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Content snapshot
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Violence
Very heavy
Extreme sustained graphic torture and violence against a teenage girl — among the most disturbing violence in mainstream fiction
Language
Very heavy
Extreme language throughout
Sexual Content
Very heavy
Extensive sexual abuse and assault depicted graphically
Substance Use
Barely any
Minimal substance use
Emotional Intensity
Very heavy
Extreme psychological horror — both the perpetrators' banality and the victim's experience — makes this one of the most disturbing reading experiences available
What this book is about
Jack Ketchum's novel is loosely based on the real-life torture and murder of Sylvia Likens in 1965 Indiana, following teenage Meg, left in the care of a neighbor woman who subjects her to increasingly extreme abuse and torture enabled by the woman's children and other neighborhood kids. This is one of the most graphically disturbing novels in print; the violence, sexual abuse, and psychological horror are extreme and sustained. Ketchum does not flinch. Adults only, and with extreme content awareness.
Notes for sensitive readers
Reader-flagged moments and themes that may affect your experience.
Extreme graphic torture
Sexual abuse of a minor
Based on a true crime
Reader Verification
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