Ah, Jack Ketchum. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways…
I will admit to a definite bias when it comes to Ketchum’s novels. From the first time I read OFF SEASON as a teenager, I knew that here was a writer I could totally hero-worship. So if you’re reading this expecting a negative review, then keep on going, bub. I loves me some Jack Ketchum.
Slobbering praise aside, LADIES’ NIGHT is Ketchum’s take on the world-gone-amok genre. In this case, the gone-amokers are women who have reacted rather negatively to a chemical spill in New York City. And by negatively, I mean totally batshit-crazy. I’m talking PMS to the nth degree. And while that might sound amusing — you might be picturing the cliché mobs of bargain-basement shoppers at Macy’s tussling over a 10-buck purse — the situation Ketchum creates is pure unpleasantness for the male of the species. And it’s gloriously, wonderfully horrible.
Ketchum always has been unafraid of going the shock route. Anyone who’s read OFF SEASON knows that the man will not fade to black once things go bad. He doesn’t leave anything to the imagination. There are no subtleties in his world. He goes for the balls every time, and I respect him for that. He knows how to tell a story, and if you happen to get grossed out or offended or repulsed along the way, then too damn bad.
LADIES’ NIGHT is a short novel that was – according to Ketchum’s foreword – once more than 400 pages in manuscript form. Needless to say, mucho editing was done, and the story tightened up tauter than a cheerleader’s tush. As in the best horror movies, there are no slow parts in Ketchum’s work. You’re going full-throttle right out of the gate, and any exposition or background is gained on the fly. And the horror movie analogy is appropriate here, because his books are such fast, vivid, imagery-rich reads. By the last page, you feel like you’ve watched a really cool horror film (albeit one more original than some of the stinkers out there now).
As a woman, maybe I should have been offended by LADIES’ NIGHT and the whole “only women are infected” thing, but I wasn’t. If anything, it made it a little more disturbing for me. Lord knows, there are some people I know who deserve a little batshit-crazy dropped on their heads, but the women in this book become totally monstrous. They go after anyone and everyone, regardless of the relationship. Children, husbands, fathers, boyfriends … it’s just a bad night for everyone involved.
Except for the reader, of course. Some could say that Ketchum is an acquired taste, but if you enjoyed any of his other novels, you’ll like this one as well. The only bad thing I can say about it is that it puts that damn Kool and the Gang song in my head whenever I talk about it. Other than that minor bitch, though, it’s a slice of fried gold. –Rebecca Brock
Buy it at Amazon or at Gauntlet Press.
Discuss it in our forums.
OTHER BOOKGASM REVIEWS OF THIS AUTHOR:
• THE GIRL NEXT DOOR by Jack Ketchum
• OFF SEASON by Jack Ketchum
