Why ‘The Girl Next Door’ is One of the Most Terrifying Novels Ever
If you’re looking for a truly scary horror novel, look no further than Jack Ketchum’s The Girl Next Door.
The Story
The Girl Next Door tells of a deranged woman who tortures and abuses her helpless young niece in the basement of her home, and the boy next door who recognizes he may be the only one to save the poor girl. The novel is told in first person, past tense, double-I from the perspective of a forty-one-year-old man named David looking back at horrific events in 1958 suburbia when he was twelve years old.
Young David is enjoying an idyllic summer off from school, making new friends and getting lots of sun, when he meets two sisters named Meg and Susan who just moved in next door after their parents died in an accident. He starts spending more and more time at the house, put off a little by the girls’ Aunt Ruth, who definitely speaks her mind, but David is too innocent and naïve to recognize when her despicable words become even more despicable actions — after Meg slaps one of Ruth’s sons for touching her breasts, she slugs her right back, and when Meg reports the abuse to a local police officer, Ruth locks up Meg in the downstairs basement and doesn’t let her come out.
