The Girl Next Door

By: Jack Ketchum

Narrated by: Jack Ketchum

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

Critic reviews

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

Horrors that human do

This is a horror story with no supernatural foes just the all-too-human and frighteningly common human variety. This story is not for everyone AT ALL. And it is one that is hard to listen to and hard to turn away from. I almost missed an 8am doctor's appointment because I couldn't go to sleep while listening which resulted in me staying up all night. I listened to it nonstop until the end. I was both relieved and still unsettled when I finished the book. And maybe that's the point. Life is not easy. And for some people it's hell, absolute hell, literally, in every possible way. This book does too-good-a-job at reminding its listeners that we should stop looking for the boogey man in the form of a non-human, a supernatural being, an immortal monster, etc. and notice those monsters who look just like us, our neighbors, our families, our leaders.

Difficult to rate

Because of subject matter. Very dark and definitely not a summer read. The book seems very familiar to me but, I cannot place it. It is well done although morbid. If I had known it was going to be so depressing, I would not have purchased it. Definitely something you cannot listen to on a speaker if you have people walking around. Actually well narrated considering it was the author doing the narration.

horrifying story not for the faint of heart

Really gruesome tale that shows you the scariest monsters could be living next door to you. Was a ok listen, took a very long time to get the horror bits and was just boring for long stretches. None of the characters are likable other than the sisters, the main character telling the story is as unlikable as the most evil villain. The guy that reads the book does a great job though. solid 3/5.

Very Black Plot

Started this book and didn't know if I could get through it, but I had to know what happened at the end so I made it to the end. This is a tale about the depravity of some and the breakdown of a justice system. It is set in the 50's when children were more property than anything else and it is very hard to listen to the things that happen in this book. I am no saint and do not believe in the ways of today's "snowflake" children, but this story is way beyond horrifying.

Most horrible story that I couldn't put down

I wish I had read the reviews to have better prepared for what I was in for. This is the real thing, and I cried on multiple occasions while listening. 'Hope' was the only thing that got me through this story.
Very well written and performed for such atrocious content. If you can't handle graphic violence & rape of children, this isn't the book for you.