

The listing, Jack Ketchum OFF SEASON Uncut Uncensored Version! has ended.
First and foremost, it must be said that Off Season is not for the faint of heart; this is a visceral, brutal, unrestrained, exceedingly realistic novel that may sicken and disgust those unprepared for such extreme horror. The cover of my copy proclaims this "The Ultimate Horror Novel." Ketchum held nothing back and pulled no punches in this, his first published novel. The story is rather simple but is far from simplistic. A group of six adults, male and female, retreat to a remote cabin in the woods of Maine for a week of relaxation. Unbeknownst to them, a family-group of utterly primitive, sadistic quasi-humans watches and waits, and eventually attacks. Among this group are a number of wild children, and it is the children that have the most significant impact on the reader. The battle rages for some time, and many very bad things happen as the innocent victims do everything they can think of in order to survive. I won't attempt to describe the horrible things the depraved attackers do--imagine the worst things you can think of, and then imagine how much worse the unthinkable is with children taking part in it. This really is one of the goriest, most extreme horror novels I have read, It would have been a disservice to the reader had Ketchum not made the awful individuals he described behave in such a fashion; in fact, I would suggest that these characters of Ketchum's creation committed such atrocities on their own and that Ketchum had no choice but to tell their story truthfully and realistically. It is this utter, unimaginable realism that really sinks its claws into you and immerses you in this nightmare landscape of Ketchum's genius. Good Condition Paperback.