Product Description

A signed limited hardcover edition of the long out-of-print Jack Ketchum classic COVER. This is the story of the disintegration of a Vietnam War veteran and the havoc that ensues as only Jack Ketchum can tell it. Rave review in Fangoria!! This edition is signed by Jack Ketchum and includes material not in the out-of-print paperback. Ketchum writes an introduction dealing with research. And there's material Ketchum wrote at the time the story took place, NOT when he actually wrote the book, called EPHEMERA.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #490031 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 308 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780843961874
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From the Publisher
This is a Gauntlet signed limited edition, limited to just 1000 copies, signed by the author. For further details about the book, including an on-line audio interview with the author, visit the Gauntlet website. No further editions of this book are planned and, as of now, it will NOT appear in paperback in the next year or more, if ever. When these 1000 copies are sold, the book (as the original paperback) could be history. Valuable as a collector's item, with the authors signature, as well as a great read in a book that is near impossible to locate.

Customer Reviews

Vietnam may be long from over for some
It's kind of hard to lump this book into the horror section - I would consider it more of a horrifying thriller. A vietnam vet has determined that he is too dangerous to live in society and has removed himself far into the wilderness. He lives secluded from society with his wife and dog. His wife helps him to keep his last grip on his sanity - but when she leaves to go stay with family, his last grasp is gone.

Meanwhile we have a pack of well to do upper crust individuals, and author, a playwrite, a model, an agent and a photographer who are all planning on a camping trip. Their intermingled dramas are very realistic and border on annoying (much like real people). Unfortunately when they select their camping spot they may find themselves mistaken for a couple of Uncle Ho's minions by a man who has long ago left his sanity behind him.

The chapters from the vet's eyes are disturbing and all too real - frightening. Ketchum did a fantastic job of building him and making us care about him even though we are utterly terrified of him.

Although this is no "Girl Next Door" this is a wonderfully written book that will shock the casual reader, and be loved by the avid horror/thriller fan.

A disturbing, thought-provoking work
Jack Ketchum has been hailed as a writer whose unflinching gaze at man's darkness is disturbingly thought-provoking. Consistently, he's displayed a knack for taking readers to uncomfortable places, daring them to stare harsh reality in the eye. Originally published by Gauntlet Press, "Cover" still finds relevance in today's world. In these pages, Ketchum captures the horrors of war, after a soldier has returned home, a supposedly "safe" place forever tainted by the violence he's endured.

The Vietnam War has left Lee Moravian a hollowed-out shell. A bundle of nothing more than trained impulses, Lee struggles for normalcy. The simplest emotions are atrophied muscles he doesn't remember how to use. When his wife finally leaves him, fearing for her and their son's safety, Lee is left alone to grapple with his ghosts, deep in the quiet forest he calls sanctuary.

A chance arrival of celebrity campers intrudes upon Lee's delicately strung-together world. The stress of solitude warps his mind, dredging horrifying flashbacks to the surface. Reality twists into a haunting reflection of the jungles of 'Nam, and as Lee slowly fades from the present into the past, he prepares to wage bloody war upon his newfound "enemies".

Though reflecting upon Vietnam, "Cover" is still relevant today. Ketchum aptly portrays the fragmented perspective of a man torn by a violence beyond most humans' understanding. It's a complicated work. It's hard to blame Lee, especially as Ketchum interweaves the veteran's terrible war experiences into the present-day narrative. It's an excellent re-printing choice by Leisure, because in this time of war and strife, amid political and military campaigns driven by agendas and "goals", it's important to consider the broken human lives that are often dismissed afterward.

Dark things lurk in the shade of the serene green trees
This was an interesting morsel that took no time at all to get through, in fact I gobbled it up in half a day and was ready to tackle even more reading that day. Ketchum enchants the reader with his smooth prose and easy to digest writing, making the story shocking, quick and genuinely real when it comes to the crazy characters and the trouble they got into. Lee, the mentally confused Vietnam vet isn't the only odd ball character here, some of the people who go camping are even stranger than him, maybe not deadly enough to kill someone but they sure have issues. When the two intense worlds combine the battle is not only for the sake of their own interests, but a battle for life and survival in its crudest and rawest form.

Lee Moravian is startled by his unwelcome guests, but his clouded mentality never stops keeping track of Kelsey, his wife and also his mistress and a few of his guests. Pretty soon the city people find themselves cornered by war style traps and a stalker who has nothing better to do than outwit their every move and make their camping trip a living hell. I thoroughly enjoyed the tale and was on the edge not only about the vet but also about the complex and volatile relationships between the other characters. I was instantly drawn into the book and had a good time reading it on a lazy Sunday. I love theses types of stories, the lost in the woods tales, or creepy islands, Antarctic or desert tales when the wish for survival makes the desperation swell and the story grow into something intense. This was a fun, quick read that was thoroughly enjoyable. The ending was a surprise as well, it left me with a feeling of buzzing unease but also a deep curiosity of what the future held, well done and not obvious at all.

- Kasia S.