Customer Reviews

Off Season

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

First and foremost, it must be said that Off Season is not for the feint 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." I would not go that far in my assessment, but the suggestion doesn't fall very far from the mark. 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 (three male, three 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 watch, wait, and eventually attack. Among this group are a number of wild children, and it is the children that have the most significant impact on the characters as well as 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 found the conclusion to be spectacular; rest assured it is not the formulaic ending we see so often in novels of this sort.

I won't attempt to describe the horrible things the depraved attackers do--imagine the worst things you can think of, then imagine how much worse the unthinkable is, then imagine children taking part in it. This really is one of the goriest, most extreme horror novels I have read, but it rises far above any charges of shock value or gore for gore's sake. 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 the writer 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. Extreme horror used gratuitously accords the author little respect in my book, but extreme horror written as honestly and dare I say respectfully as that of Off Season deserves the utmost respect that I, as an epicure in the horrible, can possibly give to an author.

Having never read Ketchumn before this, i expected the same lame "horror" type novel that King and Koontz pump out, the kind that are more often dry and boring than terrifying. But, I have never in all my life of reading (and I'm a magazine editor) experienced anything so feral and psychologically horrifying as Off Season. It was soo unrelentlessy grotesque in its depiction of human dismemberment and cannabalism I couldn't help but become the person staring at the dead bodies beside the car crash. I simply could not look away. There were a few passages that nearly made me nauseous...and that is unheard of in fiction. I can't remember ever caring about the main characters in another novel as much as i cared about Dan and Nick and Marjie. Off Season is written so well, and paced with such ferocity, i felt right there beside the characters. Every scrape they got, every bite from a rabid child they received, i received too. And every battle they won, I won too. When was the last time you actually cheered audibly for a hero in a book? What will set this novel apart form any other horror novel out there is the sheer honest approach it espouses in its evil. This book is not for the feint of heart. But, absolutley, for those who want to test their will in hell.

Carla has been given a cherry editing assignment, one month to finish editing a book on fifties rock `n' roll, which she knew she could easily finish in one week. She rents a cabin outside the tiny town of Dead River up the Maine coastline. Carla invited company up for the first week of her stay; her younger sister Marjie and her boyfriend Dan, Carla's own current boyfriend Jim, and her ex-boyfriend Nick who brings along his current girl Laura. All five ride up to meet Carla together.

Marjie loves reading the scandalous Evening Post, and eagerly reads the book on Dead River that Carla sent her, eating up the tales of Catbird island and the mysterious deaths and disappearances that surrounded the lighthouse and island there.

What none of the six vacationers know about is the family of wild people who live in the caves along the rocky shores. They are not zombies, they are real; but they are not civilized. As dead in the brain as a zombie would be, this hellish clan lives off the land and survives on whatever food happens their way. And their favorite food is people.

This wild clan of human monsters will discover the vacationers, and a fight for their lives ensues. Who will be the next target? Will the local sheriffs catch on in time?

Off Season is a gore streaked feast for those inclined to gruesome horror. Practically banned back in 1981 for its disgusting content and mainly for its use of children as villains instead of victims. A not to be missed early piece by the master, Jack Ketchum, pick up a copy of this if you can find it. Enjoy!

This novel was my introduction to Jack Ketchum's fiction, a novel that burned itself directly into my brainpan, and which sent me running to the bookstore for more the moment I finished the last page. Here's how it starts: They watched her cross the meadow and step over the low stone wall, into the woods beyond. She looked awkward. She would be easy to catch. Uh, oh. Here it comes. Out in the woods beyond a quiet little beach community in Maine lurks a horrific family of predators with a taste for warm, living flesh. They stalk their prey with the savage cunning of wild beasts, but their intended victims are their own kind: humans. When three urbane couples from the city decide to vacation at a quaint cabin in the sleepy town of Dead River during the off season, they learn just how primitive that others of their species can be, and how quickly they, too, can descend into savagery when fighting for their lives. This is no-holds-barred, in-your-face horror of the highest order that plunges the reader into the center of a waking nightmare that could, indeed, happen. It is gut-twisting fiction superbly wrought by an author who never pulls his punches. Here's an idea: Stuff a copy of OFF SEASON into a backpack and go for a long hike in the woods, like I did the first time I read it. When you've reached your turnaround point way out in the woods and are very tired, settle down under a big tree and start reading. I can pretty much guarantee you'll make the return hike back to your car in record time... Like I did. OFF SEASON is a powerful and terrifying novel from a celebrated master of the genre, the real deal, horror fans. And here's a bonus--this is the author's new uncut, uncensored edition! Don't say I didn't warn you.

