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The Box
The box is Jack Ketchum's 1994 Bram Stoker Award-winning story. It has been anthologized, reprinted, and now it is available for the first time in digital - along with a brand new afterword by the author.
21 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 18, 2014
41 people are currently reading
801 people want to read
About the author
Jack Ketchum
199 books2,965 followersDallas William Mayr, better known by his pen name Jack Ketchum, was an American horror fiction author. He was the recipient of four Bram Stoker Awards and three further nominations. His novels included Off Season, Offspring, and Red, which were adapted to film. In 2011, Ketchum received the World Horror Convention Grand Master Award for outstanding contribution to the horror genre.
A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: "[m]y interests [were] books, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs [...] pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing." He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters.
Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, who became his mentor.
Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversial Off Season), including acting as agent for novelist Henry Miller at Scott Meredith Literary Agency.
His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity.
Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.
A onetime actor, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk, Ketchum credited his childhood love of Elvis Presley, dinosaurs, and horror for getting him through his formative years. He began making up stories at a young age and explained that he spent much time in his room, or in the woods near his house, down by the brook: "[m]y interests [were] books, comics, movies, rock 'n roll, show tunes, TV, dinosaurs [...] pretty much any activity that didn't demand too much socializing, or where I could easily walk away from socializing." He would make up stories using his plastic soldiers, knights, and dinosaurs as the characters.
Later, in his teen years, Ketchum was befriended by Robert Bloch, author of Psycho, who became his mentor.
Ketchum worked many different jobs before completing his first novel (1980's controversial Off Season), including acting as agent for novelist Henry Miller at Scott Meredith Literary Agency.
His decision to eventually concentrate on novel writing was partly fueled by a preference for work that offered stability and longevity.
Ketchum died of cancer on January 24, 2018, in New York City at the age of 71.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews
October 25, 2019
Ten pages. You never know with a short story though because the length doesn't often matter, and Ketchum wastes no time. The box is before the reader on the first page, a red present sitting on the lap of a stranger, nondescript, but closely guarded. Therefore I was apprehensive, and yet I was inquisitive, just like the boy who sits next to this stranger on the train. “What's in the box?”, he asks, because that's what children do, naturally curious – as are we all. The boy's bright smile fades to a look of puzzlement after he's allowed to look into the box. “Nothing was in the box”, he responds to sisters after the man leaves the train, but once at home seated before the table he does not eat his dinner this night, nor the next, nor the next. Narrated by the boy's father with a sadness told in retrospect, I could only help but wonder where a story like this comes from. It seemed so real as if told from memory, although I know that it could not possibly be.
July 16, 2023
‘ Unique and mysterious’
A clever, darkly sad, short tale that will certainly make you sit up and think.
After finishing it I could certainly feel that intended sense of loneliness, besides being left to question the implied message presented to the reader within the box its very itself. All deliberately done of course!
A truly brilliant, twisty ending, but just wished that the journey could have been prolonged a little further.
Rating: 4.2 stars.
A clever, darkly sad, short tale that will certainly make you sit up and think.
After finishing it I could certainly feel that intended sense of loneliness, besides being left to question the implied message presented to the reader within the box its very itself. All deliberately done of course!
A truly brilliant, twisty ending, but just wished that the journey could have been prolonged a little further.
Rating: 4.2 stars.
July 4, 2023
This was an extremely thought provoking read for 21 pages .
August 31, 2023
I loved it!
Story 4/5
Narration 5/5
The Box by Jack Ketchum, is a very good short story!
I can’t stop thinking about it.
I highly recommend it!
Story 4/5
Narration 5/5
The Box by Jack Ketchum, is a very good short story!
I can’t stop thinking about it.
I highly recommend it!
September 17, 2016
A great and disturbing story. The rest of this review is a spoiler so there's your warning!
I see a lot of complaining from people who really want to know what is in the box, as Jack never tells us. But how satisfied would we really be if we knew? Isn't what is left to our own imagination much more damaging than anything he would've written? I thought the story was great, and yes...knowing what was in the box would have been cool, but I can promise you there'd be just as many people saying "Really? That was it? THAT'S what made the whole family starve themselves?" But Jack makes us face the unknown without spelling it out for us. How good of a film do you think The Blair Witch Project would have been had we ever seen the witch? (well maybe that's a bad example but I think you catch my drift).
