‘Red’ – Jack Ketchum (Leisure Horror)

 

Page Count: 211 Pages

I’ll be honest… I’m very much a ‘dog person’ (although Cats 1 & 2 are growing on me) and that’s the reason I haven’t read ‘Red’ up until now. If you’ve read the book, or even just the blurb, you know what happens and I just wasn’t ready to go there. And then I saw a copy of ‘Red’ for sale (Greenwich Oxfam, I love that shop...), the other day, and couldn’t very well leave it there. And once I’d brought it home, I couldn’t very well not read it; not when I’m trying to be a little more disciplined about reading the books that I buy…

I’ll warn you now, there’s an absolutely massive spoiler in the blurb, below, and if you’re a dog person, you might not want to read the blurb at all. I get it :o)

It all started with a simple act of brutality. Three boys shot and killed an old man’s dog. No reason, just plain meanness. But the dog was the best thing in the old man’s world, and he wasn’t about to let it pass. He wanted justice, and he’d make sure the kids paid for what they did, even if it cost him his life. They picked the wrong old man to mess with. And as the fury and violence escalate, they’re about to learn that…the hard way.

Well damn, that was one hell of a read… Ketchum doesn’t shy away from the act, that kicks everything off, but he doesn’t dwell on it either. It’s very much a catalyst and what we end up with is a book that asks the question, ‘at what point does the desire to see justice done suddenly tip over into an obsession with getting revenge?’ For my money, Avery Ludlow manages to stay on the right side of the line, but only just. The man is relentless, like a John Wick who wants to go through the correct channels, just to say that he tried, before he starts shooting.

The result is a plot that just keeps steadily ramping up the tension, in a series of ‘tit for tat’ exchanges that grow more violent, until the finale is just plain inevitable. And I loved how Ketchum took all the intent out of the finale and injected it with the kind of randomness that you would only get in a gunfight, in the middle of the woods, when it’s pitch black outside. ‘Red’ is more of a thriller than horror but Ketchum still finds the time to show us not only the capacity for horrifying behaviour in all of us, but also show us the horror in the consequences of poor decisions that are made quickly. There is lot to ponder on here and it made for another read that I polished off in the one sitting. I love it when a book grabs me like that, even when it opens like ‘Red’ does.

I’ve got a day of ‘tidying up loose ends at work’ looming large so I’m going to have to round things off here. ‘Red’ ended up being a superb read, a real tale of that fine line between trying to do the right thing, and revenge. Absolutely worth picking up, if you come across a copy, but I suspect your mileage may well vary depending on how much of a dog-lover you are. And now I’m wondering, what are the odds of someone reading this owning a dog called ‘Red’? If you have a dog called Red, leave a comment here, just don’t take him fishing…