Off Season

By: Jack Ketchum

Narrated by: Richard Davidson

Length: 7 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

September. A beautiful New York editor retreats to a lonely cabin on a hill in the quiet Maine beach town of Dead River - off season - awaiting her sister and friends. Nearby, a savage human family with a taste for flesh lurks in the darkening woods, watching, waiting for the moon to rise and night to fall.

And before too many hours pass, five civilized, sophisticated people and one tired old country sheriff will learn just how primitive we all are beneath the surface...and that there are no limits at all to the will to survive.

©1981 Jack Ketchum (P)2009 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"If you read Off Season on Thanksgiving, you probably won't sleep until Christmas." (Stephen King)

100 Must-Read Thrillers (International Thriller Writers)

Disappointing

While Ketchum's story is entertaining in a "guilty pleasure" sort of way, it would require a far better narrator than Richard Davidson to make it acceptable as an audio book. The story and prose are crude and require a more skilled narration than is provided to make it work. I gave up on it about one third of the way through. Not recommended.

Creepy but Couldn't Stop Listening!!

Any additional comments?

Yes, this book was graphic and creepy and a bit unbelievable but so good and held my attention throughout. Jack Ketchum is an awesome author. I do think I'd be scared to be in his mind 😱
Only negative I have to say is the narrator...it was very distracting to me and took away from the intensity of the character when his accents used for the male detectives sounded like if Colonel Sanders and PopEye had a baby. He made the detective sound like he was a southern 80 year old man but yet each time was a bit different. Then he used another accent for another detective that was just as annoying. I am from the the South but I'm pretty sure these accents are not Maine accents!! But not a deal breaker for getting the book. In fact, I just finished the sequel Offspring. It was better than the first I thought and the narrator was a woman and she is so easy and believable to listen to.

Want a first class seat to crazy town? Yes Please!

What a wonderfully crazy ride this book is! There are so many horror novels and authors that I love, but felt like they could have gone further. With beautifully crafted descriptions of what true horror and carnage could look like. Might look like. But never going all the way there. Setting the stage for crazy town, but leaving me at the front door to wonder "What If?" Not Jack Ketchum. He puts his arm around me and walks me right through the door to the center of it. This is the second Ketchum novel I've read, and both are 10/10. Both were slow starts, with the first 1/3 slowly charting the course to the crazy that I know is coming, and the last 2/3 being beautifully crafted chaos and carnage. Woven together and told from different perspectives to paint the unsterilized raw horror that so many other horror authors fall short of. If you shy away from violence and gore in your horror novels, you're probably not a fan of Ketchum anyway. Maybe I'm just desensitized from watching one too many hardcore indie horror films. But Ketchum's books, especially this one, really scratch my horror itch better than most. In today's world of trigger warnings and people being offended by something even before their feet hit the floor in the morning, this is exactly the kind of no holds barred horror novel I want to escape into for a while. A book that doesn't care about my comfort. A book that's going to stir up feelings and emotions like very few others can. And that afterward by Ketchum was such a nice cherry on top.

Classic horror.

Really loved this one. Such a good change in pace from all the psychological thrillers I’ve been reading

not for the faint of heart

I knew Jack ketchum was dark even before I read the book. I still had some truly jaw dropping moments during this read. it's a good read, but definitely not for everyone.

Wow.

Not the most intense gore fest but woof- it's up there. Good stuff, good narrator too.

too gruesome

Would you try another book from Jack Ketchum and/or Richard Davidson?

Maybe. I'm hesitant because I didn't like how gruesome Off Season was. There was more swearing than I prefer too.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

During the action, the narrator was great. However, during the sections where backstory was being relayed, I didn't like the way the narrator sounded bored.

Do you think Off Season needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

No.

Any additional comments?

When I bought this book I was looking for more of a ghost story and less of a gruesome "The Hills Have Eyes" sort of book. My disappointment is reflected by this misunderstanding. If you are looking for this type of suspenseful horror story, then I think you will be pleased with it.

Wrong Turn in Maine only more gory.

Ketchum doesn't pull punches. He didn't color in the lines as a child. Off Season is irreverent, in your face and a stone cold, heart stopping read. I love how the story's chapters are done with simple clock times. Next to McCarthy's Blood Meridian, it's the most violent, raw dog piece of story telling, I've read.

All the gore you could want

I really enjoyed how unexpected so much of this novel was. The first two deaths especially took me by surprise.
Story wise, I do feel the cops story line could have been expanded on.
The main reason I read this however, was for some extremely brutally deaths. And I got more gore than I ever expected. Absolutely loved it.

Thrilling from start to finish!

I was already a Ketchum fan but finally after “reading” his FIRST book I know he is one of the best. Do yourself a favor and don’t skip the afterword!!!