Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Off Season by Jack Ketchum

43 reviews

ptrmsschrs's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.75


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wisteria96's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated

4.0


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killmoore_'s review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I should have learned long ago that Jack Ketchum just isn't my cup of tea. 

Everything about this fell a bit flat for me. No character depth, weak plot line, no back story to our villains. Just some horny folks in a cabin in the woods, and a disgruntled police officer who should have retired ages ago. 

Wad it gory? Yes. Was it beyond brutal? Also yes. However it felt that the attempts at shocking the reader with violence far outweighed any attempt at building a storyline worth following. More attention was put into the spice level than the actual plot line and that just isn't my thing. 

If you're into brutal gore stories with nonplots, this is for you. 

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cclancaster13's review against another edition

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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

3.5

Eh, it was okay. Very fast paced. Sometimes it was just painfully written by a man. Like when your rental house is being surrounded by a unfathomable amount of cannibals trying to break in and tear you apart you totally stop to notice and admire a hysterical woman's naked body that you're trying to get dressed, as a woman, right? Right? LOL

Overall it was fine. The writing was fine. The story, fine. And gruesome and not a very happy ending. I kinda nothing this book tbh.

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benwoll's review against another edition

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challenging 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

5.0

I love deep, intricate stories… but I also love fast-paced, no-nonsense slashers that develop characters just enough for you to care and then kill them off in extremely violent ways. That is exactly what Off Season is. It’s simple, it’s gory, it’s entertaining… it’s just a good horror novel. 

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reddarko's review against another edition

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dark tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

Not a fan of the weird sex stuff and Ketchum's "woman was obviously written by a man" writing. It was intriguing for sure but not a favorite and not something I would personally recommend 

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waverlyloyd's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious sad tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5


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wholesome_chaotic's review against another edition

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challenging 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

3.0

From the perspective of a horror fan this book has it all. Lean and mean. Gore soaked. Unforgiving. As a horror book it's 5 stars for being so visceral and unrelenting with it's brutality. 

However it also contains every single trigger warning a person could imagine. Very taboo subjects are presented and Ketchum lacks the deft hands to present them as anything more than shock for the sake of it. (I 'm only referring to this book with that previous statement.) It's also grossly sexist and even as a male I found myself rolling my eyes at how the women are portrayed. It doesn't help that the characters are thinner than paper. This why it only has a 3 star rating. 

There's no subtlety in this book. For better and for worse. 

Only recommend for hardcore horror fanatics with stomachs of steel and some questionable morals.

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mconard42's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5


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spicykombucha's review

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dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

1.0

Characters were flat and boring, the women especially written as vain and only worried about how the men viewed them (horribly misogynistic) idk how many times ‘breasts’ were mentioned but it was one to many, this is why I don’t read horror written by men 

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