I "discovered" Joe Hill somewhere back around 20th Century Ghosts or Heart-Shaped Box. I don't recall which I read first but I think I read them pretty close together. I've eagerly snatched up his new books as they're published ever since, which isn't something I do with most authors. I'm a library girl and have been all my [...]
I try hard to avoid any blurbs or early reviews of books that I'm really anticipating, but somehow things just seep into my consciousness and I'm not even sure how they got there. So in addition to having my own ridiculously high hopes for this book, I'd come across things like "Hill's magnum opus!" and "his best work to date" [...]
4 Stars. I haven’t read that much Richard Matheson, just one short story collection containing I am Legend, but I enjoyed it immensely. I don’t remember where I came across this collection, but when I saw the combination of Richard Matheson, Joe Hill, and Stephen King, I added it to my wishlist. Like any anthology, this was […]
4 Stars. I really, really liked this. I never had any idea where it was going and it just kept getting more and more twisted. I had more questions at the end than I did at the beginning. And I was definitely left with a sinking feeling in my stomach. This situation is going to get way worse before it gets better. I liked the [...]
Victoria McQueen, known at different times as Vic or The Brat, inadvertently discovers she has a special gift when she's about ten years old. If she wants to find something badly enough, she can ride her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike across a rickety wooden covered bridge and find whatever she's looking for on the other side. The problem? The physical bridge was torn down; she's creating a new one with her mind. After finding a kidnapper and helping to put him behind bars in her teens, Vic's life spirals out of control. She thinks she's crazy so she starts drinking and doing drugs, with stints in mental hospitals and rehab. But she gets her act together quickly when she finds out that Charlie Manx, the kidnapper, is no longer in prison. I thought I would probably get to this point after reading his other work but with NOS4A2, it's official: I love Joe Hill. He is a helluva writer. I'll be reading his books as they come out. Well, I've been doing that since Horns, but I'll continue doing it. I was hooked from very early on. I wouldn't even say that the pacing is all that fast, but it is a very steady burn. There's a lot of back story and filling in the blanks but it's all just so intriguing that I kept plowing through. I haven't been reading particularly fast recently but I still managed to tear through all 680+ pages in about ten days. And that's including a long, busy weekend out of town. What really kept me turning the pages was the big heart at the center of the story. Vic's tough but she had a rough childhood and she's had a rougher adulthood. She pushes everyone around her away but that's because she loves…
Ignatius Perrish wakes up after a drunken night with honest-to-goodness horns growing out of his head. At first, he thinks he's just going crazy. But as he ventures out into the day, he finds that other people can see them too; they're just too busy telling him their deepest, darkest secrets to really comment on them. Oh, and if they know him, they're telling him exactly what they think of him. That would be bad enough for anyone, but when you've been (falsely) accused of raping and murdering your girlfriend and the whole town thinks your famous father got you off, what people have to say to you gets real vicious real fast. I hate the name Ignatius. Even shortened to Ig or, heaven forbid, Iggy, it's just awful. And then to pair it with Perrish. I couldn't help but think of Iggy Pop. That aside... This was scary but not in a horror-y way. Well, not for the most part. There's the thing with the horns, but the real scare here is how this kind of thing happens every day. Again, not the horns, but the rape/murder of an innocent girl. And we always think it's the significant other who did it. Sure, most of the time it is, but what living hell the innocent ones must go through. Not only have they lost a loved one but they've been accused of doing it as well. *Shudder* Ig shows us exactly how little it feels that life is worth living after that. What makes this so hard to read is that Ig was about to have it all. He and Merrin have a fantastic relationship. They're high school sweethearts who look like they're really going to live the happily ever after. They're both pursuing their career dreams and then…
Rocker Judas Coyne thought it was a joke when he bought a ghost off the internet. Still, he's a collector of the arcane, so what could it hurt? An old man is haunting his daughter and granddaughter, so Judas might be helping them, but even if it's a joke, Judas can easily afford it. But the price is higher than he thought. What a creepy, twisted ghost story! It was perfect for Halloween! Judas and Georgia, the latest in his string of much-younger lovers, really don't know what hit them when this ghost shows up. The dogs know something is up and immediately react to the haunted suit. It starts out fairly innocuous, with the radio turning on in the middle of the night, a horrible smell in the house, and the ghost just sitting out in the hall, but this ghost quickly amps up his attack, and before they know it, Judas and Georgia are fighting for their lives. I loved all the twists this took. Just when I thought it was going to be a fairly straightforward ghost story, the ghost would get even more creative in his haunting, the stakes would be raised, I'd find out something about the ghost's abilities that made him terrifying, and then there's the ghost's agenda and past. I can't say that this book ever kept me awake or made me jumpy, but I'm surprised it didn't. This is one evil ghost. Highly recommended for horror fans. It's very well-written, and I am coming to realize that I love Joe Hill's style. I'll be seeking out Horns soon. Read an excerpt. Find author Joe Hill on his website and Twitter (he's one of my favorite authors on Twitter). Buy Heart-Shaped Box at Malaprop’s | Better World Books I have an affiliate relationship…