Horror about true horror
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I went into this book thinking I could handle it, but it still did make me tear up a few times.It's still hard to put down, though. The story that got it's idea from a real life crime. The fact that this kind of torture is realistic makes it one of the most horrible horror's I have come across.It's told from the view of David, the boy who lives next door to the girl his friends torture. At times I just was so angry at David I wanted to put the book down, but then I can see the point Jack was trying to make. That you think watching is innocent till you find out it's not OK. David is the typical bystander we wish to hate, but end up understanding.I think everyone should read this book, even if it's once. It's not a one off horror since we have horror like this in real life. This book just put it in your face, almost to remind you.I say read it, just not with the lights out in a dark place.
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Addictive and disturbing
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This was my second novel by Jack Ketchum, having enjoyed Off Season very much, This book, although very different to Off Season, is also brilliantly written and very difficult to put down. The Girl Next Door is loosely based on the true story of Sylvia Likins who was horrifically abused by her Aunt and cousins in the 1960's. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_Likens is a link if you want to read about the true story.
The protagonist of the novel is actual David a neighbourhood kid, not Meg herself (Sylvia's name is Meg in the book, the names and places are changed). Meg and Susan move in next door to David with their Aunt Ruth and three cousins after their parents are killed in a car accident. As the summer progresses, Ruths attitude towards takes a rather her neices takes a malicious turn, especially towards Meg who she starves because she thinks she is fat, and harsly criticises her at every opportunity. As Ruths sanity begins to deteriorate, she keeps Meg prisoner in the basement and, along with her sons and several neighbourhood children, submits her to both psychological and physical torture.
David desperaltly wants to help Meg as he loves her, but is too scraed of what might happen to him is he tells.
Very addictive reading and truely harrowing and fast paced once it gets started. This is a truely devestating and disturbing horror novel. All the more disturbing to know that it actually happened to someone, I so wished I could have saved Meg/Sylvia from what happened.
I'd deffinatly recomend this book to horror fans or anybody interested in the story of Sylvia Likins.
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A Fair Read
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This book really wasn't that special. And it wasn't even that shocking but it was a fair read. I believe it's been a little over-hyped, perhaps by people that haven't read this kind of genre before. The story is meant to be quite a serious and believable one yet a few of the characters in here are anything but. Some of Richard Laymon's work is far more graphic and his style of writing is genuinely addictive.
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Horrifying and truthful
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The Girl Next Door is probably the most disturbing book that I have ever read. The horrors depicted in the book almost all come directly from the Sylvia Likens murder case which took place in Indiana in the 1960's.
Given the extreme nature of the case that the book is based upon, it sometimes reads as sensational, or even exploitational, but the facts of the case add an element to the story that makes it incredibly difficult to dismiss.
Its a hard book to recommend because of the intense emotional impact that it has, yet in that respect, it should be read. Some of the acts described in the book will make you wince or turn your stomach, others hit some primal fears that exist in all of us and make the book impossible to forget.
The Girl Next Door is a true horror book and represents, in my opinion, one of the best works in that genre.
Read the book if you feel you have the stomach for it and, for once, do believe the hype.
As a footnote, I would also recommend The Basement by Kate Millett, a semi fictional account of the true story, told from the imagined perspectives of some of the people concerned. It adds further impact to the events described in The Girl Next Door.
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Very disturbing
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I found this book to be very, very unpleasant. I have read countless horror novels, and this has to be up there amongst the most disturbing. I had read previous reviews of the book, and did not quite believe it -- it is so often the case with horror novels that a large wad of hype is used to promote and sell as many copies as possible. However, in this case, Jack Ketchum has outdone himself -- at one point in the novel, he eventually draws the line at how far he can push the reader, but there is a whole lot more before that line.
I cannot get this book out of my head -- not sure if that is a good or bad thing, considering the disturbing nature of the material!!!
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