Great little short!
I see a lot of complaining from people who really want to know what is in the box, as Jack never tells us. But how satisfied would we really be if we knew? Isn't what is left to our own imagination much more damaging than anything he would've written? I thought the story was great, and yes...knowing what was in the box would have been cool, but I can promise you there'd be just as many people saying "Really? That was it? THAT'S what made the whole family starve themselves?" But Jack makes us face the unknown without spelling it out for us. How good of a film do you think The Blair Witch Project would have been had we ever seen the witch? (well maybe that's a bad example but I think you catch my drift).
Great little short!
May 17, 2021
My second audio book read by the late Jack Ketchum.
This short story is utterly heartbreaking, there is an undercurrent of dread throughout which pulls the reader along, there’s something about the way that Ketchum writes this story that has so much power it leaves you punch drunk.
The ending is brilliant. Restrained and devastating. There is truly power in words and Ketchum makes you feel ever single word!
It’s only the second thing I’ve read of Ketchum (after Girl Next Door) and I’m thrilled that I can now binge this writers work, it’s an exciting place to be arriving to the party late!
This short story is utterly heartbreaking, there is an undercurrent of dread throughout which pulls the reader along, there’s something about the way that Ketchum writes this story that has so much power it leaves you punch drunk.
The ending is brilliant. Restrained and devastating. There is truly power in words and Ketchum makes you feel ever single word!
It’s only the second thing I’ve read of Ketchum (after Girl Next Door) and I’m thrilled that I can now binge this writers work, it’s an exciting place to be arriving to the party late!
February 24, 2021
Chose the audio version read by the author and wasn’t disappointed. Short (about 20 minutes), not ‘the stomach churning horror’ I associate with him, but a very controlled story that was both powerful and disturbing. It was here I realized Ketchum was an even better writer than I thought he was
May 11, 2023
WHAT'S IN THE BOX?! I go into it with my review on my BookTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscOa...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YscOa...
January 31, 2024
Review to follow.
October 9, 2018
I recently watched the movie adaptation to this short story on Netflix without knowing knowing it was based on this short story by Jack Ketchum so I immediately looked it up to read, mainly to see if the movie I enjoyed had done this short story justice.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it was spot on to the book in every way.
This short story is extremely short, will take you no time at all to read but will definitely leave a lasting impression on the mind.
I highly recommend it.
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie and it was spot on to the book in every way.
This short story is extremely short, will take you no time at all to read but will definitely leave a lasting impression on the mind.
I highly recommend it.
June 13, 2015
A wonderful and depressing short story about the inherent loneliness of the human condition, and how, even against our best efforts, it's impossible to not let it eat away at you.
January 8, 2015
Short and sweet. This is how a short story should be written, with an ending that is perfection. The contents of the box really drive the story forward to it's sudden, depressing end. It begs the question; do you want to see what's in the box?
February 15, 2023
That was kind of a perfect short story. It was fast-paced, super intriguing, and left me guessing in the best possible way.
July 20, 2021
Contains spoilers
The Box is a Bram Stoker Award winner, Jack Ketchum’s 1994 short, is a breeze at only 10(?) pages long, you read it in one sitting. After reading it, I decided to read other people’s reviews, and find it remarkable that people are still asking the question, “What was in the box?”. Ketchum tells you, in no uncertain terms, at least to my mind. The problem is one of translation.
Let’s go into that in a second, first, let’s look at the story. There’s a lot here that propels this short into a great short, even a magnificent short. Ketchum’s character work is fantastic, we mainly focus on the main character's children, a father’s (and mother’s) concern and care of their child takes the main role in the book. Fantastic parenting – their considered reactions to a problem outlined, detailing differences in approach to how they deal with a problem in juxtaposition to how their parents would have dealt with the same problem – so growth – a lesson learned from parenting taken to its logical conclusion – listen to your child, don’t try to berate it for not conforming to your expectations. It’s something that resonated deep within me, seeing as though I come from that background – and underneath it all is the understanding that even though the methods of parenting change over centuries, underneath it all, is nevertheless the same basic human desire to protect and nurture a child.
