bunnybones's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
0.5
sincerekillhope's review against another edition
3.0
You know, I don't know how I feel about this book. From a purely objective standpoint, it's a fun little zombie story, and I enjoy fun little zombie stories. But I can't completely separate myself from my feminist viewpoints, so as such, tend to read everything through that lens. And that's where I run into trouble with a few things in this book, mostly Elizabeth and the mother.
Was Elizabeth killed because she was desireable? Was the mother killed for being a shrew? Were they punished because of the continum they presented to the father, Elizabeth playing the whore and the mother playing the unatainable, hated for being untainted Madonna? The deaths of all of the other myriad women didn't trouble me because they weren't fleshed out much. Even the rape vicitm seemed to be painted with some degree of pity; we felt less badly when she ran over men with reckless abandon because she had reasons even before she was infected.
Granted, I'm inclined to believe that Ketchum decided to simply kill off all the women because it's a zombie story. People don't tend to live through zombie attacks. Technically, both sexes had a pretty heavy death toll, but in the end the men won.
As they tend to do.
In short: it's a fun little zombie romp, heavy on the fear that's ingrained within all men of women's sexuality.
Was Elizabeth killed because she was desireable? Was the mother killed for being a shrew? Were they punished because of the continum they presented to the father, Elizabeth playing the whore and the mother playing the unatainable, hated for being untainted Madonna? The deaths of all of the other myriad women didn't trouble me because they weren't fleshed out much. Even the rape vicitm seemed to be painted with some degree of pity; we felt less badly when she ran over men with reckless abandon because she had reasons even before she was infected.
Granted, I'm inclined to believe that Ketchum decided to simply kill off all the women because it's a zombie story. People don't tend to live through zombie attacks. Technically, both sexes had a pretty heavy death toll, but in the end the men won.
As they tend to do.
In short: it's a fun little zombie romp, heavy on the fear that's ingrained within all men of women's sexuality.
verkisto's review against another edition
1.0
Ladies' Night is the second supernatural work Ketchum has penned, and it's the second of his two supernatural works to disappoint. Ketchum excels at capturing the monstrous behavior that has the potential to come from all of us, and that's where the effectiveness of his horror lies. When he creates a monster that's just a monster, then we're reassured that these monsters don't exist in the real world, and can't hurt us. That kind of thing works for other authors, but for Ketchum, it doesn't.
In Ladies' Night, part of New York sinks into chaos when a tanker truck carrying some unknown chemical causes a change in all the women who were close enough to inhale the fumes. Within hours, they become mindless, brutal killing machines. One character, at a bar when the chaos begins, seeks to get home to save his son from his wife, who is also at home, and it's a race against time for him to make it.
The author writes in his foreword that this book was his attempt to write something like 'Salem's Lot. He also attempted to emulate King with She Wakes, Ketchum's other supernatural novel, and his other highly disappointing novel. The man has talents, without question (Hide and Seek, Cover, The Girl Next Door, and Stranglehold are all exceptional studies of character and theme), but he doesn't seem to have them when it comes to straight-up horror.
It's odd that a book this graphic can wind up being so boring. Though the story has a plot that carries it along, the novel is mostly one variation of violence after another. In a way, it reminds me of Alan Moore's Lost Girls, with its overabundance of pornography; after a while the excess leaves you feeling drained, unaffected. Maybe this is the point of both works, though. The book also ends on a low note, similar to how Off Season ended, though here it feels like more senseless brutality. There was no resonance here at all.
This story could have been a good examination of feminism and its ideals, with women finally taking their revenge against the patriarchy, but instead it's just a random assortment of violence by women against ... well, pretty much everyone and everything. Bad men, good men, other women, even animals and children fall victim to the frenzy of the women, until it's impossible to view the story as anything but gratuitous and exploitative. Ladies' Night could have been a story with a message; instead, it's just one short, pointless death scene after another.
In Ladies' Night, part of New York sinks into chaos when a tanker truck carrying some unknown chemical causes a change in all the women who were close enough to inhale the fumes. Within hours, they become mindless, brutal killing machines. One character, at a bar when the chaos begins, seeks to get home to save his son from his wife, who is also at home, and it's a race against time for him to make it.
The author writes in his foreword that this book was his attempt to write something like 'Salem's Lot. He also attempted to emulate King with She Wakes, Ketchum's other supernatural novel, and his other highly disappointing novel. The man has talents, without question (Hide and Seek, Cover, The Girl Next Door, and Stranglehold are all exceptional studies of character and theme), but he doesn't seem to have them when it comes to straight-up horror.
It's odd that a book this graphic can wind up being so boring. Though the story has a plot that carries it along, the novel is mostly one variation of violence after another. In a way, it reminds me of Alan Moore's Lost Girls, with its overabundance of pornography; after a while the excess leaves you feeling drained, unaffected. Maybe this is the point of both works, though. The book also ends on a low note, similar to how Off Season ended, though here it feels like more senseless brutality. There was no resonance here at all.
This story could have been a good examination of feminism and its ideals, with women finally taking their revenge against the patriarchy, but instead it's just a random assortment of violence by women against ... well, pretty much everyone and everything. Bad men, good men, other women, even animals and children fall victim to the frenzy of the women, until it's impossible to view the story as anything but gratuitous and exploitative. Ladies' Night could have been a story with a message; instead, it's just one short, pointless death scene after another.
serpabooks_0103's review against another edition
4.0
4 out of 5
Gentlemen...survive!
I think it was like The Stand in novella version and of course touched with ideas of Jack Ketchum as always gory and girls, woman, sisters, old hags and wifey's were the troublemakers.
I felt sad at the last part for Elizabeth/Lizzy as I end this book. She doesn't deserved it!
Plothole: I don't know what happened why women became splatterpunkers.
P.S. I compare it to The Stand and hey Lincoln Tunnel has been mentioned here too.
Gentlemen...survive!
I think it was like The Stand in novella version and of course touched with ideas of Jack Ketchum as always gory and girls, woman, sisters, old hags and wifey's were the troublemakers.
I felt sad at the last part for Elizabeth/Lizzy as I end this book. She doesn't deserved it!
Plothole: I don't know what happened why women became splatterpunkers.
P.S. I compare it to The Stand and hey Lincoln Tunnel has been mentioned here too.
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