WEEK 4 - New Weird: "The Girl Next Door" by Jack Ketchum

There's no other way to put it. Over the course of this past week, I read one of the most brutal, violent, and disturbing books I've ever experienced-- The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum. Being my very first Ketchum read, it very well gave me nightmares to a certain degree and made me cling to the life I love, with more determination than I've felt in a long time. In fact, the only other book I've read that gave me nightmares was Stephen King's "IT" (although, it DID appeal to my totally-reasonable fear of clowns...) The Girl Next Door, although vile and disturbing, is utterly remarkable... and despite everything, is definitely worth a read. Emphasis on the single "read". Seriously. I don't know how you could want to read it twice, unless you're into having troubles sleeping at night. 
After reading the summary on the back of the book and several synopses online, I knew it was going to be intense-- but I was still unprepared, especially when it dives right into it with the opening line "You think you know about pain?" It sets the mood of the book perfectly, and gears you up for what to expect next. Depending on if you've read the author's note ahead of time (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD), it becomes even more frightening when we learn that the plot is based off of a true story, meant to convey how cruel humans can be to one another. But if you were fortunate enough to not read the AN, then it seems peaceful and tranquil at first. Perhaps too peaceful. 
"Suburbia. Shady tree-lined streets, well-tended lawns and cozy homes." What could possibly happen? A lot. Ketchum seems to repeat this pattern over and over again throughout the book-- backing off of the looming terror/frightening atmosphere by setting you up to believe that everything is okay. It's just gonna be about kids catching crayfish, right? Wrong. He sets you up over and over again, leaving you to wonder how long it will be before something REALLY happens. This pattern continues for the rest of the story, one that is extremely effective in building up the suspense. Ketchum is not afraid to show you the gore and horror, and softening that blow by taking time to build up the backstory and character, showing the good in people so we as readers can begin to care. But then, THEN, he destroys them in gruesome ways. The stereotypical love-interest between main characters isn't even present in this novel, as it is with today's modern horror movies. While in another world at another time, Meg and David COULD have had something together... but that is (thankfully) not Jack Ketchum's main focus. With that being said, if you are looking for a new-weird horror novel that gets you to really care about the characters, try adding "The Girl Next Door" to your list. 

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