Series Review - Dead River Trilogy

Dead River Trilogy

Jack Ketchum

SPOILERS !!!

7 Stars
Horror / Thriller / Cannibal / Shocker / Realism /
Easy Reads

Off Season
9 stars

Ketchum balances the impossible with the believable, the realism of the setting and the situation makes you want to lean towards the improbable. That a family of nomadic cannibals roaming the hills and coastlines between Canada and the USA, created out of the necessity to survive, could exist. Although there are a few notes that tipped the story back into fiction.

Needless to say I loved this book, its a definite recommendation for anyone who likes horror. It is an easy, quick, draw-you-in action-packed read. Lots of blood, guts and gore in revolting detail.
\There are two versions of this novel, the original and the uncut. I have read both and as with most things the uncut is much more to my taste. The "original" was modified to appeal to mass market more so than a horror fan, suggested for those faint of heart types.

Off Spring
7 stars

This kicks off years after Off Season. In a world where most sequels have taken to picking up where the last sentence of the first booked left off this is a welcome change. The Family, destroyed in the final pages of Off Season have returned. They are the new generation; the Woman, First Stolen, Second Stolen and their offspring. A couple of mothers fight for their lives and lives of their children as they literally watch other family and friends get eaten alive.

This book did not live up to its predecessor, the characters, the setting, the story is all brilliant. The downfall was lots of repetition from Off Season. Definatly still something I would recommend, its good just not great.


The Woman
5 stars

This novel picks up right where the Offspring left off. The Woman, gravely wounded, is the only survivor of the OffSeason clan, after First Stolen, Second Stolen and the offspring are all killed she wanders the beaches.
The Cleek family appears fairly average until you get a look into their dark secrets.
Patriarch Christopher Cleek captures The Women, she is an experiment to him (one of many), can he domesticate her? and what effect will having a feral cannibal in their lives have on Cleeks wife and children?

I am so sad to write that I was not impressed with this novel. I feel like it was a publisher pleaser, its not something I would expect from Ketchum. The development is sloppy, the plot has huge holes and the whole thing is really unbelievable (which is what made the first book so great!). Filled with lots of shock factors and gore but thats about it :(


+ My Previous Posts for Off Season - Book Review Published August 19/2015