Cover retrieved from Goodreads
The Girl Next Door
Jack Ketchum
Leisure Books: 1989. 370 pages
Reviewed by Tori Lyons
When Meg and Susan's parents die in an accident, they are sent to live with their aunt Ruth in New Jersey in the 1950's. Ruth, a single mother who has three sons of her own, is none too happy with having to take in the girls. Ruth's pathological hatred of Meg steadily increases, and she enlists her sons and other neighborhood children to help her in teaching Meg a lesson about what it means to be a woman. This book is definitely not for the faint of heart, as it graphically depicts torture and abuse, both physical and psychological. Perhaps most disturbing is that this book is based on the true story of Sylvia Likens, a 16 year old girl who was tortured and murdered by her caretaker in Indiana in 1965. I hesitate in recommending this book, as it is truly horrifying, but it does provide a thought-provoking portrait of true evil.
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