The dread that underpins the story carries through its short length. I, as a reader, had no doubt about the final destination of the family, it’s written on every page since the boy looks into the box. That lingering dread is fantastic, it fights hope, makes the decline more poignant.
So what’s in the box? Nothing. Ketchum tells the reader. And that is the problem, people read it as a lack of an object, not the thing itself – or at least, that is what I understood. Nothing is not just a lack of something, it is lack itself. If you acquire “nothing”, you feel nothing. As if everything has been drained. You need nothing, have no will to live, no need to eat – “nothing” satisfies you. If you have acquired “nothing”, you need “nothing” else. In fact, “Nothing” matters. So there is something in that box – the manifestation of nothing. When given, or shared, the recipient needs nothing more. “I have nothing to give” is a present to the receiver because they will never need anything again, they are satisfied with “nothing”?
Perhaps that’s just my take on it, but it made sense to me. It is a pandora’s box, bestowing on the lucky recipient the removal of desire for material things, but unfortunately, it also removes the need or lust for anything else, including food, sustenance, purpose.
The concept is brilliant, the presentation wrapped in the emotion of a father battling for his son’s life, and is wrapped up in fantastic parenting.
This was a great introduction to Jack’s work. I look forward to more.
5 out of 5 ⭐’s
The Box is a Bram Stoker Award winner, Jack Ketchum’s 1994 short, is a breeze at only 10(?) pages long, you read it in one sitting. After reading it, I decided to read other people’s reviews, and find it remarkable that people are still asking the question, “What was in the box?”. Ketchum tells you, in no uncertain terms, at least to my mind. The problem is one of translation.
Let’s go into that in a second, first, let’s look at the story. There’s a lot here that propels this short into a great short, even a magnificent short. Ketchum’s character work is fantastic, we mainly focus on the main character's children, a father’s (and mother’s) concern and care of their child takes the main role in the book. Fantastic parenting – their considered reactions to a problem outlined, detailing differences in approach to how they deal with a problem in juxtaposition to how their parents would have dealt with the same problem – so growth – a lesson learned from parenting taken to its logical conclusion – listen to your child, don’t try to berate it for not conforming to your expectations. It’s something that resonated deep within me, seeing as though I come from that background – and underneath it all is the understanding that even though the methods of parenting change over centuries, underneath it all, is nevertheless the same basic human desire to protect and nurture a child.
The dread that underpins the story carries through its short length. I, as a reader, had no doubt about the final destination of the family, it’s written on every page since the boy looks into the box. That lingering dread is fantastic, it fights hope, makes the decline more poignant.
So what’s in the box? Nothing. Ketchum tells the reader. And that is the problem, people read it as a lack of an object, not the thing itself – or at least, that is what I understood. Nothing is not just a lack of something, it is lack itself. If you acquire “nothing”, you feel nothing. As if everything has been drained. You need nothing, have no will to live, no need to eat – “nothing” satisfies you. If you have acquired “nothing”, you need “nothing” else. In fact, “Nothing” matters. So there is something in that box – the manifestation of nothing. When given, or shared, the recipient needs nothing more. “I have nothing to give” is a present to the receiver because they will never need anything again, they are satisfied with “nothing”?
Perhaps that’s just my take on it, but it made sense to me. It is a pandora’s box, bestowing on the lucky recipient the removal of desire for material things, but unfortunately, it also removes the need or lust for anything else, including food, sustenance, purpose.
The concept is brilliant, the presentation wrapped in the emotion of a father battling for his son’s life, and is wrapped up in fantastic parenting.
This was a great introduction to Jack’s work. I look forward to more.
5 out of 5 ⭐’s
March 11, 2016
My review of THE BOX, by Jack Ketchum
THE BOX was my introduction to the work of Jack Ketchum and I enjoyed it immensely. While horror writers often seek to capture the attention of the reader with prose describing horrible and horrific happenings, Ketchum captures our interest through the power of the unspoken word.
Ketchum transforms the natural curiosity of a child into the source of that child's eventual destruction and has it snowball into the destruction of the entire family save one; and he does so by keeping the horror under wraps, hidden but there, the knowledge of said horror the very thing that brings about destruction.
THE BOX was my introduction to the work of Jack Ketchum and I enjoyed it immensely. While horror writers often seek to capture the attention of the reader with prose describing horrible and horrific happenings, Ketchum captures our interest through the power of the unspoken word.
