The Girl Next Door

Suburbia. Shady, tree-lined streets; well-tended lawns; and cozy homes. A nice, quiet place to grow up. Unless you are teenage Meg or her crippled sister, Susan.

On a dead-end street, in the dark, damp basement of the Chandler house, Meg and Susan are left captive to the savage whims and rages of a distant aunt who is rapidly descending into madness. It is a madness that infects all three of her sons and finally the entire neighborhood. Only one troubled boy stands hesitantly between Meg and Susan and their cruel, torturous deaths. A boy with a very adult decision to make....

©1989 Dallas Mayr (P)2016 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

" The Girl Next Door is alive...it does not just promise terror but actually delivers it.... It's a page-turner." (Stephen King)

Based on a true story

Horribly disturbing story. Before you rail against Ketchum for the subject matter, know that this book is based on actual people, which is even more disturbing. He retold a true crime story, which a lot of writers do. If it turned your stomach and scared the hell out of you (& it should) then he did his job. Ketchum is really good in general at giving his readers the chills anyway.

Dark, Dark Subject Matter

I have to be clear at the outset; I am not giving it five stars because I "liked" or "enjoyed" the subject matter. There is no doubt that the subject is very dark and difficult to listen to/read. However, the story was well written and the author, who also narrated the audio, made the characters come to life. I didn't realize until I read the reviews that this is based on a true story of a girl who was murdered in the 60s; it makes sense, because truth is usually more horrific than what someone can make up.

The story starts out like a coming of age novel, but it is far from it. It quickly develops into so much more. The story is well written, fast paced and suspenseful, and most of the characters (with the exception of Meg and Susan) are hateful.

So, who do I recommend this for? Anyone who likes a good true crime type of story, even though this is fiction. At times, this reminded me of Deliverance. There are graphic descriptions of physical/sexual abuse and torture, as well as psychological abuse.

I finished this yesterday, and I am finding that the story is sticking with me.

Hurtful

I'm not one to submit reviews on books but I felt inclined to warn others. This book infuriated me to the point that I had to take a few days off from listening. My desire for justice was the only reason why I powered through it. After 4 hrs of listening, I couldn't wait for it to end. The narrator was good but there were some distracting sounds that kept coming through.

Hard to listen to

It’s about child abuse by a mentally unstable woman. It was difficult at first to listen to because I suffered some abuse as a child that was (as in this book) considered to be parental discipline. It is a realistic story that is poorly narrated by the author.

Horrifying novel

This macabre novel did a good job at bothering me. It was disturbing, to say the least.