Joyride (aka Road Kill)

"Don't open this book unless you intend to finish it in the same night."
— Stephen King

Joyride (aka Road Kill)
by Jack Ketchum

Featuring a special afterword entitled "On Writing Joyride" by Jack Ketchum.

About the Book:
Howard deserved to die. For years, he abused his wife physically, verbally, and psychologically. Even after the separation, he kept coming back for more.

Carol and her lover, Lee, knew there was only one way to stop Howard for good. They planned every detail. And they thought they had committed the perfect crime.

But a stranger named Wayne witnessed what they did, and he was thrilled by what he saw. Now Wayne wants to be their friend. He wants to share the thrill of murder with them. He wants to take Carol and Lee on a road trip straight to hell so his new friends can enjoy his all-out killing spree that can only end one way...

"Begins with a planned murder and explodes into a terrifying and believable killing spree... but be warned: Ketchum never stops, never flinches, never turns aside. He is, quite simply, one of the best in the business, on par with Clive Barker, James Ellroy, and Thomas Harris. Hey, want some good advice? Don't open this book unless you intend to finish it the same night. You may be shocked, even revolted, by Jack Ketchum's hellish vision of the world, but you won't be able to dismiss it or forget it."
— Stephen King

"Fans of Jack Ketchum's brand of staggeringly gory violence will appreciate the reissue of Joyride, the disjointed story of a would-be killer who goes over the edge after nearly choking his girlfriend to death and then witnessing an unrelated brutal murder. Sex, guns and deranged psychopathic conversation: who could ask for anything more?"
— Publishers Weekly

"Tautly-written, thoroughly excellent psycho-horror."
— Manchester Evening News

"...harrowing...relentless...terrifying. ROAD KILL (aka JOYRIDE) is just more proof that Ketchum is among the finest and most unique writers of suspense today."
— Edward Lee

"Ketchum's poetically brutal prose, as always, is boiled down to pure, intoxicating essence, without a hint of waste or dross left over. He's a storyteller and soulsearcher with a narrative as lean as Hemingway...."
— t. Winter-Damon

Jack Ketchum is the pseudonym for a former actor, singer, teacher, literary agent, lumber salesman, and soda jerk—a former flower child and baby boomer who figures that in 1956 Elvis, dinosaurs and horror probably saved his life. His first novel, Off Season, prompted the Village Voice to publicly scold its publisher in print for publishing violent pornography. He personally disagrees but is perfectly happy to let you decide for yourself. His short story "The Box" won a 1994 Bram Stoker Award from the HWA, his story "Gone" won again in 2000—and in 2003 he won Stokers for both best collection for Peaceable Kingdom and best long fiction for Closing Time.  He has written eleven novels, the latest of which are Red, Ladies' Night, and The Lost. His stories are collected in The Exit At Toledo Blade Boulevard, Broken on the Wheel of Sex, and Peaceable Kingdom.  His novella The Crossings was cited by Stephen King in his speech at  the 2003 National Book Awards.

Published in two states:
• Limited Edition of 1,000 signed copies ($40)
• Traycased Lettered Edition of 52 signed and lettered copies bound in leather with a satin ribbon page marker ($175)

Excerpt

Artwork