Off Season is a horror novel written by Jack Ketchum

Jack Ketchum

Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for American author Dallas Mayr . He is the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. Many of his novels have been adapted to film, including The Girl Next Door and Red...

 and initially published by Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books

Ballantine Books is a major book publisher located in the United States, founded in 1952 by Ian Ballantine with his wife, Betty Ballantine. It was acquired by Random House in 1973, which in turn was acquired by Bertelsmann AG in 1998 and remains part of that company today. Ballantine's logo is a...

 in 1980. It was Ketchum's first novel and was partially based upon the legend of Sawney Bean, which also inspired Wes Craven

Wes Craven

Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...

's 1977 cult classic horror film The Hills Have Eyes

The Hills Have Eyes

The Hills Have Eyes may refer to:*The Hills Have Eyes *The Hills Have Eyes , a 1977 film by Wes Craven*The Hills Have Eyes Part II, the 1985 sequel...

.

The novel was extremely controversial upon release, with many well-known publications attacking its depictions of extreme violence. Critical reaction to it was so strong, in fact, that Ballantine actually stepped back from supporting the novel. Despite initially strong sales the publisher decided to withdraw it from circulation after the first printings were sold out. In 1999 the novel was picked up for re-publication by Cemetery Dance and was released in an "unexpurgated edition" that featured some of the gore that Ballantine initially made Ketchum trim.

Plot Synopsis

The story follows a group of friends from New York City who travel to Dead River, Maine for a weeklong vacation by the coastline. Unbeknownst to them, however, a clan of inbred and cannibalistic savages has taken up residence in a secluded cave very near to them, and after night falls they are attacked by the marauders, forcing them to become as depraved and barbaric as their tormentors in an effort to survive.