The Girl Next Door (Mass Market Paperback)

Product Review
The narrative is the wizened recollection of a man haunted by the past: the summer of his thirteenth year on the planet in the late 50's. The realism comes from his devout memory of the period. As we follow Ketchum, we find things beyond the thin dressing along the trail; we find dark shadows and strange twists and decisions and sharp things that hurt and water that scalds and scalds again and searing needles that carve words on a young girl.

In the beginning we meet David as he first meets the girl who has just moved next door to him. Meg and her younger sister Susan are staying with friends of David's. The girls are staying there because they have lost their parents and their second cousins are their closest relatives. David is quite taken by the slightly older Meg. But Meg is having are hard time dealing with her new "family".

Jack Ketchum is a master of showing the dark side of human nature. This book is no exception. Although the title seems simple and pure, the book delves into depths of darkness and evil as opposite of that as possible. His writing style is such that you get lost in his words. He grips you and refuses to let you go until he has told his story.