Welcome to Litsy!

First time reading Ketchum and regardless of how you feel about a book like this, it has to be said that Ketchum knows how to tell the story. His sense of tension and pacing is impeccable as well as his ability to invoke time and place. Before I learned this was based on a true story I wondered if it was taking the torture too far. But now I think it was necessary: these were real people who acted on the same depraved depths that are in all of us.

Horrifying, disturbing, and authentic. Ketchum, with crystal clear prose, details the malevolence of silent compliance and the horrors of abuse to a degree that is genuinely shocking. Not sure I‘ll ever read this one again, but it‘ll always stick with me.

I don't know what I thought when I bought this book. I read the half of it but I cannot bare anymore with this poor girl's torcher. I stopped reading this very bloody and violent thrillers about a year ago because it became too much for me.

I don‘t believe I‘ve ever read a story that left me feeling so uncomfortable and disturbed as this work by Ketchum. The fact that the author based the story on actual events only exaggerated my sense of discomfort. I cannot precisely recommend this book to others, but I give Ketchum credit for telling a truly horrific and gripping tale. Trigger warnings exist to warn prospective readers of books like this.

#bookspinbingo @TheAromaofBooks

Not sure how to rate this. It‘s horrific and violent and sad, but the story is a true one. Obviously liberties were taken and that‘s both better and worse somehow. I think it can be argued that we shouldn‘t capitalize on others trauma, but also can be argued that if someone experienced this, we can at the very least read it and remember her.

Just started. The beginning reminds me of The Virgin Suicides. That tone of looking back and sort of telling stories as a kid, but through the adult filter. I know it will get bad soon.

Been meaning to tackle this one for a while. I went into this thinking it was simply about a girl being kept in a basement and based on true crime. What I got was SO much more than I had bargained for.

Difficult to read at times, beautifully and painfully narrated. A modern classic.

Although the content was despicable, it was very well written. I knew where it was going from the first but hopes I was wrong…I was not. It made me feel many emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, hope and more disgust which was the point. Trigger warnings for just about all evils.

Picked up both of these books this week for like $10. Now looking at their ratings/reviews here neither seem to be too popular so I‘m slightly regretting my decisions 😑. But I‘ll still give them a try!

People may well tell you that this book is worth reading, but I do not agree. This reads as real no-thoughts-head-empty torture porn.

I know I just posted about never writing in books, but I did just write "oh fuck off" at the close of a chapter.

Such an ugly and terrifying book, but truly well-written.

4.3⭐️ this has got to be one of the most disturbing/triggering books I have ever read. It was good though, and it was terrifying, and it-made me sick. this is not one of those books and I would recommend to just anybody, especially since it deals with kids. If you plan to read it, proceed with caution. This was also one of my #roll100

My #roll100 books for January 2022.

Such an accurate picture of the stupid, nasty sexual cruelty of little white boys that it made my whole body shudder with recognition. And such an accurate picture of honest adult struggle to make accountable sense of one's own childhood cruelty and complicity. And such an accurate picture of adult violence as seen and reasoned about by children. An ugly, terrible masterpiece.

"I‘m not going to tell you about this. I refuse to. There are things you know you‘ll die before telling, things you know you should have died before ever having seen. I watched and saw."
That's the entirety of chapter 42.

This was the single most disturbing and upsetting book I‘ve ever read. Definitely not for the faint of heart. Brutal beyond belief. Very well written though. Made a video review on my booktube channel (also TH3 F4LC0N) where I really break it down, but it‘s enough to say here that this book will f*** you up. It‘s a pick, although I can‘t really recommend it since it‘s so extreme. Truly just a stomach-churning book. 😰

Well that was F@#%ed up. Especially since it was inspired by true events.

I have such a vivid memory of my mom reading this book because I remember this cover so well. That book disappeared from our house pretty quickly, which I‘m sure was because this book is FUCKED UP. I didn‘t realize it was based on a true story.

This has been in my TBR pile forever, and whenever I‘m looking for horror novels around October, it‘s inevitably on most lists. Finally listening to this one.

Wow! 😳 You know, monsters come in all shapes and sizes. This was a disturbing look at just how sick some human beings can truly be. 5 stars for the depravity Jack Ketchum created here. #bookspinbingo #Scarlathon2020 #TeamHarkness #cyoreadathon +87

@TheAromaofBooks @StayCurious

Starting this one for #bookspinbingo #Scarlathon2020 #TeamHarkness #cyoreadathon

@StayCurious @TheAromaofBooks

https://www.luulit.com/product/the-girl-next-door-audible-audiobook-unabridged/

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...

This book...I have such mixed feelings about it. The story is engaging and yet it is gut wrenching to read. I honestly almost put it down half way through. The details of events was almost to much. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone who has had a history surrounding abuse, but it is a good book based on real life. I would recommend it, but as I mentioned it must be read carefully because it is very heavy.

