This third and final full-length instalment starts out pretty much from where ‘Offspring’ (1991) left off. We’re talking just two days following the dramatic climax which saw the entire cannibal tribe killed…apart from one sole surviving cannibal – The Woman. She’s wounded, but alive.

The tale picks up the story, with setting the scene for the Woman’s new location. She’s hiding out in a shallow cave on the edge of the coastline, living off fish and wild game.

In complete juxtaposition to this we’re also introduced to Chris Cleek and his family. On the outside the Cleek’s are a well-respected suburban family unit. Chris Cleek himself is a lawyer and handles a great deal of the local communities’ affairs. However, what soon emerges is that the Cleek’s – well, Chris Cleek at least – have a very dark side to them.

The whole ‘hidden side’ to the Cleek’s is handled in a very Richard Laymon-esque way. As the story progresses, this hidden dark side deepens. More and more of this sadistic man’s hidden side is gradually revealed – showing lawyer Chris Cleek to be an absolute fucking psychopath, whilst his family is pretty much knowledgeable and complicit in his twisted world.

The family is made up of Chris’ wife, Belle, who’s a timid woman who just falls into line with whatever Chris says. Then we have Peggy, who’s their sixteen-year-old daughter. She comes across as a relatively normal, reasonably moral and decent teenaged girl. Although, we slowly begin to see how she’s terribly damaged, and ultimately in absolute denial about the magnitude of her father’s undefendable wrongs.

Then we have thirteen-year-old Brian Cleek. The apple never falls far from the tree, they say. Well, with Brian we see so much of his father in this fucked up psychopathic little bastard. He’s everything that terrifies us about feral teenagers. And with a father like Chris Cleek setting down the foundations for his son’s moral compass, you can see how the teenaged brat would turn out to be the psychopathic shit that he is.

Finally, we have four-year-old Darleen Cleek, or as she’s commonly called – Darlin’. Darleen is there to melt your heart. To show the polar opposite to such malignant corruption, through her untroubled, untarnished innocence. With Darlin’ our ripped-raw emotions are put through a blender, causing us to long for her to be removed from this madness. Not to be exposed and corrupted by the evil undertaken before her eyes. 

But what of the story itself? Well, on the surface you might say it’s a tale which leans towards heavily torture porn. That is, the plot and set up of the tale essentially involves Cleek capturing this feral woman, tying her up in his fruit cellar, molesting her and subjecting her to all sorts of sadistic and vicious cruelty. Of course, this is all done in the name of “taming her”. Supposedly making her more civil.

With the torturous imprisonment of the Woman, along with the rape and varying degrees of torture she’s subjected to, you can obviously draw uncomfortable parallels with Ketchum’s earlier novel ‘The Girl Next Door’ (1989). However, the torture within this novel isn’t anywhere near as extreme, insomuch as it doesn’t escalate to the same mind-numbingly sadistic levels.

In this novel, the creeping coldness is instead a tad subtler. It’s in the family’s acceptance, the nonchalance and casualness of how an excuse can in some way justify such actions. It's also in the chilling thought that such malignancy can reside under the meekest of layers. That when these layers are pulled back, like the skin of an onion, the seemingly endless depth of this horrendous evil will be gradually unveiled, layer after layer.

The novel is an incredibly evocative one. In all honesty, there’s not all that much which stands tall as a declaration of originality. However, it’s more in the layers. The gradual unravelling within the story and the journey we go through along the way. Never knowing truly who to side with. Conflicted and uncertain throughout.

Shortly after the novel was first published, the story was made into the film ‘The Woman’ (2011), which was directed by Lucky McKee. The film adaptation stuck very closely to the original story, with only a handful of minor tweaks made to it. 

Later still, in 2019 Scottish actress and director Pollyanna McIntosh (who played the role of The Woman in the aforementioned film adaptation), wrote and directed a further follow-on film titled ‘Darlin’’ (2019), which took the character of Darleen Cleek and projected her life forward. To date, McIntosh’s film is the last addition into the ‘Dead River’ series.

The novel runs for a total of 171 pages (not including the bonus novella).

Cemetery Dance Version

The Cow - 36 Pages

When the Woman and her tribe found Donald Fischer and his three friends, the troupe had been on the beach rehearsing their play to the sound of incoming surf and high winds. The four of them never stood a chance. The attackers were on them in seconds, stark naked and wielding razor-sharp blades.

Linda was the first to be killed. Then Art and Sam followed. Donald, however, had been spared for some reason. They didn’t explain why. They just hauled him off to their cave, and him bound by his wrists and ankles. Their captive.

For days he refused to eat. He couldn’t bring himself to consume the meat. He knew what it was. Who it likely was. But as the days passed by, the hunger grew and grew. They were trying to break him. But why? Why keep him alive when the others had been killed? There must be a reason.

Unfortunately for Donald Fischer, the reason would be revealed to him soon enough…

So, what happened to the Woman, Peggy, Darleen, and the dogs (including the…ahem…eyeless ‘dog’), after the events in the ‘The Woman’ (2010)? Well, in the 2012 Cemetery Dance reissue, we find out via this bonus novella.

The Woman’s small tribe is growing. We have the aforementioned characters, plus Adam who’s Peg’s infant son. However, the Woman has plans to expand her tribe further. For those who’ve read ‘Offspring’ (1991), what’s in store for poor old Donald Fischer isn’t going to be of any surprise. The title of the novelette is the biggest indicator, leaving you pretty much in the knowledge from the outset of where the tale is going to go.

In fact, the novelette reads like another bloody and raw slice taken from ‘Offspring’ (1991). Yes, it’s that much further along in the timeline – the next few generations of the cannibal tribe. But the characters and their respective roles are moulded from the blueprint of the original tribe.

The story is presented as if taken from a journal that Donald Fischer has stashed away. A sort of ‘message in a bottle’ plea for help, telling his story to an unknown reader. However, to be honest, the story doesn’t really read that way, and you’ll soon forget how it’s supposed to be presented. This isn’t an issue at all, as the short tale reads well and has plenty of grit and grime under its nails to suck you into the evolving madness of the piece.

It's a damn good final written addition to the series as a whole. A final addition telling of a feral, cannibalistic tribe which lives on, staying close and true to its hardened customs. To its family. To its harsh, unrelenting way of life.

Including the bonus novella, the Cemetery Dance edition of the book runs for a total of 208 pages.

© DLS Reviews

Other ‘Dead River’ instalments:

• ‘Off Season’ (1981)
• ‘Offspring’ (1991)
• ‘The Woman’ (2010)