The Girl Next Door

by Jack Ketchum

Book Overview

Suburbia in the 1950s, a dark side emerging in the Chandler house for teenage Meg and her crippled little sister Susan--captive to an Aunt, who is rapidly descending into madness. ""The Girl Next... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843955430
• ISBN13: 9780843955439
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 370 Pages
• Weight: 0.44 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 4.5" x 6.9"

Customer Reviews

Definitely not your typical "horror" book

I find this book chilling and disturbing, but thrilling. It kept me turning the pages in suspense! One thing i can guarantee, the image won't leave your mind long after you've finished reading. P. S. There was a point where I couldn't continue but pressed further...yea, the book is THAT chilling.

Overwhelmingly Brutal Realism *Should* Make You Squirm

Ketchum's novel should make you squirm with discomfort, not because it is a horror book, but because it is horrifyingly closer to the real side of human brutality than to those fantastical drafted gore fests we sink our teeth into when our tongues require the taste of terror.There is a novel by Luanne Rice called Stone Heart that crept into the hidden realm of Domestic Abuse without the benefit of rose colored glasses, and left me breathless in the wake of such an emotional journey."Girl Next Door" took me through that journey again, but this time the passage was darker and filled with unaccountable dread. "How could this happen?" you will say. "Why didn't anybody DO anything?" The tide of emotion you will feel sweeping over you, washing your pity in tears as salty as the ocean and swirling the intense sadness through your soul, will leave you touched by a profound sense of loss.In the 1950's, life was simple for a group of neighborhood children, living in a close knit, out of the way community. David was a boy back then, when Meg and Susan Loughlin move in next door with Ruth Chandler and her three sons, after the death of their parents in a car accident that left Meg scarred and Susan crippled.David doesn't mind playing with Ruth's boys, and often found Ruth to be quite pleasant, in that she would treat the boys as adults and even allow them beer at times. But Ruth had a legendary temper, well known throughout the neighborhood. David is enchanted by Meg, and therefore hangs around more than ever next door, wanting to be near her. Ruth, unstable before, begins rushing down towards the pits of insanity at a noticeably accelerated pace; and makes the Loughlin girls targets for her anger-infused mania. Descending from verbal abuse, to overworking Meg at chores, to her final psychotic imprisonment of the two innocent girls, Ketchum's painting of Ruth in the colors of derangement and lunacy is vivid and realistically unsettling.Ruth slowly begins to allow others to join her in terrorizing the girls, and though David is mortified at the scenes unfolding right in front of him, he does nothing and tells no one about Ruth's basement until it is too late. I will not divulge any further information, but with the story being told from David's viewpoint, you can feel and understand his hesitation and fear, and remember that he himself was still just a child.In this book, you may find yourself wishing that Ketchum was less skilled in his writings, so that you wouldn't find yourself so drawn into the characters and the appalling scenario. This book will make you angry and sad, leave you feeling helpless in your inability to change the outcome, and that is exactly what you should be feeling. You will not walk away untouched. By far, one of the most riveting and revolting horror books I have ever read, well worth the money you spend.

A Grinding Morality Play

"The Girl Next Door" is probably Jack Ketchum's most sought after book. I scrambled to pick up a copy when it briefly appeared back in print because buying a used copy requires a second mortgage on the house, signing an agreement to turn over your first born son, and swearing to never resell your copy for less than Bolivia's gross national product. When I finally clutched a fresh new copy in my grimy hands, I was struck with a sudden shudder of fear: is this book worth all the heartache of acquiring a copy? Is it as gruesome as everyone says it is? No, the book is not worth shelling out an insane amount of money for a used copy, but it is an unsettling, gruesome, and soul shattering read.Jack Ketchum has a tendency to fictionalize real life crime stories. He accomplished this in "Off Season," "Joyride," and here in "The Girl Next Door." In 1960's Indiana, Sylvia Likens and her little sister moved in with Gertrude Baniszewski while their parents went out of town. Baniszewski, her children, and several neighborhood children tortured and eventually murdered Likens over a period of months. At the trial, the children involved in the crime got off with an insignificant punishment, leading to outbursts of rage among the community and anyone with an ounce of moral fiber. In what must surely rank as one of our justice system's lowest moments, Gertrude herself was eventually released from prison, dying peacefully several years later somewhere in Iowa. This case serves as the loose outline for Ketchum's diabolical novel.Set in the seemingly bucolic era of 1950's America, "The Girl Next Door" starts in the present day with our narrator, David, setting the stage for a flashback to that peaceful time in American history when Ike was in the White House, McCarthy chased Commies out of the State Department, and the biggest fear for most people was the realization that the USSR had the bomb. For David, there is a worse fear from that time, something buried deep in his heart and in his mind that needs telling before it drives him over the brink of sanity. David's childhood was marred by a horrific event, made even more horrific by the fact that he stood by and watched it happen without doing anything to stop the nightmare.When David was a child, he lived next door to Ruth and her three sons. Everyone in the neighborhood loved to hang out at Ruth's house, even though the father of the children no longer lived there. Ruth allowed the boys who came over to drink some beer, watch TV, and generally goof off. Ruth treated the kids like adults, which impressed David to no end because his own parents do not get along whatsoever. Going to Ruth's is a great way to blow off some steam if you can put up with Ruth's occasional tirades about her worthless ex-husband.This is Ketchum, so the story gradually moves into realms of unspeakable evil. The trouble starts when Meg Loughlin and her crippled sister Sarah move in with Ruth. Meg and Sarah's parents died in a car accident, and

