‘Ladies’ Night’ – Jack Ketchum (Macabre Ink)

 

Page Count: 138 Pages

It has been so long since I read anything by Jack Ketchum that the other day I thought to myself, ‘I really should check him out’ and grabbed myself copies of ‘Offspring’ and ‘Ladies’ Night’. Turns out that way back in 2008, I read ‘Old Flames’ and didn’t think an awful lot of it. Oh well, If I’m having trouble remembering what I did yesterday, I’m not going to beat myself up for forgetting one book that I read seventeen years ago ;o)

Either way, it’s been long enough that it was worth paying Ketchum’s work another visit, just to see if things were better this time round. ‘Ladies’ Night’ was the book I kicked off with.

Tom Braun and his wife Susan aren't exactly a picturesque couple and it’s no surprise that Tom continually spends late evenings in bars and cheats on his wife. Unfortunately, their son Andy is caught in the middle of his parent's constant argument. One life-altering evening turns this family's, along with most of New York's, perceptions on the nuclear family and male/female relationships upside down. A tanker trunk with "Ladies Inc." emblazoned on the side crashes in a quiet area in New York, spillings its contents all over the road and into the surrounding atmosphere. The local authorities deem the contents of the spill to be safe, but couldn’t be more wrong. The chemical load the truck was hauling procures a discomfiting, bestial effect in women, forcing them to savagely attack males in their vicinity. Be they former friend or foe. Tom, while at a local bar, absorbs the evening's strange turn of events with traumatizing clarity as he witnesses first hand the metamorphosis of surrounding women into gruesomely instinctual brutes and mantis-like predators. He must get home to his son Andy, who is currently alone with his wife Susan. Hopefully before it is too late.

Not a bad read, not a bad read at all, but maybe not quite the book (for me anyway) to convince me to keep reading Ketchum’s work. That’s on me to be fair, I chose to read ‘Ladies’ Night’ first. I’ve got a copy of ‘Offspring’, that I’ll read at some point, but does anyone have any other recommendations?

Anyway, back to ‘Ladies’ Night’. I loved the concept and the violent energy of the piece; the two complement each other well and drive the book forward at just the right speed for a Saturday where I’ve got no energy and need the book to do the heavy lifting. In that sense ‘Ladies’ Night’ was just what I needed, full of energy and violent spectacle. This book really doesn’t hang around; a quick set up and then it’s off and I was trying to keep up.

That wasn’t quite enough though.

I may well be missing the point but a plot as stripped back as this misses the meat on its bones that it needs to make the book a truly engaging read. The urgency is there, and it does pick you up and carry you along, but there’s no time to get a feel for the cast and that doesn’t leave the reader with much reason to cheer them on. I understand that ‘Ladies’ Night’ went through a few iterations, before this one, and I’d be interested to read a couple of the longer versions and see how they hold up in comparison. There's a decent twist at the end though and the 'final fight' is handled superbly, to be fair.

Like I said then, ‘Ladies’ Night’ isn’t a bad read, it just felt a little hollow once I’d reached the end. Any recommendations for a Jack Ketchum book to check out after I finish reading ‘Offspring’?