Ketchum transforms the natural curiosity of a child into the source of that child's eventual destruction and has it snowball into the destruction of the entire family save one; and he does so by keeping the horror under wraps, hidden but there, the knowledge of said horror the very thing that brings about destruction.
April 18, 2022
If you find Zen koans enlightening and enjoy nil-nil soccer matches and sometimes explain things with the phrase "it is what it is," then you will love this award-winning joke without a punchline.
Here is a much better story written in the same year as Ketchum's:
Here is a much better story written in the same year as Ketchum's:
Pitt: What's in the box? WHAT'S IN THE FUCKING BOX?!
Spacey: I just told you.
Pitt: You lied! You're a fucking liar! Shut up!
Freeman: It's what he wants! He wants you to shoot him!
Pitt: No! No! You tell me that's not true. That's not true.
Spacey: Become vengeance, David.
Pitt: She's alright, you tell me.
Spacey: Become wrath.
Pitt: Tell me she's alright!
Freeman: If you murder a suspect, David--
Pitt: NO! NO!
February 3, 2016
This is an interesting short story. It's more of a mood piece than a horror, thriller, or scary ghost story but it does tap into your emotions.
A family is riding a train from New York City at the height of the Christmas season. The children spot a strange man seated across from them carrying a large wrapped box in his lap.
"What's in the box?"
It's an innocent question posed by the young curious boy. His pleading is rewarded with a quick peak inside the box just before the train arrives at the man's stop and he leaves the train.
What's in the box?
The contents of the box is a mystery but leave a permanent impression on the family.
A family is riding a train from New York City at the height of the Christmas season. The children spot a strange man seated across from them carrying a large wrapped box in his lap.
"What's in the box?"
It's an innocent question posed by the young curious boy. His pleading is rewarded with a quick peak inside the box just before the train arrives at the man's stop and he leaves the train.
What's in the box?
The contents of the box is a mystery but leave a permanent impression on the family.
February 8, 2016
I can see how this could be a haunting little tale. You want to know what is in the box. Ketchum doesn't tell you. Some people are driven crazy by mystery, but I am one of those that is content to not only NOT solve the mystery, but to let the questions lie fallow in the back of my mind and have solutions pop up at odd moments in life.
If a possible answer to the question this tale raises DOES occur to me, I'll add it here. Having said that, I am fine with Ketchum leaving the contents unknown. WHAT doesn't matter nearly as much as the effects.
If a possible answer to the question this tale raises DOES occur to me, I'll add it here. Having said that, I am fine with Ketchum leaving the contents unknown. WHAT doesn't matter nearly as much as the effects.
February 9, 2022
Oh, ok. Well that was interesting. This little story will be on my mind for awhile.
February 26, 2015
Well I guess you can’t love ‘em all. I just recently discovered author Jack Ketchum and the whole splatterpunk genre and instantly fell in love with the slaughter and carnage of it all. He very quickly rose to the top of my favorite authors list. I vowed to read as much Ketchum as I could get my hands on, even including the short stories. I’m now reconsidering that decision.
I just wanna know what’s in the damn box, for Christ’s sake!! I always did loathe movies or shows that ended without resolution, where you had to decide for yourself what the ultimate outcome should be. Just like with the TV series “Lost” – I was an utterly devoted fan of that show for 6 long years, never missing an episode. When that series ended with the outcome left up to interpretation, I was seriously pissed off. But once I got over my initial irritation, I was at least able to formulate a final scenario that made sense to me and that allowed me some form of acceptable closure.
With this story, we are never told what’s in the stupid box. I laid awake last night trying to think of something….ANYTHING….that would make sense that could POSSIBLY be in the box that would cause a young boy to want to starve himself to death just by viewing its contents. And then to cause his two sisters to follow suit just after having a conversation with their brother. It. Just. Doesn’t. Make. Sense.
On the bright side, I only spent about 20 minutes on this short story (it’s only 21 pages), so I guess I shouldn’t be too angry. I spent much more time lying awake thinking about it than I did actually reading it. Maybe that’s what’s in the box – those 20 minutes of each of our lives that none of us will ever get back. Ketchum is probably laughing his ass off over that one.
