The Woman [Paperback]

I have never written a review before, but felt compelled to write one after reading this book. This is the first book I've ever read by this author, but it will not be my last. I didn't want to put this one down and had it read in one day. It kept my attention from beginning to end. It is a dark book and not for the squeamish, but if you like dark, psychological-type books you should love this one. I know I did!

I would have finished this book in one sitting if I didn't have to sleep and go to work. I have read a lot of Ketchum's work and this is my new favorite. This book has everything a horror reader wants; from psychological thrills to downright gore.

I'll be interested to see the movie if I can get my hands on it.

When possible, I am always a person that can read a book before seeing the film. But this book is an even more special case as I bought and read the uncut editions of Off Season and Offspring a few years ago and to be honest, they are one of the two best books I have ever read! They are horror at its finest. Addictive, interesting, gory and relentless. They make Stephen King look like fluffy bunnies and pink umbrellas. They follow the story of a group of primitive people, a family that live out in the woods and live and act in a prehistoric manner. They mark their territory, they make weapons out of bones, they have sex to breed and they are cannibals as well as fine hunters that never miss their mark. Off Season is about this family coming further inland and killing a group that have come up for a break. The second book, Off Spring is similar, but they attack a family in their newly bought house, as well as others in the area. These books are terrifying and so graphic. They make me want to close the doors, make sure they are locked and I can never read these books in the bath because they honestly make me feel far too exposed. Anything else I can read without a problem but Ketchum, his books have such bite. The Woman is the third of this series, where at the end of Off Spring a woman is the only survivor, she escapes while the rest of her family are killed. This book follows her story.

The Woman has fled the area where her family were caught and killed, she is badly injured and settles in a cave for shelter, she tends to her wounds and tires to set herself up to start again, lonely, longing her family she is at her weakest. That is when Mr Cleek comes along, a family man who likes to go hunting from time to time. He spots her and watches her. He goes back home, prepares himself them comes back with the equipment he needs. He catches her, locks her up in the fruit cellar where she is chained and here, he is going to try to civilise her. For anyone that has read the previous books, they know exactly how far someone is going to get when trying to civilise one of these people, if you could even call them that. It would be like plucking a wild alligator out of a lake when it is 7 years of age and trying to teach it to sit on your lap while you are watching your nightly TV. It simply... is not going to happen! As you know with Ketchum, this book is going to go bad and it does. The training of this woman doesn't go so well and when he introduces her to the family, you sort of wonder why they seem to be somewhat okay with this. Why they don't question him or call the police or something but you soon learn why. Mr Cleek is demented. Seriously and I mean seriously demented. Somehow Ketchum manages to turn the third book around where the primitive ones are the monsters for the first and second book and suddenly the `civilised' people are the monsters in the third and they are far worse than any out of control animal can ever be. He is soon beating her, molesting her, and letting his son have his way with her too. But the wife won't have this, the teenage daughter's school teacher won't have this and the teenage daughter herself will not have this. Soon the whole family is turned upside and sides are having to be chosen and its do-or-die!

Seriously, I couldn't put this book down. Took me 2 months to get through the last one I read, Clickers, took me 3 days to get through this! I would have gone through it in one sitting but I work full time and have things I need to do so I simply hammered through as much as I could, when I could. Let's say, my move watching got put in the back burner for a while. The Woman is absolutely addictive and a hot page turner from the very first page. The characters are presented to you graphically and ruthlessly. By the end of the first 20 odd chapters you absolutely loathe certain characters and by chapter 30, you are hoping they get what's coming to them! The Woman becomes their only saviour and you are frothing at the mouth as much as she is to see her have her revenge. I was actually smiling while thinking about what she could do to them, if only she got the chance. Everything is explained beautifully and with so much enthusiasm! From the teenage daughter's troubles, to what has happened to her, to the teacher that wants to help and the mother with absolutely no back bone. Even the dogs tied up in the dog shed are explained with such detail that you really get a feel for what is going through their minds too, it is rather remarkable to read.

There is also so much going on in this mere 220 page novel. You have the father, Mr Cleek, his wife, their daughter who is a toddler, a boy hitting his teen years and a girl well into her teen years then there is the dirty little secret that is touched on at the beginning of the book but explained in full towards the end and then it all comes into place. Why the family is the way it is, why characters are the way they are and why they weren't really that surprised when dad brought home this woman and locked her up in the fruit cellar. All these books in this collection are a mixture of graphic horror and psychological horror and this one hits the psychological stuff the hardest and makes it an unforgettable read. Pages of this book and sentences from particular chapters will be blood soaked into my brain for years to come and for those that love Ketchum's work and really enjoyed Off Season and Offspring MUST read this book. It is a great finale to the series and certainly as strong as the previous two.

I also gotta say, I have read Right To Life as well as The Girl Next Door and I was fearing that this book will be a bit repetative in that regard as women tied up in a cellar seems to be a subject done in all these Ketchum books but no, this one surprised me. It is very different and focuses on how messed up the family is rather than the woman in the cellar. It makes for a really nice change and also made it all the more frightening to read! So if you are concerned about that, dont be, as I know I was.

You will have to excuse me now, I am going off to watch the movie. Which as you can imagine, after absolutely adoring this book, I am very keen to see!