Real-life horror, not for the faint-hearted.

I'm not sure I can really add much to the other comments here, some of which are really quite eloquent in their discussions of the book. I bought the old paperback copy of the book, way back, a horrendous thing with a skeleton in a cheerleader's costume on the cover--the art had absolutely nothing to do with the story inside, as I was to discover. This was not the first Ketchum I'd read--that honor went to _Off Season_, which, if you've not read it yet, you owe it to yourself to find immediately. No, I came to _The Girl Next Door_ after I'd read a few more Ketchum titles, and I was still totally unprepared. This is easily the most gripping, horrifying, impossible-to-stop-reading book I've ever had in my hands. At the end, I felt so dirty, so complicit in the experience of reading that I threw away the book. Now, that's not a comment on the book or the quality of Mr. Ketchum's writing. On second thought, maybe it is--I've never been in the hands of someone so brutally honest, so able to force me to endure such a horrifying experience as the story he chronicles. This is not a feel-good experience. This is not one of those books where good triumphs over evil. You should not read this book if you're looking for a reassuring, light, easy read. But if you're ready to look into the dark heart of human evil, this may be the book for you. It is truly a great book--an excellent novel with memorable characters and spot-on writing. But the story is not one you'll shake off easily. It really is something akin to driving slowly by the scene of an accident--you want to see what happened, while at the same time, you dread seeing what happened. If you feel up to the experience, give this one a try.

Matter-of-fact Writing Rings Haunting Resonance

First, let me say that if you read this book, you will not forget the experience, not for a long time. Whether it stems from the piercing theme or from the realism that sears through the work like a hot rivet in the snow, this novel resonates more than any other I've ever read. Sure, the unthinkable violence and cruelty keep you turning the pages the way a line of ambulances and crunched cars make you turn your head when you drive by a multi-car pileup, but it's more than that. I'm a slow reader and I downed this book in two days, mostly in one evening. But it's more than that. A lot more.The narrative is the wizened recollection of a man haunted by the past: the summer of his thirteenth year on the planet in the late 50's. The realism comes from his devout memory of the period. The initial sympathy is driven by everyone's memory of early adolescence and the first love during that phase of life. But that is only the primrose covering the path. As we follow Ketchum, we find things beyond the thin dressing along the trail; we find dark shadows and strange twists and decisions and sharp things that hurt and water that scalds and scalds again and searing needles that carve words on a young girl. And hot irons. Hot irons that melt flesh.The novel is essentially about a murder. A slow torturous murder of a 14 year-old girl, but the central story nonetheless. The theme and ideas revolving around that occurrence are what make this novel one of the most resonating I've come across. He reminds me of a severe Maxwell Smart in his storytelling. Would you believe a woman goes crazy and tortures her niece? Maybe. Would you believe she brought her boys in on it? Well, that's tougher to swallow, but sure, it could happen. OK, would you believe she had every kid on the block helping beat, cut and dehumanize the girl? I don't thinks so.But you will, if you read this book.I've never been so haunted by a story in my life. So torn between loving it and hating it. I hated what happened in it, but no more that I hate what Jeffery Dalmer did. But I still watch the documentaries about him when they're on. I still watch.A boy in The Girl Next Door watches too. He's the only one who never actually harms the girl. But he still watches. He still lets it happen. And that begs the question, which is the true monster, the aunt or the boy? By the end of the novel, we know. We know because he knows and he tells us.I've tried not to give too much away here - no more than you can read from the dust jacket. But I would heartily recommend reading the Introduction after the novel. It's written by Stephen King, who is always worth reading, but Mr. King gives a bit much away. Better to read it later, as the resonance begins to hum.This is the first Jack Ketchum novel I've ever read. But it will not be the last.