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Rating: 
Summary: Stillborn
Review: A woman is kidnapped in front of an abortion clinic by a desperate, psychotic couple so that she can bear a child for them. Feeding her unlikely stories of an organization that deals in human slaves, they lock her up in their basement and torment her for the remainder of her pregnancy. The plot is thin even for a 140-page novella. Beyond the initial abduction and imprisonment, the drama never escalates, and so it grows tiresome. The story might have actually been more interesting had it been expanded into a longer form, and shown us what is going on elsewhere as the woman's lover and family try to find her. But unfortunately the author doesn't concern himself with any of that. The story's other major flaw is how inept the villains are. At one point they go so far as to reveal their full names, in an attempt to set up a safety net that would never work. And though the wife is a nurse, she doesn't seem to be aware that what they're doing can very likely affect the health of the baby she wants so badly. Despite their actions, they just don't feel threatening, and the reader gets the impression that their captive could easily outwit them if she waits for the right moment. The abuses heaped upon the protagonist are so mundane that it doesn't even earn points in the extreme horror category. Also included in this edition are two short stories. "Brave Girl" follows the aftermath of a child's emergency call. "Returns" is a bittersweet tale of a ghost who has one final task to complete.
Rating:
Summary: Stillborn
Review: A woman is kidnapped in front of an abortion clinic by a desperate, psychotic couple so that she can bear a child for them. Feeding her unlikely stories of an organization that deals in human slaves, they lock her up in their basement and torment her for the remainder of her pregnancy. The plot is thin even for a 140-page novella. Beyond the initial abduction and imprisonment, the drama never escalates, and so it grows tiresome. The story might have actually been more interesting had it been expanded into a longer form, and shown us what is going on elsewhere as the woman's lover and family try to find her. But unfortunately the author doesn't concern himself with any of that. The story's other major flaw is how inept the villains are. At one point they go so far as to reveal their full names, in an attempt to set up a safety net that would never work. And though the wife is a nurse, she doesn't seem to be aware that what they're doing can very likely affect the health of the baby she wants so badly. Despite their actions, they just don't feel threatening, and the reader gets the impression that their captive could easily outwit them if she waits for the right moment. The abuses heaped upon the protagonist are so mundane that it doesn't even earn points in the extreme horror category. Also included in this edition are two short stories. "Brave Girl" follows the aftermath of a child's emergency call. "Returns" is a bittersweet tale of a ghost who has one final task to complete.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't let the cover throw you off
Review: Because the book is way more distturbing than that! This book scaredthe hell out of me in part because it was based on a true story, I will say this-if you're a cat lover, as Mr, K obviously is, have LOTS of kleenex ready for one of the short stories towards the end. AND for at least one scene in the title novella.
Not for the easily upset, squeamish, or offended.
Rating:
Summary: an absolute must if your a Ketchum fan
Review: I'm a movie watcher, not a book reader, and I'll tell you why. It's hard to find a book that for me, is engrossing enough to sit down and read. I'm often tempted to skip pages to find some action, or something interesting. It has been a long while since I could sit down and read a book, until now. I have to thank Jack Ketchum for being honest and convincing in his writing. Never have I read a book that is so alive. Never have I read a book, that literally left me on the edge of my seat, left my heart racing, and led me through a gamut of emotions. I cringed, I yelled. I got angry and sad. It was incredible!
Due to my own personal experiences, this book at first brought back some old memories of mine, which made me set the book down for a couple of days. I decided to pick it back up and couldn't put it down.
The main character Sara is a lovely woman who really hasn't had the best of luck in the world in the past few years. Gotten past all the bad, she meets a wonderful man, whom she loves dearly. Fast-forward to now, she is pregnant, he is married, and you can guess what happens next. As he drops her off at the front of a clinic, he goes to park the car, and during this time, Sara is kidnapped and drugged, right off the street. When Greg goes into the clinic, and finds she has not yet checked in, he begins to fear she has left, but none of the pieces seem to fit. With that, he gets aid from Police and they begin looking for Sara with no luck.
The majority of this story is what happens while Sara is held captive. Taken by two individuals that can not conceive children nor adopt, these people believe they are saving Sara from certain things, while filling their lives with "happiness". Using the guise of "The Organization" they try to break Sara down until she is compliant to their wishes. What happens next? You need to find out!
Rating:
Summary: A Disturbing Masterpiece
Review: Right To Life might very well be Jack Ketchum's most striking, affecting and brilliant story since The Girl Next Door. Once more, he comes at us full force to have us face the most terrifying and most disturbing nightmare of all: Death. A woman considering having an abortion is kidnapped by a couple who desires a child. They will keep her prisoner for the full term of her pregnancy in the hopes of keeping the child for themselves once it comes. They will torture her and torment her for their own pleasure as they await the child's arrival. Dark, disturbing and terrifyingly realistic, Right To Life is a novella only the twisted mind of Jack Ketchum could conceive. Ketchum's strength lies in presenting his readers with realistic horror. His stories rarely rely on the paranormal, opting instead to investigate the demons that can plague one's mind. And this book isn't an exception to the rule. Right To Life is a psychological tour the force that will leave you breathless. It's the kind of book which you will forever remember, which will haunt you long after you have finished reading it. This is Ketchum at his best and darkest.
