Jack Ketchum Quote
the girl next door —or The Girl Next Door, in its original language- is a novel published in 1989 and written by the late American author Dallas William, better known by his pen name: Jack Ketchum. The controversial horror work is based on the true story of a sixteen-year-old girl, who was tortured and murdered by a woman and her children in the basement of the latter's house.
Ketchum's books are often inspired by true crime cases, but this one undoubtedly left critics and readers wary and convulsed.. The narration is explicit, full of reliable details about the testimonies of the perpetrators of the crime, the trial and the facts that were suggested, all from the fictional perspective of one of the girl's executioners.
Synopsis of the girl next door
"Do you think you know what horror is?"
A single chilling question is the one that opens the way to the novel: "Do you think you know what horror is?" Through this question, a depressed and already adult David tells a very dark passage from his childhood, the one where he completely lost the innocence of his early years.
During a summer in the 50s, David and his friends playThey watch television, drink cold drinks, go to fairs, and, in general, enjoy all those activities that make childhood unforgettable.
In this context they meet Meg and her younger sister, Susan, who, having lost their parents, they must go live with their aunt Ruth and their cousins. It is at this point where, being a horror novel, the reader could expect a paranormal event to happen and trigger the plot. However, what drives the story is a monster of real life: Aunt Ruth herself and his compelling hatred of women.
The incomprehensible beginning of evil
Following the arrival of Meg and Susan, the woman, for no apparent reason, decides to psychologically and physically mistreat both girls. —although the target of almost all the grievances is received by the older sister, who is barely 13 years old. When Ruth's clear imbalance grows, she proceeds to lock and torture the young woman in the basement of her house with the help of her children and their friends—all boys under 15 years of age.
David, the narrator, undergoes a crucial change inside his own anecdote: when he meets Meg he falls in love with her. However, when the events related to torture take place, like the others, dehumanizes the young and turns her into a mere object of depraved amusement. Although the protagonist and his story are separated by decades, it is not unusual to assume that David is a sinister being.
About the context of the work
Reality surpasses fiction
the girl next door is inspired by an event that shocked the United States in 1965. Sylvia Likens was a 16-year-old teenager who was left by her parents, along with her younger sister, Jennifer, in the care of a woman named Gertrude Baniszewski, whom they met outside a church. The cause of the absence of the parents of the girls was due to the fact that they belonged to a circus, and had to travel through the carnival circuit in the USA.
The agreement was for Baniszewski to take care of the girls in exchange for $20 a week. However, at no time did they verify the state of the house or its inhabitants. Even so, the pay for the care of minors never arrived, y that's when a ferocious abuse began which would culminate in the death of Likens. Although Jack Ketchum changed the names and some details, the author's account is very close to the true story.
In Praise of the Master of Horror: Stephen King
Stephen King, a staunch defender of the horror genre known for creating scenarios based on objects and situations of daily occurrences, opined about the work: "the girl next door it is a novel that is alive. She not only promises terror, but truly delivers it." Despite the fact that most of the book's chapters are short, navigating through the plot could be difficult for the most insensitive of readers.
Revealing evil bluntly
This story not only speaks of a crime, but of the very origin of evil. Delve into what leads a human being to commit vile acts against an innocent person, and what all these events imply for their protagonists —especially in the case of children, due to their own condition as beings with an underdeveloped psyche. Once Ketchum reminds readers of the darkness that lurks beneath the skirts of society, that door can never be closed again.
The author does not wallow in torture, as Sade might have done at the time, for example, but rather faithfully describes it. ketchum, sure that many would abandon the novel, said: “If the book has a moral ambiguity, a moral tension, it is because it is supposed to be that way.. That is the problem that this kid has to solve throughout the plot; the problem with his vision of things”.
About the author, Dallas William Mayr
Jack Ketchum
Dallas William Mayr was born in 1946, in Livingston, United States. Better known as Jack Ketchum, was a literary agent, screenwriter, and horror writer and fantastic genreWho died in 2019 from pancreatic cancer. In her teens she contacted Robert Bloch—author of the acclaimed Psychosis—. The literati became good friends, and Bloch later became Ketchum's mentor.
Many of his works have been condemned as “violent pornography”. However, the writer has been praised for the icon of contemporary horror StephenKing. Over the years, Jack Ketchum has received multiple literary awards., such as the Bram Stoker Award for Best Short Story in 1994, for his work TheBox. In 2003 he won the same prize for his novel Closing.
Other notable books by Jack Ketchum
- Off Season (1980);
- Hide and Seek (1984);
- Cover (1987);
- she wakes (1989);
- Offspring (1991);
- Joyride (1994);
- Stranglehold (1995)