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Title: Stranglehold

Author: Jack Ketchum

Narrator: Chet Williamson

Format: Unabridged

Length: 7 hrs and 16 mins

Language: English

Release date: 12-26-12

Publisher: Crossroad Press

Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 49 votes

Genres: Fiction, Contemporary

Publisher's Summary:

Lydia McCloud meets Arthur Danse at a wedding party in Plymouth, N.H., and she thinks he's a man she could grow to love. Arthur sees things differently. In Lydia, he sees the sort of woman people always want to protect. He decides he's going to show her she wouldn't always be protected. Once their only child, Robert, is born, Arthur's behavior worsens. When the courts become involved, the nightmare really begins. This scathing novel is an indictment of a justice system that makes a mockery of its very name.

Members Reviews:

Horror is always worse when the monsters are human

Ketchum throws you down into the muck that is the worst of humanity, pins you there and rubs your face in it. If you havent read him before you should know this before jumping in. Stranglehold takes an unflinching look at the kind of real life horror that occurs every day. The kind of horror that trickles down, creating a legacy of pain and torment.

Lydia meets Arthur and falls in love. Hes decent and kind and a respectable business owner. But Arthur is a good actor. Hes a sociopath who believes hes been put on earth to make people realize the world is an ugly pain-filled place. He has done some terrible things in his past and though he fools Lydia for a while, he cant hide his true self forever. After they have a baby they name Robert, the cracks begin to show and Arthurs behavior becomes increasingly abusive towards Lydia. Lydia sticks it out until he crosses a line and she realizes shes been living with a madman and files for divorce. She allows him visitation for Roberts sake. He loves Robert after all and even after her own abuse at his hands, she believes he is a good father who would never hurt their son . . .

What happens next is just grueling but it wouldnt be a Ketchum book if it was all unicorns and rainbows. The book follows Lydia through the injustices of the legal system. Lydia assumes she is doing the right thing by following all the rules but playing by the rules isnt enough. A nasty, ugly and unfair trial begins. Its infuriating and sad and the innocents, unfortunately, are the ones who suffer the most. It really makes you understand why some people take their kids and run.

I really felt for Lydia and Robert. Lydias own past was one filled with abuse and that was the last thing she wanted for her child. She feels guilty and bravely stands up to Arthur once she realizes what a deranged beast he truly was beneath the respectable façade. But sadly she was helpless once she entered the courtroom and had to depend on other people to do right by her.

This book was suspenseful but it will more than likely make you angry. It was horribly grim and unpleasant but its one of those books that you have to see through to the end regardless of the fact that you know youll probably be sorry.

Narration Notes: Chet Williamson reads with an intense, serious tone well suited to the bleak material. I think he would do an amazing job with a gumshoe noir type of hero because he has that type of voice. He brings Arthur to life; his voice is menacing, mean and calculated and just what this piece demands. Much of this story is told from Lydias point of view, however, and I always think it strange when a male is chosen to read a female character Williamson does a decent enough job with Lydia, forgoing the silly cringe-worthy falsetto that some male narrators use, but I wouldve preferred a woman to voice her thoughts, if Im being completely honest.