Doom in a plain carboard box. A snake in the grass. A captive with a rose tattoo. The innocent-looking letter in your mailbox that can kill you or set you free. The rifle hidden away in a young boy's closet. Closing time in a Manhattan bar just days after 9/11. Punishment that actually suits the crime for a change. A parrot in a strip-joint. Sleazy bimbos and parted lovers. A UFO. A Western. A vampire for godsakes. Zombies. Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, twins. Cats and dogs and a dancing lynx.

Welcome to the dark -- and diverse -- world of Jack Ketchum.

Contents:

• The Rifle
• The Box
• Mail Order
• Luck
• The Haunt
• Megan’s Law
• If Memory Serves
• Father and Son
• The Business
• Mother and Daughter
• When the Penny Drops
• Rabid Squirrels in Love
• Sundays
• Twins
• Amid the Walking Wounded
• The Great San Diego Sleasy Bimbo Massacre
• The Holding Cell
• The Work
• The Best
• Redemption
• The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard
• Chain Letter
• Forever
• Gone
• Closing Time
• The Rose
• The Turning
• To Suit the Crime
• Lines: or Like Franco, Elvis Is Still Dead
• The Visitor
• Snakes
• Firedance