing with what they saw that night, the sheriff still trying to find proof that it was Ray, and several new girls who are starting to look more and more like potential victims for round 2 of "Ray proves his manhood."
At times this feels as though Ketchum was trying to write a period piece from the 60's, unfortunately it never sticks with the reader so apart from some random references, this story could have taken place in a small town anywhere at just about any time. Ray is obviously carefully crafted after the serial killer Charles Schmid down to the stuffed shoes, the outrageous tales, and the car obsession. In fact I've discovered that almost all of Ketchum's novels are based on either a real serial killer or the tall tales of a serial killer (Off Season for example). This book is well written, but I would call it more of a crime drama than a horror novel. Sure the bad guy was a smug little weasel, but most of the killings are by gun and aren't overly graphic.
My final opinion is that though this book is good, it appears to be marketed to the wrong crowd (the Horror crew) who although they will like it, they won't like it as much as the Crime/Thriller crew. The middle drags quite a bit, especially since there really wasn't a character that I really identified with. The good guys were realistic but at the same time, almost all of Ketchum's cops are starting to seem like the same character to me. This was neither as shocking nor as engaging as "The Girl Next Door" if you go into this book thinking that's what you are getting, you will be severely disappointed. It's a good book on it's own, just not one of Ketchum's personal bests.
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