Joyride and Weed Species are great together! I already had Joyride, but bought the paperback from Mr. Ketchum himself! I had to read Weed Species, as I am familiar with the Karla Homolka case. This is a very short story, but very disturbing. And yes, I loved it!

I didn't think it was his strongest effort, but I'd take one of Ketchum's lesser books over most authors' best books. The guy knew how to tell a story.

I'm a horror fan, which automatically makes me a Jack Ketchum fan. This book has Ketchum's thrilling, fast pace with short punchy chapters but the story was lacking a bit, even with the brutal scenes. I almost liked Jack Ketchum's back story on how he created the villain more than how he turned out in the book. Of course, it was still a fun read.

Read this book in four hours on a slow work shift. Is it just me, or did this book have a pretty happy ending for most Ketchum? It was nice.

Ketchum is quite satisfying when I reach for his stories; the horror and gore are based on things that with some stretch of really bad luck could really happen to someone which he balances on that too close to comfort crossing line perfectly. Joyride has a few murderers in it and some you hate and despise and the others you root for, crazy yes, you do want some of the characters to be okay, the story is twisted and even though it’s a good read it’s not his most visceral. This goes easy on the us...

Middle ground for Ketchum. He’s usually hit or miss. Joyride - 3Weed Species - 3.5

Let the Pandemonium begin!This book takes its readers on a ride with a psychopath who, up until now, has buried his urges deep. He's been too much of a coward to act on them. That, however, is all about to change.It all begins when Wayne, a simple bartender, try's to chokes his girlfriend to death while on a hike. She, of course, is none too happy about his actions and runs off leaving him sitting alone. It’s at this time he sees a couple committing a brutal murder, and it’s this act that awaken...

Jack Ketchum delivers an incredible, emotionally devastating novel yet again. Ketchum is a horror writer by title, but his writing is so artful, and rings so true emotionally that I would just call him an amazing novelist period. He goes so deep into the reasons people do what they do, that is the reason so much of his writing is so disturbing. The characters could so easily be real people. The kind of horror Ketchum delivers is based more on the terrible undercurrents in our society, not on the...

Someone posted a comment saying that this book is a real reminder as to why they couldn't be a murderer. A couple kills the gf's husband, and they pretty much go crazy trying to figure out how to live with themselves afterwards. They're all paranoid etc.... What they don't know is that someone witnessed the murder, someone with his own strange desires. And he takes them on a joyride killing spree.

"You're not going to believe this," he said to Rule. “We got a shooting out on I-89. Lady in a station wagon. Is this piece-of-shit day never gonna end?”~Joyride - by Jack Ketchum (2010) ***There are not many books I give a 5 star too. This is an exception. I put off reviewing this novel for a couple of reasons. One: I'm often one of the first to submit a review before reading other writers' critiques in my SHU program. I decided to do things differently this time. Second: I'm afraid I'm a real

Like most of his fiction, Jack Ketchum blends everyday life with inexplicable horror, usually more realistic psychological than supernatural, and does this just about better than anyone. Joyride involves an abused ex-wife and her lover, and their plans to murder her abuser ex-husband, who continues to harass her. But you know that saying about best laid plans? Needless to say, things go sideways in a very bloody and brutal way. The bonus story, Weed Species, was disturbing and horrifying in its

This one's definitely NOT for the squeamish as it features graphic violence, rape, and all sorts of depravity...ya know, typical Ketchum stuff.Included in this Kindle edition is the novella Weed Species, which is even more fucked up than Joyride, IMO.

I was expecting to really like this book. I read Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door a couple years ago, and I couldn't put it down. Unfortunately, Joyride didn't have the same pull. The writing seemed off somehow, and I was never able to fully engage in the story. It just wasn't all that interesting.

Overall, a good read. Real good, fast, pace. Really keeps moving fwd. At times gets into a bit of a backstory that was not needed (as you knew that person was about to eat a bullet). Straight forward story, few twists, but it's more of an action book so that is what it should be.Spoilers belowAn abused ex-wife and her new man decide to kill her ex, who abused her and much, much more. They do it with a psycho watching that they did not know was there. He has always been on the edge of killing, bu...

I’m going to be honest in the reasoning in my reasons for buying Jack Ketchum’s Joyride. My cheapness in pages per dollar came into my decision not to buy the very short novella, Weed Species. Looking at the cover and seeing these epically evil plants (and I love my plant based horror, apart from the horrendously frustrating Garden of Evil by Edmund Le Plante – which I hope is a pseudonym!) it was hard to resist.But along comes Leisure who have released an impressive catalogue of Ketchum’s work,...

I forgot how harrowing the end of this book was. The first time I read it is was in the Leisure paperback with Weed Species. Although these stories are somewhat similar in tone (very bleak), I think it was a bad idea to bundle them together, or at least, if not a bad idea, the reader should be warned to put some time in between them to properly absorb the full visceral and emotional impact of Joyride. I found that I enjoyed it much more on a second read all by itself.

Not as good as previous novels, however a thrilling building, decent quick read, regardless of the diluted ketchum content

Jack Ketchum frequently uses true crime stories as inspiration for his novels. Off Season is based on the legend of the Sawney Bean family, The Girl Next Door tells the horrors that befell Sylvia Likens and this novel, Joyride, is derived from Howard Unruh's killing spree. In Ketchum's afterward, he reveals that he found his story (and the story of Sylvia Likens) in Bloodletters and Badmen by Jay Robert Nash.Usually Ketchum's combination of real-life terror and an interesting "what if" scenario

Ketchum has a way with words and situations. His terse prose minimally, but effectively, creates characters that are believable yet mostly horrible human beings. Joyride stars a wanna be homicidal manic who decides to cut loose; the second novella here features a wide cast of murdering, raping bastards. If you want tense, hostile action, Ketchum is your man.

A terrible act of desperation opens the door to a nightmare.Carol and Lee murder Carol's violent, abusive, and relentless ex-husband after the court systems fail them. They think they've gotten away with it, but there's a catch. Wayne, a man on the brink of a psychotic break, witnesses the murder, and it is the catalyst which sends him over the edge.Soon he's kidnapped Carol and Lee, thinking they are like him and WANT to kill. But he soon finds as his terrible killing spree begins that they are...