Wow! Two extremely powerful stories in one book that I could barely put down. I burned through the entire book in one day. First, the title story: RED. In the first few pages, Avery Ludlow loses his dog Red to some mean kids who shotgun it for no real reason. The rest of the story is about Ludlow and his search for justice. Not a "revenge above all us" type of justice but a true "put right what was wrong" type of justice. And what really carries the whole story forward and makes it work so well is Ludlow's character. Not just the character in the book but the personality and characteristics that make up this persona. He is incredibly real. The story just unfolds naturally with heart and truth. And that is what made me unable to put it down.

And then as a bonus, there is another story: THE PASSENGER. This one wasn't quite as rich as the first but it did grip you as you follow horror after horror befalling Janet Morris. Her bad day at work starts getting worse as her car breaks down on the way home and she quickly finds herself in one bad event after another. At times it reminded me of Joe Lansdale's short story "Steppin' Out, Summer, '68". If you liked that one (or probably any Lansdale), then you will like these stories. As for me, I'm hunting down more Ketchum novels because if all his stuff is like this, then he is going to quickly become one of my favorite authors. ( )

Nachdem ich die ersten drei Bücher von Jack Ketchum sehr gut geschrieben und spannend fand, dümpelte "Blutrot" von Anfang bis Ende sehr durchschnittlich dahin. Die Geschichte entwickelt sich nicht richtig und die Wut, die der Hauptdarsteller angeblich haben soll, kommt überhaupt nicht zum Ausdruck. Auch wird er älter beschrieben als er vermutlich sein soll. Und den Horror, den man von Ketchum erwartet, findet man hier nirgends. Schade... ( )