Off Season - Unexpurgated Hard Cover Edition

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As alluded to above, I did have several issues with the book. First, I thought the portrayal of the life of the cannibal family was rather negative and seemed to me to be evidence of the author’s bias against that lifestyle. The family is described as being fairly harsh and brutal towards one another with very little warmth among siblings. That is certainly not consistent with the portaryal depicted in the most reputable cannibal periodicals that I have seen. I can see members of a same species sustenance families taking offense at this portrayal. The women are beyond useless and the "bad guys" are beyond believable, and if I lived in Maine I'd be offended at how "hillbilly-y" Ketchum portrays the locals, but it's fast and nicely paced and you might still find yourself wondering how it'll turn out in the end, even if you might not care about any of the characters enough to hope for their survival. Sadly the story was wasted: it was extremely predictable, the character are more complex but Ketchum spent more time building them up and forgot the gore and disturbing scenes that were the strong point of the last book. Don't get me wrong, there are some pretty nasty scenes but they don't come even close to the cruelty and detail shown in Off Season, I found some of these scenes to be tuned down copies of some of the previous book. A group of Nethanderals (literally) have survived the ages and love cannibalism. Mix that with today's time and a whole lot of blood with a family terrorized.

And before too many hours pass, five civilized, sophisticated people and one tired old country sheriff will learn just how primitive we all are beneath the surface...and that there are no limits at all to the will to survive. Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: Some of his books were initially published as this or were otherwise hard to find. Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71. [14] [15] [16] Awards and nominations [ edit ] This story starts off with a bang. If you don't know Ketchum's work, I think he was the first fearless horror writer. He doesn't sugarcoat it, or soften it, or even generalize it. He tells it exactly like this story was meant to be told.Ketchum spends the first half setting up the book with some decent character work and identifying sub plots before the brown stuff hits the fan and things go absolutely bonkers in the second half. It's a good formula and makes things very tense and exciting as the story progresses. After a little research into the author, I was intrigued. Ketchum is

In a slow, deliberate motion he reached into the chest and touched the heart. It was still warm, still beating. He severed the veins and arteries with the knife and lifted the muscle into the light, and still it beat, steaming in the cool air. For the man this moment was the nexus of all mystery and wonder, the closest thing he knew to worship. He stared until finally the heart was still." The only thing I enjoyed in Off Season was Ketchum’s writing. We have a limited supply of Ketchum novels now that he is gone so I will probably read the sequels to Off Season (Offspring and The Woman) at some point. If you are looking for a horror novel to get the adrenaline flowing, though, I wouldn’t recommend Off Season. Violent horror shouldn’t be so boring. Throughout his life, Ketchum read widely and voraciously, authors such as Robert Bloch, Charles Bukowski, Jim Harrison, Franz Douskey and Ernest Hemingway. Apart from his proficiency as a short-story and magazine writer and having a vivid imagination, reading was the essential tool in the writing kit that led Ketchum from his 7th Grade A-Minus Essay to the Magazines and, eventually, to Off Season and beyond. [12] The Jerzy Livingston years [ edit ] But it was so much more than kids doing that, there was also their inbred parents, along with lots of topless women, and creepy sexual encounters. As for that old Scottish Incantation that appears at the beginning of this review, forget it. It won't do you any good. After all, the most horrific monsters are human. Or of human creation.In a rural area off the coast of Maine live a tribe of cannibals. Over the decades travellers and townspeople have disappeared here, but these have been chalked up to the nature of an increasingly mobile, exploding population. People disappear every minute all over the world, don't they? This books is 'Constant Reader' territory. So anything Stephen King, IT WAS SET IN MAINE! The story was most like the films; 'The Hills Have Eyes' and 'The Strangers'. I would recommend to anyone who likes gore! En el libro se indica que esta es la versión sin censura. Pero al parecer hubo durante años otra en la que se habían censurado varias de las escenas más truculentas. The monsters that prey on the civilized enjoying a cabin in the off season is a savage family of few adults and a brood of children. They have a taste for meat. They prefer human flesh. This group instinctively knows that fear makes flesh more tender. They are masters of inflicting terror. The biggest flaw of Off Season is its publishing date - 1980. As it was a debut novel, the publishing house had quite a lot of power over the author, and made him cut and edit the book the way they wanted. Upon publication the book raised extreme controversy, due to its violent and graphic nature. It got so bad that Ballantine, who initially published the novel, decided to stop supporting it and withtdrew it from circulation after the first printings.

And what's most strange about this film is that Ketchum wrote the screenplay. And by God, I can't tell if it's just the amateur acting that makes the writing seem poor, or it's the writing itself. The more I think about Offspring the more I'm thinking the actors aren't to blame. Sure they stunk, but I hate to say it but Ketchum's screenplay writing isn't up to snuff. I also throw a lot of the blame on the director as well. At the same time, a group of innocent 30something New Yorkers are about to arrive at a cabin in the Maine woods, near the town of Dead River. What they don't know is the location of the cannibal tribe's hidden cave, in close proximity to the cabin. The tribe soon becomes aware of the latest opportunity and heads out on a raid. Dead River has almost put the massacre of more than a decade ago behind them. George Peters retired as Sheriff after that night. Now a widower, he is still haunted by nightmares of everything he had witnessed and done himself - you can never find peace if you keep blaming yourself. Ripped from the Headlines: A number of his stories are based off real crimes. Most notably with The Girl Next Door but The Lost, Right to Life and Joyride also count. Pen Name: Ketchum itself is a pen name for Dallas Mayr. Another pseudonym he used was Jerzy Livingston.

Customer reviews

It’s sad to think this author died earlier this year, but I think he will leave a legacy like few before or after him. Early-Installment Weirdness: Ketchum’s early work for men’s magazines is quite different than the horror fiction he is most known for. Word of warning, he does tone the gore down from the first book and it is noticeable. Comparing it to standard, generic horror this is very violent and brutal. But it's just not as frequent as in Offseason. It did leave me wanting a little bit more in terms of carnage.