But then again, this story did win the 2004 Bram Stoker award from the Horror Writers Association, and there’s a whole lot of 5-star reviews out there calling the story “perfection”, so maybe I’m just out of touch. The story is well-written, and it did keep my attention for the entire 20 minutes, so I’m ultimately giving it 3 stars instead of the 2 stars I really wanted to give it for pissing me off. I’m definitely not giving up on Jack Ketchum, but I think I’ll stick to his full length novels from now on and leave the short stories for the HWA. Now hurry up and give me some good old-fashioned blood and guts so I can forget about this story and move on!
I just wanna know what’s in the damn box, for Christ’s sake!! I always did loathe movies or shows that ended without resolution, where you had to decide for yourself what the ultimate outcome should be. Just like with the TV series “Lost” – I was an utterly devoted fan of that show for 6 long years, never missing an episode. When that series ended with the outcome left up to interpretation, I was seriously pissed off. But once I got over my initial irritation, I was at least able to formulate a final scenario that made sense to me and that allowed me some form of acceptable closure.
With this story, we are never told what’s in the stupid box. I laid awake last night trying to think of something….ANYTHING….that would make sense that could POSSIBLY be in the box that would cause a young boy to want to starve himself to death just by viewing its contents. And then to cause his two sisters to follow suit just after having a conversation with their brother. It. Just. Doesn’t. Make. Sense.
On the bright side, I only spent about 20 minutes on this short story (it’s only 21 pages), so I guess I shouldn’t be too angry. I spent much more time lying awake thinking about it than I did actually reading it. Maybe that’s what’s in the box – those 20 minutes of each of our lives that none of us will ever get back. Ketchum is probably laughing his ass off over that one.
But then again, this story did win the 2004 Bram Stoker award from the Horror Writers Association, and there’s a whole lot of 5-star reviews out there calling the story “perfection”, so maybe I’m just out of touch. The story is well-written, and it did keep my attention for the entire 20 minutes, so I’m ultimately giving it 3 stars instead of the 2 stars I really wanted to give it for pissing me off. I’m definitely not giving up on Jack Ketchum, but I think I’ll stick to his full length novels from now on and leave the short stories for the HWA. Now hurry up and give me some good old-fashioned blood and guts so I can forget about this story and move on!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 31, 2021
What a great short story. Keeps you guessing and wanting more. Wondering what was in the box but not wanting to know at the same time
November 3, 2021
Amazing short horror story. Dark, emotional, intriguing and excellently written, with a both disturbing and mostly unique plot line. Very reminiscent of Steven King’s Thinner, but with a more engaging and thought provoking end. Would recommend.
March 20, 2018
A very good short from one of the masters who was taken from us way too early.
.
.
August 24, 2022
This blew my mind. We always think of feeling content with life and not feeling hunger for anything and just generally being at peace with dying and living as a Good thing. Like some mature, composed concept of being where one has self actualized.
This book put a completely new perspective on it - that sometimes being okay with dying and not feeling the hunger and drive for anything can actually lead to dying. Even in little kids. It made me realise that though contentment is something one should strive for, of course, but what one truly needs to actually stay alive and keep on living is the Hunger for life, for love, for adventure, for FOOD. This book was grim and enlightening and disturbing, all in one go.
This book put a completely new perspective on it - that sometimes being okay with dying and not feeling the hunger and drive for anything can actually lead to dying. Even in little kids. It made me realise that though contentment is something one should strive for, of course, but what one truly needs to actually stay alive and keep on living is the Hunger for life, for love, for adventure, for FOOD. This book was grim and enlightening and disturbing, all in one go.
November 27, 2017
A little boy looks into the titular box, carried by a mysterious man on the tube. What happens after that is puzzling and deeply disquieting, and while I had also seen the film version, this is a quick effective read that, in the surface, is tame compared to most Ketchum stories. Still, this was pretty creepy and definitely an adult fear for anyone with kids in particular. And it's the book equivalent of the video for 'Just' by Radiohead. Recommended.
February 2, 2020
Great short story by Jack Ketchum, I really love what he can do with the short story form, wow! Having read The Girl Next Door, Off Season and The Crossing, I knew I was for great little tale, and it did not disappoint. What is in box? Indeed!
February 9, 2025
Fun lil short horror about life/desire/meaning
June 5, 2024
What's in the Box?
