Reviews

Off Season - Unexpurgated Hard Cover Edition by Jack Ketchum

Only show reviews with written explanations

kordidarling's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

3.0

fedex777's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark sad 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

jesteralexa's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I finished this book in 3 days and I’d read it again tomorrow. It’s set over a two day period, moving at such a fast pace which was really engaging.

The body horror is next level, to the point where I needed to set the book down for a few hours.

The end where Nick is killed by police trying to save him and mistaking him for a cannibal was a tough read, but exactly what the book needed. The realistic element of “the good guys don’t always win” was perfect

.

If you’re new to the body horror genre, I’d highly recommend!

wyabook234's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark mysterious tense medium-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? No

4.5

With Ketchum, he makes a great offering from the woods with his book titled Off Season. How as an author, Ketchum doesn't hold back on showing the brutality of these cannibals as they target a gathering of friends as their latest meals. With how these characters are struggling to eat and survive; it means that no one can be safe from the savagery of nature or civilization. Almost all of their ends are met in a descriptively graphic, disturbing manner with how these characters are burned, bitten, and chewed up. However, Off Season's not having reliance on plot armour doesn't make up for how the story is conveyed in writing prose that sometimes veers off into being clunky or needlessly focused on the sexualization of the female vacationers. Furthermore, the characters can also be seen as pretty flat, which can hurt the need for the audience to connect with these characters as they struggle to stay alive in Maine's wilderness.

With that being said of Off Season, it seems that Ketchum knows how to build up the suspense and when to escalate the tension to be more effective as opposed to having the gore instantly explode on his pages. These dreadful scenes of tension can be either the scene of the cannibals watching Carla and Jim having sex or one of the cannibals playing with Marije like she is a piece of meat before she gets the upper hand by biting into his privates. Scenes like these can be most effective as they are being used to build up for a quick getaway into another shocking situation.

Content Warnings