Joyride (aka Road Kill)
"Don't open this book unless you intend
to finish it in the same night." Joyride (aka Road Kill) Featuring a special afterword entitled "On Writing Joyride" by Jack Ketchum. About the Book: Carol and her lover, Lee, knew there was only one way to stop Howard for good. They planned every detail. And they thought they had committed the perfect crime. But a stranger named Wayne witnessed what they did, and he was thrilled by
what he saw. Now Wayne wants to be their friend. He wants to share the thrill
of murder with them. He wants to take Carol and Lee on a road trip straight
to hell so his new friends can enjoy his all-out killing spree that can only
end one way... "Begins with a planned murder and explodes into a terrifying and
believable killing spree... but be warned: Ketchum never stops, never flinches,
never turns aside. He is, quite simply, one of the best in the business, on
par with Clive Barker, James Ellroy, and Thomas Harris. Hey, want some good
advice? Don't open this book unless you intend to finish it the same night.
You may be shocked, even revolted, by Jack Ketchum's hellish vision of the world,
but you won't be able to dismiss it or forget it." "Fans of Jack Ketchum's brand of staggeringly gory violence will appreciate
the reissue of Joyride, the disjointed story of a would-be killer who
goes over the edge after nearly choking his girlfriend to death and then witnessing
an unrelated brutal murder. Sex, guns and deranged psychopathic conversation:
who could ask for anything more?" "Tautly-written, thoroughly excellent psycho-horror." "Ketchum's poetically brutal prose, as always, is boiled down to pure,
intoxicating essence, without a hint of waste or dross left over. He's a storyteller
and soulsearcher with a narrative as lean as Hemingway...."
Published in two states: Excerpt Artwork  |
Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for a former actor, singer, teacher, literary
agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk—a former
flower child and baby boomer who figures that in 1956 Elvis, dinosaurs and horror
probably saved his life. His first novel, Off Season, prompted the Village Voice to publicly scold its publisher in print for publishing
violent pornography. He personally disagrees but is perfectly happy to let you
decide for yourself. His short story "The Box" won a 1994 Bram Stoker
Award from the HWA, his story "Gone" won again in 2000—and
in 2003 he won Stokers for both best collection for Peaceable Kingdom and best
long fiction for Closing Time. He has written eleven novels,
the latest of which are Red, Ladies' Night, and The Lost. His stories are collected in The Exit At Toledo Blade Boulevard, Broken on the
Wheel of Sex, and Peaceable Kingdom. His novella 