Rating:
Summary: Abductions and the Months They Breed
Review: Sara Foster finds herself in a situation she had never thought she would be in again, one in which she feels that her body and her emotions have betrayed her and have allowed her to love once more. Its a sad thing, too, because Greg's a married man and happy with his family, a good man that also loves her but that can't leave them, and because she's pregnant with his child. Because of tragedy in the past this is further complicated, to the point that having the baby doesn't seem like a viable option. Together they decide that aborting the child is better than the pain of not being able to be with one another, and Sara decides that, in order to get things over with, she'd have Greg drop her off and park his car. Enter Stephen and Katherine Teach, one with the inability to have children and the other with plans that feed his sadistic desires, as they take their station wagon and snatch Sara off the streets in broad daylight, leading toward a life that has, until now, been nothing more than a news article read in passing. Although this is only a novella in length, I found myself happy with the way that Ketchum balanced the act of positioning the character and storytelling, letting the days bleed by and the notions infect mindsets as one played into the other. He did this by keeping times and dates at first and by letting you know what was through the minds of both the victim and the victimizers, not to mention leaving no holds barred in the torment department. In many rights this made me feel for Sara, the woman that had been judged and yet wasn't known to the captors that kept her locked inside those devices, as the story played out and the travesties became more familiar to the person they had attempted to break. Also accompanying this are two really short stories, one which I liked and the other that I didn't, called Brave Girl and Returns. In Brave Girl I saw an idea that I thought might be horrific in its own right, that might find a way to display something vile within its clutches, but that turned out to be something that I was relatively disappointed in. Perhaps it was because of the content of the book that caused it, that its message seemed out of place to me and tragic but not tragic enough, or that it simply wasn't that well orchestrated on its minute approach. Whatever the case, it wasn't a hit with me. Returns was better, however, making up for Brave Girl with a little breath of oddity in its own right, finishing off the book with a brisk jog through the lives of the dead and the reasons they carry back into life. I still don't judge these as anything other than accompanying material, however, and see them as nice gifts set as ornamentation for a novella I liked. For anyone that enjoys Ketchum's works, I think this is a pretty nice piece to have around. It isn't as detailed as some of the longer works as far as setting is concerned, but this instance doesn't demand setting changes so familiarity allows a little less. He still has all the time to delve into the torments of the captive, the mindset painted in the expressions of the tormentors, and how things can sometimes become a little graphic as the horrific is fleshed out. It is a quick read, but a good one nonetheless.
Rating: 
Summary: A DARK JOURNEY INTO SEXUAL DEPRAVITY!!!
Review: Unlike Jack Ketchum's earlier novel, LADIES NIGHT, his newest one, RIGHT TO LIFE, definitely has the shoe on the other foot as a pregnant woman becomes the victim of a deranged married couple that kidnap her right off the street and hold her captive for several months while she's forced to endure their bizarre S&M games. The 139-page novella starts off with Sara Foster on her way to an abortion clinic to do away with the unwanted child that she's now carrying. Before Sara can even enter the clinic, she's grabbed and sedated by Stephen and Katherine Teach-a couple who's unable to have children-and taken to their home where she's held as a prisoner. The couple intends to hold Sara until the baby is born and then kill her. Stephen, however, has other plans for his beautiful captive as well. He's going to get the most out Sara's luscious body by using her to fulfill his own perverted desires. Forcing her to submit in whatever sexual manner he chooses, she's mentally and physically tortured on almost a daily basis. Even Stephen's wife decides to get in on the action by making the prisoner her sex slave when the hubby begins to lose interest after a few months have past. Sara instinctively knows that she has to find a way out before it's too late, but time is her worse enemy as she grows bigger and more powerless with her pregnancy. She also understands that if she does manage to escape, the couple may very well come after her. This leaves her with just one option-to kill them first! RIGHT TO LIFE will shock you to the core as it depicts one's person's attempt to survive unimaginable torture and humiliation in order to keep from being killed. Mr. Ketchum never pulls his punches with the violence and craziness. His prose is fast moving and creates stark images that are mind numbing. The reader is quickly carried into this dark world of depravity and made to realize that anyone can be a potential victim when least expected. The characters are well drawn, but it's the Techs that really steal the show. This is one psychotic couple you wouldn't want to have as next-door neighbors! All in all, RIGHT TO LIFE delivers in full form. Strong in sexual content, it's not for the faint-hearted or those with a queasy stomach. One final note, this edition also contains two extra short stories. The first is "Brave Girl" and it deals with a four-year-old child whose mother has fallen in the bathtub and is now unconscious. The second short story is "Returns" which is slightly different from the author's normal subject matter. It centers on the spirit of a recently deceased man who returns home to his hateful wife, hoping to stop her from killing his loving cat. These two short stories are a nice bonus for the fans of Jack Ketchum.
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