Old Flamesby Jack Ketchum
Synopsis: Burned again. Men never treated Dora well. This latest cheated on her and dumped her. The last decent guy she knew was her old high school boyfriend, Jim. He’d said that he loved her. Maybe he did. So with the help of the Old Flames Agency, Dora’s found him again. Turns out he’s married with two kids, but Dora isn’t about to let that stand in her way.
I'm a pretty big fan of Jack Ketchum, having read a good half-dozen or so of his works, and this is the most disappointing one I've read yet I think. It's just a straight-up by-the-numbers thriller with no twists during a very short story that's been told hundreds of times.
It's a very short, fast read (it's actually a novella) as the pace flies along and had no problem holding my interest. The lead character was intriguing, but never really revealed nearly as deeply as she could have been. That could have helped the book a lot. It also just sets a course in the first few chapters that it never deviates from and anybody who reads any thrillers can pretty much predict the rest of the book.
As a horror novel, there wasn't much violence or horror. As a thriller, it falls short of many thrills. As a character study, it only scratches the surface. As a Jack Ketchum novel, it's disappointing.
4/10