When Stephen King gave his famous National Book Award acceptance speech in 2003, he kept mentioning the author Jack Ketchum. He pointed to Ketchum's 1980 novel OFF SEASON and claimed it "remade the face of American Popular Fiction." He later stated that it was tragic that a novelist of Ketchum's importance was so obscure.

King's speech motivated me to buy the mass market version of OFF SEASON when it was re-released by Leisure Books this year. This novel has a enthusiastic blurb by, you guessed it, Stephen King, who is clearly a big fan of this novel.

I didn't love OFF SEASON, but I found it undeniably effective. The plot is very simple, almost like a slasher film. A group of six people are in a cabin in the middle of nowhere and are ambushed by a group of wild cannibals. Ketchum then describes, in incredibly violent detail, their desperate quest for survival. Needless to say, not all of them make it.

Contrary to what some of the other reviewers have said, I think Ketchum is a very good writer. Most of this book is written in a highly vivid, gripping style. The plot is tightly paced and I kept turning the pages. I also disagree with the criticism that the characterization in this novel is poor. I personally thought that most of the characters in this book were pretty well fleshed out. Indeed, Ketchum spends most of the first half of the book on describing the main characters and their personalities. I thought most of the characters turned out relatively three-dimensional.

The major downside is that many of the characters in OFF SEASON are not particularly mature. All of the major characters are over thirty years old, but most of them act like sex-crazed, self-absorbed teenagers during the first half of this book. Perhaps Ketchum was trying to make a statement about the primal nature of human beings, even after they achieve maturity. Or perhaps he thought sexing up the book would lead to more sales.

This book is not for the squeamish, and I must admit I didn't find it an entirely pleasant experience to read. Still, this novel is undeniably effective and I recommend it to hard-core horror fans.

Jack Ketchum, Off Season: The Unexpurgated Edition (Overlook Connection Press, 1999)

Jack Ketchum's first novel, Off Season, blazed into bookstores in 1980 and changed the face of the horror novel as we know it. Ketchum himself, however, was never satisfied with the original Ballantine edition, which was heavily edited. In 1999, he got a chance to put out the first edit (the original MS is long since lost) through Overlook Connection press, and he jumped at the chance. Horror fans around the world should rejoice.

If you've never read Off Season, there's not much I can say without spoilers. The novel is constantly compared to Night of the Living Dead and Deliverance, though how the pundits have failed to make the connection with I Spit on Your Grave as well is beyond me. Its first two chapters lull you into submission (and read rather like your typical seventies mainstream novel; I caught more than one faint whiff of Rona Jaffe in the early part of this book), and then the third slaps you out of your contentment, knocks you to the floor, and repeatedly stomps on you with very, very large boots. Ketchum is out to destroy everything you know about the structure of the contemporary horror novel. That message was greatly diluted in the original; if you did read the Ballantine edition, you will be even more pleased that this one exists.

The plot: six people in a cabin in the Maine woods. Bad people outside the cabin. Confrontation ensues. But Off Season isn't about plot, so much. Off Season is a great example of a metanovel-- the things in the novel happen in order for the author to have a framework to play around with ideas. Note that this is entirely different than the message novel-- his characters aren't cardboard cutouts there to advance a viewpoint. Think of them more as three-dimensional puppets on an obvious stage handled by veteran actors.

Most of Ketchum's characters here are well-drawn and believable, at least partly (the brevity of the novel leaves little room for development; I'd have liked to see more of Laura's character, especially, who's given just enough screen time to be firmly established as annoying), and the action, once things get off the ground, is fast-paced and neverending. These are things that make it a good book. What pushes it over the top, though, is Ketchum's relentless insistence on messing with your perceptions. You think you know what's going to happen, and most of the time, you don't-- Ketchum will veer off and have his character do something that, while believable, is the opposite of what you expect. While Off Season is without doubt a genre novel, Ketchum is going to make damned sure you can't follow the conventions of the genre to a convenient solution.

