This book contains 2 novellas.
In the first "Old Flames" a psycho woman hires a detective to track down her old boyfriend and then proceeds to insinuate herself into his and his families lives.

In the second, "Right To Life"

A woman is abducted on her way into a clinic where she intends to terminate an unplanned pregnancy.
This was definitely the more graphic and horrific of the 2 stories, full of depravity and torture as Jack Ketchum fans have probably come to expect. ( )

The book actually consists of two novellas. Be warned that they are both nasty, dark, wretched, and twisted. There is a disclaimer attached to the description that reads “This novel contains graphic content and is recommended for regular readers of horror novels.” Of course, that’s like telling a 16-year-old kid that the R rated movie they have managed to get themselves into unnoticed ...is “for adults only”. Bet a lot of copies of this were sold to folks just wanting to see what “graphic content” the “regular horror genre readers” were reading that they weren’t. The first novella... "Old Flames" is very much in the style of "Fatal Attraction" but without the typical Hollywood ending and the ‘bunny scene” ... although there was something almost as bad to replace it. Dora finds her old high school boyfriend, Jim. She finds out that he's married with two children but she's not about to let that stop her. The second one..."Right to Life"… believe it or not, is the better of the two. Sara is taken outside of an abortion clinic and held captive by a couple intent on taking her baby. I read a lot of books that could be considered “strange "and “unusual ", but this was almost too much for me. The subject matter is extremely dark and believe me ... it's not for everyone. I understand from other people that this is typical fare for Jack Ketchum books. I had another of his books on my reading list for December but I think I’ll by-pass it. I believe the rest of December will be much better. ( )

This review is for OLD FLAMES, the first novella in a collection of two. I will be reviewing RIGHT TO LIFE, the second story, at a later date. Something about Jack Ketchum bothers the hell out of me. I have to take a long break between his books. If you've read anything by him, you probably know what I'm talking about.

Ketchum does crazy people well. He can make you empathize with the nuttiest of squirrel bait. In this story we follow a scorned woman on her quest to find an old flame of hers, hence the title. Dora is about as broken as they come. She's not really a man hater, as she loves her fornication, but she doesn't exactly adore the opposite sex either. If it wasn't for the fact that I could understand where she was coming from, I might have chocked this book up as a DNF. And that's why Ketchum has the following he does. He tells the most disturbing stories about the realest of human beings. He doesn't use characters or caricatures, he casts living souls. Dark souls, but souls nonetheless. Ketchum is also known for not pulling punches, and he doesn't feint here, either. The problem with Ketchum's strengths is also his biggest weakness. If you've read one Jack Ketchum book you've read them all. He doesn't do happy endings, so all a reader must do to predict the ending of a Ketchum story is imagine the absolute worst outcome. OLD FLAMES is no different.

I have a serious love/hate relationship with this author. I love how simple and fluid his writing is, but I hate how generic his plots are. I love how well he develops character, but can't stand how short he is with the action. All this might sound as if I'm contradicting myself, and you'd be right. That's my problem. I don't know when to like him, nor do I know when to properly hate him. Most of his stories are somewhere in the three-star range for me, the only exceptions being THE LOST and THE GIRL NEXT DOOR, both of which far exceed the quality of any of his other work.

In summation, there are better Ketchum stories, but even when he's bad he's good. He's like Stephen King in that regard. He's also like King in the regard that you either like his work or you don't, but when you hate it, you really, truly fucking loathe it.

Trust me, I know how vanilla this review is, but that's kind of the point. A vanilla review for a vanilla book. ( )

Its a double whammy! Two spooky, chilling tales under one cover and by Jack Ketchum no less. What more could a lover of horror stories ask for? ( )

Pretty good! Nice style, fast paced. Can't wait to read his next book ( )