On a commuter train near Christmas, a man is carrying a box, a boy is curious and asks about the box. He is told it is a present and peers in a small opening in the box. The next day he is not hungry and the next and his sisters are also not hungry, it is all very mysterious.
On a commuter train near Christmas, a man is carrying a box, a boy is curious and asks about the box. He is told it is a present and peers in a small opening in the box. The next day he is not hungry and the next and his sisters are also not hungry, it is all very mysterious.
August 22, 2017
The Box is a psychological horror story about a man whose son knows something that he doesn't. After an encounter with a stranger on the train, the narrator's son - Danny - is given a glimpse into an innocuous gift box. We don't see it with him, and are left to wonder what horror could have been contained within. But seeing it causes Danny to stop eating, and puts the family on a tragic path. After his son shares the knowledge of what he saw in the box with his sisters and his mother, they join him in his inexplicable suicide by starvation - all the while refusing to say what was in the box or what Danny has shared with them except that it was "nothing". One by one, they proceed to starve to death until only the father is left alive. The story ends with him riding the train again and again, hoping to see the stranger one more time, hungry to know what was in the box.
Some readers will be put off by the lack of resolution to the plot or its central mystery. We don't learn what was in the box, or why it had the effect it did on the family. Although no answer could possibly be good enough to drive this unbelievable plot, the total absence of any explanation does beg the question: why bother telling the story at all? And we don't learn the fate of the narrator, as the story stops just as it seems to be picking up. And at that moment, you are left to realize that you've wasted your own time on a half-finished idea of a campfire tale that the author didn't have the imagination to flesh out any further.
Good authors take advantage of their reader's imagination, and that is certainly what Ketchum tries to do here. But he relies too much on the reader to fill in the blanks, to the point where this feels more like a writing prompt than an actual short story (or a parody of his critics that people somehow didn't get). He provides so few details and so little in the way of explanation that The Box just doesn't stand on its own. It's a silly little story about an intentionally obtuse mystery that teases the reader with the very idea of knowing. It's a prank in the form of a short story.
Some readers will be put off by the lack of resolution to the plot or its central mystery. We don't learn what was in the box, or why it had the effect it did on the family. Although no answer could possibly be good enough to drive this unbelievable plot, the total absence of any explanation does beg the question: why bother telling the story at all? And we don't learn the fate of the narrator, as the story stops just as it seems to be picking up. And at that moment, you are left to realize that you've wasted your own time on a half-finished idea of a campfire tale that the author didn't have the imagination to flesh out any further.
Good authors take advantage of their reader's imagination, and that is certainly what Ketchum tries to do here. But he relies too much on the reader to fill in the blanks, to the point where this feels more like a writing prompt than an actual short story (or a parody of his critics that people somehow didn't get). He provides so few details and so little in the way of explanation that The Box just doesn't stand on its own. It's a silly little story about an intentionally obtuse mystery that teases the reader with the very idea of knowing. It's a prank in the form of a short story.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 27, 2016
What makes horror frightening?
For me its the overwhelming normality of the initial set-up, easily recognised people and situations - why it could be you and your family the author is talking about. Jack Ketchum is an expert in delivering normalcy and then twisting the screws tighter and tighter so that the horror creeps in as much in your imagination as the text and The Box is a perfect example of this.
The story begins with a simple train journey; a father and his children are seated opposite a man with a mysterious brightly wrapped box. The box intrigues the youngest boy who asks to see the contents. The man shows him and a couple of days later the boy stops eating. It's that simple but the horror and tragedy that ensues is heartbreaking.
If you've read my other reviews you'll know I'm a fan and this is one of his finest.
For me its the overwhelming normality of the initial set-up, easily recognised people and situations - why it could be you and your family the author is talking about. Jack Ketchum is an expert in delivering normalcy and then twisting the screws tighter and tighter so that the horror creeps in as much in your imagination as the text and The Box is a perfect example of this.
The story begins with a simple train journey; a father and his children are seated opposite a man with a mysterious brightly wrapped box. The box intrigues the youngest boy who asks to see the contents. The man shows him and a couple of days later the boy stops eating. It's that simple but the horror and tragedy that ensues is heartbreaking.
If you've read my other reviews you'll know I'm a fan and this is one of his finest.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 112 reviews