Jack Ketchum Books in Order
Jack Ketchum has written 43 books, published between 1974 and 2019. The first book is Laramie Plains (1974) and the newest is Gorilla In My Room (2019). Publication order is the reading order below.
Jack Ketchum is the pen name of Dallas William Mayr. Jack Ketchum also publishes as Jerzy Livingston. Lauran Paine books in order are published under that pen name.
- Books
- 43
- Published
- 1974–2019
- Pages on record
- 5,774 in 23 of 43 books
- Reading time
- 96–144 hours
Reading time is an estimate, not a recorded figure: 5,774 pages at 300 words a page, read at 200–300 words a minute, covering the 23 of 43 titles with a page count on record.
Jack Ketchum was the pen name of Dallas William Mayr (10 November 1946 to 24 January 2018), an American horror novelist. Ketchum won four Bram Stoker Awards, received three more nominations and was named Grand Master at the 2011 World Horror Convention. Offspring and Red, two Ketchum novels, were adapted to film. Off Season (1980) appears in the catalogue, followed by Hide and Seek (1980), Cover (1987), She Wakes (1989) and The Girl Next Door (1989). Gorilla In My Room (2019) is the newest title. Subjects include horror, psychopaths, kidnapping, captivity and Maine.
How many Jack Ketchum books are there?
Jack Ketchum has 43 books, released between 1974 and 2019. 3 of them belong to the Off Season series.
Jack Ketchum Books in Publication Order
The table lists all 43 Jack Ketchum books in the order they were published, with the release year, the page count where one is on record, and how many independent book listings confirm each title. Catalogue data as of September 2026.
- 1Laramie Plains1974 · confirmed 2/41974–2/4
- 2Border Dawn1976 · 151 pages · confirmed 2/419761512/4
- 319803242/4
- 4Hide and Seek1980 · 208 pages · confirmed 2/419802082/4
- 5Dead or alive1982 · 160 pages · confirmed 2/419821602/4
- 6The Guns of Amarillo1982 · confirmed 2/41982–2/4
- 7Winchester pass1982 · 160 pages · confirmed 2/419821602/4
- 8Cover1987 · confirmed 2/41987–2/4
- 9She Wakes1989 · confirmed 2/41989–2/4
- 10The Girl Next Door1989 · 320 pages · confirmed 2/419893202/4
- 1119912932/4
- 12Trail to Nowhere1991 · 304 pages · confirmed 2/419913042/4
- 13The Box1994 · confirmed 2/41994–2/4
- 14Joyride / Road Kill1994 · 308 pages · confirmed 2/419943082/4
- 15Stranglehold1995 · 250 pages · confirmed 2/419952502/4
- 16Only Child1995 · 398 pages · confirmed 2/419953982/4
- 17Red1996 · 270 pages · confirmed 2/419962702/4
- 18The Passenger1996 · confirmed 2/41996–2/4
- 19Ladies' Night1997 · 310 pages · confirmed 2/419973102/4
- 20The Exit at Toledo Blade Boulevard1998 · 220 pages · confirmed 2/419982202/4
- 21Right to Life1998 · confirmed 2/41998–2/4
- 22Broken on the Wheel of Sex1999 · confirmed 2/41999–2/4
- 23Gone2000 · confirmed 2/42000–2/4
- 24The Haunt2001 · confirmed 2/42001–2/4
- 25Station Two2001 · confirmed 2/42001–2/4
- 26The Lost2001 · 376 pages · confirmed 2/420013762/4
- 27Peaceable Kingdom2003 · 415 pages · confirmed 2/420034152/4
- 28The Crossings2003 · 76 pages · confirmed 2/42003762/4
- 29The Transformed Mouse2003 · confirmed 2/42003–2/4
- 30Weed Species2006 · 86 pages · confirmed 2/42006862/4
- 31Closing Time and Other Stories2007 · confirmed 2/42007–2/4
- 32Book of Souls2008 · confirmed 2/42008–2/4
- 33Old Flames2008 · 289 pages · confirmed 2/420082892/4
- 3420102212/4
- 35Triptych2012 · confirmed 2/42012–2/4
- 36I'm Not Sam2012 · 114 pages · confirmed 2/420121142/4
- 37Turning Japanese2013 · confirmed 2/42013–2/4
- 38Notes from the Cat House2013 · confirmed 2/42013–2/4
- 39Night Terrors III2014 · 298 pages · confirmed 2/420142982/4
- 402015–2/4
- 41What They Wrote2015 · confirmed 2/42015–2/4
- 42The Secret Life of Souls2016 · 223 pages · confirmed 2/420162232/4
- 43Gorilla In My Room2019 · confirmed 2/42019–2/4
Jack Ketchum books grouped by series
Each title below is a row in the publication-order table above. None of these groups has a reading-order page of its own on this site.
Off Season in order
3 books- 1. Off Season
- 2. Offspring
- 3. The Woman
Writers On Writing in order
1 bookStandalone books
39 books39 Jack Ketchum titles here are not listed as part of any series.
Do you have to read Jack Ketchum books in order?
You only need to read Jack Ketchum books in order within the Off Season series, which holds 3 of the 43 Jack Ketchum books listed here. The numbered table above gives every book in publication order.
Where to start with Jack Ketchum
Start with Laramie Plains (1974), the earliest published title.
What is the newest Jack Ketchum book?
Gorilla In My Room (2019) is the newest Jack Ketchum book released so far.
Is there a new Jack Ketchum book coming?
No next Jack Ketchum book is announced in the catalogue, which is a gap in the listings it merges rather than a sign that the run has ended.
Awards Jack Ketchum has won
Wikidata records 4 awards and 2 nominations for Jack Ketchum. Each row states whether the title won or was shortlisted, and the year the award was given.
- Bram Stoker Award for Lifetime Achievement2014Won
- World Horror Convention Grand Master Award2011Won
- Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection2003Won
- Bram Stoker Award for Short Fiction2000Won
- Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection2003Shortlistedfor Peaceable Kingdom
- Bram Stoker Award for Novel2001Shortlistedfor The Lost
Jack Ketchum at a glance
- No recent titles
- The newest Jack Ketchum title on record dates from 2019, 7 years ago. No later title is catalogued.
- Release pace
- Jack Ketchum books have appeared about one a year on average.
- Length
- 5,774 pages across the 23 of 43 books with a recorded length, a median of 270 pages each.
- Busiest decade
- Most Jack Ketchum books, 12 of 43, were published in the 1990s.
What the Jack Ketchum books are about
14 of the 43 Jack Ketchum books carry subject tags in Open Library's catalogue. The subjects below are the ones that recur across them, most frequent first: horror is tagged on 7 of 14. The subjects are cataloguers’ headings, not a plot summary.