Customer Reviews

Offspring (Signed Limited Edition)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

They eat your liver, but no fava beans or chianti. They are helped in their murderous rampage for part of the book by the stereotypical Evil Yuppie (a fairly overused, stock villain, but still effective). Between extremely graphic descriptions of human dissection, and some suspenseful moments of chasing, hiding, and hunter-becomes-hunted, there are some ruminations on evil that are quite substantial and complex. Consider how the cannibals are presented in such a way that we never feel any sympathy for them: a less careful author would've succumbed to the temptation to make these monsters more sympathetic, to give them a hint of caring or affection, at least for one another, if not for their victims. And also consider how flat they would've been if they were unregenerately evil, but w/o a glimpse into their inner thoughts (as they would appear in a torture porn movie version of this) - cackling clowns whooping it up around the fire as human entrails bubble away in the pot. But with their inner thoughts revealed, we have a look at what the author considers the essence of evil - selfish, almost solipsistic brutality (and here the use of the Evil Yuppie as comparison is effective).

I'm a big Jack ketchum fan, after reading "The Girl Next Door", but the sequal to the cult novel Off Season was far from special. If you read Off Season , there's really no need to read Off Spring because it's basically the same story, without the creative suspense of the first. Both books have the same synopsis,,,, A few people go to this small rural town for a vacation only to find that they are being attacked by cave dwelling cannibals. I can't really tell too much of the story because i would give away the plot to BOTH books. Off Season is worth reading. Off Spring lacks the creative slow suspense and terror that Jack Ketchums creates by describing horrific incidents as other characters witnesses them.
In short Off Spring pales in comparison to Off season.

OFFSPRING takes place eleven years after OFF SEASON, and the books are very much connected. The Sheriff of Deep River, Maine--George Peters--is haunted by the events of 1981; he has retired, his wife and only friend died a few years earlier, and his only solace is in the bottle.

That changes on the evening of May 12, 1992 when the new Sheriff of Deep River pays him a call with a story of two brutal murders. The Sheriff asks for Peters help, and the scene is eerily familiar. The murder victims have been disemboweled and literally cannibalized. George Peters knows who is responsible, and he fears they won't be able to stop the clan before they wreak havoc on the town.

OFFSPRING is a well-written tale of gruesome, violent, and horrifying terror. There are no vampires, ghosts, zombies or anything else of the netherworld here, there is just good old fashioned human evil. The type of evil Jack Ketchum does better than anyone else. And it is scary simply because gruesome inhuman stuff like this happens.

OFFSPRING has the feel of a well-executed horror movie, although the themes and underlying meaning has much more depth than many of the current crop of films. The characters are likable; the description is tight and serves the storyline well. Jack Ketchum is my favorite writer of horror tales, and OFFSPRING lived up to my expectations. It wasn't quite at the level of OFF SEASON, but it was tight, scary and very well plotted.

-Gravetapping

just a warning though---amazon advertises this book as hardcover but it's a paperback (size of a hardcover but paperback)

He hit the mark dead center with this follow-up to Off Season. Well done! A must read. If you enjoyed the first one, this one will be sure to please you.

Thanks to Overlook Connection Press for releasing this signed, limited hardcover edition of one of Ketchum's out of print novels. This sequel to Off Season is a fast paced follow-up to the original with some of the same characters returning to fight against some more nasty cannibals.

Sure, parts of it seem like more of the same, but Laymon's "Woods Are Dark" cannibal novels had four in the series plus mentions in other stories and all of those were good as well. Isn't that how most sequels go? Haven't you seen all of those Chainsaw movies that are virtual remakes of each other?

Bonuses for the limited edition of Offspring include the unexpurgated text and two afterwords by Ketchum. I would recommend this one for your Ketchum collection. I'm glad it's back in print again, and hope to see Leisure release a mass market edition.

Follow-up to Ketchum's first gut-churning novel OFF SEASON, OFFSPRING goes into even greater detail of a cannibal, feral family in the wilds of Maine grilling up whatever campers they can find. Unlike the original novel, which starts off slowly before veering into tension-filled, horrific territory, the sequel is just a full-throttle thriller as a group of folks try to survive their encounter with said family. The most impressive part of the book is how much effort Ketchum puts into giving the reader an inside view of the family's animalistic understanding of the world and their struggle to survive in it.

The hills are alive with the screams of mothers - or at least that is what the evidence points out as one horrifc crime scene turns to two and as people begin to go missing once more. The numbers of people are small at first, however, and the law enforcement officers think nothing of it considering what they saw once upon an ago. but then a family is sluahgtered in a style that is hard to ignore and certain things are found that seem to say "We are back." This gets some hearts pumping, too, especially one that was there when the first people were found, and he begins to imagine the landscape of the past. He sees the woods and the caves, the unexplored regions and the ease that would be the foundation for the movements he is noticing, and that scares him. It scares him enough, in fact, to make him join in a search for someone that ends up becoming a struggle for life and death. Add in other people to the fray, some just owners of homes and others more vile people, and you have the repeat that the law wants to avoid at all costs.

While some people found this book lesser in content, i liked the way Ketchum put this tale together. He writes so well and gives you mindsets that almost make him seem like a monster with a mask on, and i love that about him. here he explains a lot of things to us, too, from the small remains of a clan making it through thanks to their "cow" and their determination and their sheer will to be nature's finest. The night before was chaos anyhow and, thanks to that, the mother managed to slip out with some of her brood and make a new clan. She also teaches them how to do everything, how to hunt and how to take, and it all seems to be going so well. then there is an incident he describes - he is so good here because he captures thoughts and pins them to the pages like butterflies - that leads people to come looking for them. This makes her mad but, like all mothers, she just wants the love of her family. That, and a little jerky for the road.

Read Off-season, the uncut version, and see what you think. It is a great read and should have been one of the best books of its time, but it was largely forgotten until word-of-mouth revived the book and made people see what they missed. It has so many elements that make it strong and, more than anything, it is stunning graphic and yet filled with writing that goes well beyond what you expect from even the best horror writer. If you like this book then you will like a contiuation of the book, and that is what we have here. It is good, too, and mademe happy when I got it. I actually was a fraid considering some of the things i read about it beforehand, but the beforehand was just smut that missed out on how precious children can be when they are nibbling at a thighbone. Yeah, Ketchum is a master and mastery makes readers like me and you (if you try it out) happy. this, coupled with Red, The Lost, Cover, Peaceable Kingom, and a drove of other books says that he is grand. Check him out and you will see why.

I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed, ultimately, with Offspring. It's not just that the plot is a rehash of the original Off Season; it is, but there's some interesting variations at first that add some complexities and promises of new directions, and while they aren't taken, they still add some intrigue. But the biggest disappointment is how comparatively "safe" the book feels. The original reminded me of the original Night of the Living Dead, where you realized that the standard rules didn't apply; heroes could die in a heartbeat, and the good guys weren't guaranteed to win. By contrast, Offspring feels softer and more relatively upbeat. Are the villains of the piece still horrific and monstrous? Definitely, and their actions remain gruesome. And yet, you can't help but feel that Ketchum is pulling some punches here, especially with what first seems like a sudden, unexpected death being saved via an unlikely deus ex machina. Offspring still has Ketchum's great writing and his knack for intense experiences, but especially as a follow-up to the no holds barred horror of Off Season, Offspring falls sadly short.

I am a big horror fan, whether its monsters, zombies or aliens. I really enjoy the apocalyptic stories too.
This book was wonderful. If you are fan of King and Laymon, then this book won't disappoint.