In the greater scheme of things, Off Season doesn't quite measure up to Ketchum's masterpiece, The Girl Next Door, for sheer ferocious brilliance. But if this is your second-place entry, you're obviously doing something very right. *** ?

This book is a testament that you haven't "read it all" in horror fiction. If you think nothing will scare you anymore, give THIS one a shot! The tone of this entrancing novel changes so abruptly at one point that I felt physically revolted at the ruthlessness of the author, for suddenly thrusting his well-honed charecters into such a cold, relentless nightmare! But there was no way I'd stop reading it until the last page! I've never been so obsessed with finishing a book in my life! You are a MEAN one, Mr. Ketchum.

When I was in high school, I was a huge fan of horror books and stories. Then, after majoring in Literature in college, I became some what of a booksnob - only reading the classic or works of 'serious' fiction. This book pulled me out of that God-forsaken hole! This is the first Jack Ketchum book I had ever read and all I can say is that I was hooked from the first chapter. Ketchum reminds me of old school Wes Craven (1970s pre-Freddy). Your not sure that any of the characters are ever safe (and most of the time they aren't!). Anyone could die at any moment and that makes for a thrilling read. I highly recommend this book to any current horror fan, new horror fan, or former horror fan trying to get back on the horse!!

As many previous reviewers have pointed out (and this reviewer won't waste you time in rehashing), "Off Season" is hard-hitting, visual, unblinking horror from an author who makes Richard Laymon look like Dr. Suess. "Off Season" was Jack Ketchum's debut novel and if you get a copy of the 2006 edition of the book, you will be able to note that this version has been rewritten more to the liking of the author.

As Ketchum points out as the end of the book, the original 1980 version was tamed down by Ballantine Books so that it would have a broader audience. Ketchum was never happy with the edits. Now, as an established horror author with Leisure Horror, Ketchum has the pull to call some of his own shots which led to this "director's cut" of the novel.

Without another rehash of the plot, let me simply compare "Off Season" to "The Hills Have Eyes" on steroids. I am a veteran horror reader and have read many books by Leisure authors, Ray Garton, Simon Clark, Brian Keene, Edward Lee, Al Sarrantonio, and the aforementioned Richard Laymon. Ketchum is harder core than any of them and would make even the most grizzled horror reader somewhat uncomfortable.

With that being said though, if any of the above novelists are favorites of yours, then you need to add this novel to your list of must-reads. Ketchum gets free rein in "Off Season" and, unlike some of the body parts and stomach contents of the poor unfortunates in the book, this one will stay with you for a long time!

Off Season tells the story of Carla, an editor who retreats to a cabin for a working vacation on the coast of Maine. She'll later be joined by her sister and their four friends. Little do they know that they're being watched by a dysfunctional family of savages and that they're about to go through hell on earth.

I will never stay at a secluded cabin in the woods! That was the first thought that ran through my head upon finishing Off Season. Ketchum's visceral, extreme and brutally plausible tale is downright scary. The characters are realistic, you won't find your typical heroes and tough guys here. These people are your brothers, sisters and friends; folks you can really relate to because you know them. Ketchum masterfully pens a series of escalating events by setting everything up, painting a detailed backdrop and fleshing out believable characters, and once the dominoes start falling, he doesn't pull any punches and doesn't shy away from depicting things with a healthy (or unhealthy) dose of unflinching violence.

When this book was first published in 1980 (over 25 years ago; wow, has it been that long?) it was way too intense for its time. On top of that, it had been toned down; the Leisure version is the uncut version in all its bloody glory. This is one of Jack's top three novels (this was his first book, by the way) but it's not for everybody. There's torture, sex, extremely graphic violence, pints of blood, more extremely graphic violence; you get the idea. I saw a lot of Night in the Living Dead in this one, even more so than what first appears. Read it and you'll find out why. It's a novel you simply won't be able to put down -- and good luck sleeping after you've finished reading it. You might never want to go to a cabin ever again!