Maggie M. - , reviewed on 5/29/2013 + 400 more book reviews

Oh my. Ive read just about all of Jack Ketchums books, including the cannibal series and loved them.disgusting and exciting in all their gruesome horror (they make Stephen King look like hes wearing diapers). But this bookthis book is something else entirely. The Girl Next Door transports you back to a late 1950s middle-class neighborhood during the hot, lazy summer. The neighborhood kids become involved in the madness of one of the mothers. Telling you any more would give the story away. The children become victims, coconspirators, and perpetrators. One, through the madness, becomes a hero, even as tragedy strikes. The reader is left with some questions unanswered, huge moral ambiguity, and seriously, at times, even I had to put it down and walk away. I still dont know if its based on a true story or not. I think, for me personally, the problem I had was that in Ketchums cannibal books, you suppose, if you stretch it really, really far, that its possible, but extremely unlikely to occur or be a reality. This bookits entirely too likely to be a reality and, perhaps, thats where my squeamishness came from. Still, I recommend the book, but NOT to the faint of heart. Consider yourself warned.

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