"The worst is missing them, you know? And knowing they won‘t be back again. Just knowing that. Sometimes you forget and it‘s as though they‘re on vacation or something and you think, gee, I wish they‘d call. You miss them. You forget they‘re really gone. You forget the past six months even happened. Isn‘t that weird? Isn‘t that crazy? Then you catch yourself . . . and it‘s real again"

Boy's Life was superb! 👌

Next up is The Girl Next Door, which I received a lot of feedback about.

I'm halfway through and I want to throat punch 95% of the characters ~ if you've read it, you'll understand.

Well, I‘m halfway through and I have to stop. Look, I LOVE horror. It‘s my favorite genre. But right now, I can‘t do this one. I‘m kind of disappointed in myself and my threshold for horror, but it‘s too much. 😔

This novel is not for the faint of heart. It contains the most brutal monster I‘ve ever read about: Ruth. There is child abuse, both mental and physical, including sexual abuse. This novel is hard to stomach and will anger you in so many ways, but that‘s the point. Children and women are tortured in ways that are inconceivable every day. We must listen (like one character doesn‘t) and speak out (like another eventually learns to do). ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

#horrorcovercrush Day 2

https://viaggiatricepigra.blogspot.com/2019/01/opinione-la-ragazza-della-porta-a...

If you still have any faith in humanity – leave it behind. I recommend this book, but I don‘t want to at the same time. It is sick all the way down

More here:
https://theantagonistdiaries.wordpress.com/2019/01/04/the-girl-next-door/

#book #bookreview #bookblogger #blogger

It was an amazing year!
Shortest book - ‘The Deal of a Lifetime‘ - Fredrik Backman
Longest book- ‘The Tea Rose‘ - Jennifer Donnelly
Most popular - ‘The Night Circus‘ - Erin Morgenstern
Least popular- ‘22 Scars‘ - C. M. North
More about my #bookyear you can find in my blog:

https://theantagonistdiaries.wordpress.com/2018/12/31/my-year-in-63-books/

I‘m gonna finish this year with Jack Ketchum‘s ‘The Girl Next Door‘. Which one is your last book?

Not very often where I enjoy a book and not recommend it but this book is very disturbing and made me very uncomfortable. Read it if you want but don‘t blame me for it.

I read the screenplay version of this, and it was hard work. Whilst I liked the style (brief descriptions of day/night, surroundings, etc then lots of dialogue) the story itself was hard to read. When I got to the end there were interviews with producers and directors as well as some of the cast which were really interesting, but I couldnt get past the subject of the book which is based on the true story of the torture and murder of Sylvia Likens

#readathon

1. The Girl Next Door, because it's based on a true event, and the most frightening stories are those that are all too real.
2. The Green Inferno, if it's seen-the-whole-thing. But I have also seen parts of The Human Centipede, and it's equally depraved.
3. Accidently eating the foil and plastic square around my iron pill. It came close to doing me in until we finally sorted it out over three long weeks. Good thing I'm scrappy.
4. No tag.

⚠️⚠️⚠️I read this book in one sitting, b/c this is the kind of book you read in one sitting. There is no closing this book. No walking away before it‘s finished. Just enough gore to make you squirm, just enough left to the imagination...which may be worse. I‘m going to choose “Pick” ONLY if you can stomach it. It involves horrible violence to children BY children. This whole BOOK is a trigger warning. Worse? It‘s loosely based on real events.

Well, shit... my husband's a big fan of his and a bunch of his books are downstairs, waiting for me to get to them. 😔

Well this was rather grisly. I didn‘t know it was based on true events until I finished it, and would have thought it implausible if I hadn‘t read Mother‘s Day recently. Recommended if you want an unpleasant read! It‘s way more unpleasant once you know all that actually happened.

This is the greatest terrible cover for a book I truly love (it's also signed by Ketchum himself!).

This book was incredibly difficult to read, and at times I wondered why I was. In fact, Jack Ketchum said his "aim was to make you feel guilty about turning the goddamn page" - as a reader, you feel complicit in the torture of Meg and Susan. As horrific as this book is, the true story of Sylvia Likens is much, much worse. If you take this on, please know that is is extremely violent, explicit, and involves kids.

Help me pick my next read, Litsy! I'm in the mood for something scary, but can't decide which one to go with. Thoughts?

I couldn't look away and I devoured this book. It was terrifying and brutal. Was it good? Yes. Would I recommend it? Only to those I wish emotional damage upon.

I'm half way in and this is just so gut wrenching I can't look away. I feel too committed to these characters now to put it down. But dear god these poor girls...

This book is turning into much more than a horror novel. Surprisingly poignant insights into the psychology of power and what it means to enable evil even if you're not a perpetrator.

Agghiacciante

Outstanding, Captivating, Thrilling, Insomnia inducing and just flat out amazing!!