NOS4A2 A Novel Joe Hill
It's been a while since I've read any horror, and I'm glad I returned to it via Joe Hill's NOS4A2.
It's kind of hard to put together a coherent review when I just want to go total fangirl. Also hard not to draw comparisons with Hill's famous father, when their styles are so very similar. But I'll do my best.
Where I really feel this book excelled--and I first learned of this talent of Hill's when he ripped my heart out in Horns--is in the FEELS. Horror story characters are often strictly two--dimensional, despite their writer's best efforts. Not this writer, and not this book. Prepare yourself--for the duration, their emotions are your emotions. They'll creep into your bloodstream and populate your dreams for days.
Of course, all the elements of a great, modern-classic horror story are here--the evil, seemingly indestructable bad guy who preys upon children, the child with a gift who escapes him, only to be forced to face him once more as an adult--but Hill makes these tropes fresh enough that you don't much notice.
(On a completely personal note--our neighborhood has the creepiest ice cream truck ever. In addition to church hymns and cheery classics like "Darling Clementine," it also plays Christmas music in the middle of the summer. Now when I hear it, I'll always have to wonder if it's the ice cream truck, or a Rolls Royce Wraith creeping slowly past my house...)
I was already a fan of Joe Hill after "Heart Shaped Box," and "Horns," but three times is the charm, as they say, and my fan status is now written in stone. Read it. You won't be sorry.
I can honestly say that this is one of the best books I have ever read. It was magical, never boring and something I could pick back up and immediately start over. I've been a fan for a while but this one simply floored me; I was already picking out who I'd want to play the parts in a movie and a movie is surely something that needs to be made. I'm almost sorry that I'm done with it because it was just that awesome.
BalasHapus
BalasHapusJoe Hill called NOS4A2 his "senior PhD thesis on horror"," about a very bad man with a very bad car". Manx is a 140 year old man who drives around in a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the vanity plate NOS4A2 and kidnaps children, taking them to Christmas-land. He entreaties helpers as needed to "take care" of loose ends (like parents).
BalasHapusThis is a truly horrifying tale that grabs you in the first chapter and doesn't let go until the end - at which point you're almost guaranteed to have a nightmare or two. Through all 700 plus pages Hill does not waste a single word. Each character is well thought out and presented; each a solid building block in this fascinating and chilling tale.
To me Bing Partridge, who is the chosen assistant in our timeline, is the most disturbing character in the story as he is not deliberately malevolent. Victoria, Vic, the Brat is the young lady hero who is a "finder" and can move through the inscapes thus putting herself in harm's way. There is always a toll; a price for our actions and passing into another place/time causes Vic to become very ill the longer she remains "over there". When Vic rides her bike through the no-longer-existent, rotting covered bridge and meets a punk styled librarian, she learns of Maggie's talent for reading impending events through manipulation of Scrabble tiles. Though Victoria is warned to stay away from the Rolls Royce Wraith it becomes like a magnet drawing her closer and closer.
Christmas-land holds a horrible end for the children whose bodies are never found since they are ordained to live there forever. It becomes Vic's destiny to put an end to Manx, the vampire of the chi, who does not drink blood but takes from his victims something far more precious.
This is a fast paced book and a quick read considering its enormous size. Joe Hill is a great story teller who, as soon as you set the book down for a break, beckons you back for "just one more chapter". I really enjoyed NOS4A2 and will recommend it to all of my friends who like tales of Horror and also to a few as an introduction to this genre.
It's been a while since I've read any horror, and I'm glad I returned to it via Joe Hill's NOS4A2.
BalasHapusIt's kind of hard to put together a coherent review when I just want to go total fangirl. Also hard not to draw comparisons with Hill's famous father, when their styles are so very similar. But I'll do my best.
Where I really feel this book excelled--and I first learned of this talent of Hill's when he ripped my heart out in Horns--is in the FEELS. Horror story characters are often strictly two--dimensional, despite their writer's best efforts. Not this writer, and not this book. Prepare yourself--for the duration, their emotions are your emotions. They'll creep into your bloodstream and populate your dreams for days.
Of course, all the elements of a great, modern-classic horror story are here--the evil, seemingly indestructable bad guy who preys upon children, the child with a gift who escapes him, only to be forced to face him once more as an adult--but Hill makes these tropes fresh enough that you don't much notice.
(On a completely personal note--our neighborhood has the creepiest ice cream truck ever. In addition to church hymns and cheery classics like "Darling Clementine," it also plays Christmas music in the middle of the summer. Now when I hear it, I'll always have to wonder if it's the ice cream truck, or a Rolls Royce Wraith creeping slowly past my house...)
I was already a fan of Joe Hill after "Heart Shaped Box," and "Horns," but three times is the charm, as they say, and my fan status is now written in stone. Read it. You won't be sorry.
This book would have been a 5 had a decent editor or fact checker been involved! It starts when they do an EKG to test a man in a coma (that would be an EEG), then later a pill bottle says Valium 50mg (the highest dose is 10mg), later still a handcuff is attached to a tree that is described as 8 inches in diameter (those must be some gigantic handcuffs!), and then lastly they discuss the characters huge scar running the length of his neck from his angioplasty (the scar would mean he had an endarterectomy). I guess those things shouldn't really matter but if you have put that much time into writing a book it would seem that someone could have made sure it was correct.
BalasHapusNow that I am done nit picking, the story was very original and kept my interest the whole way through. I have read his other books and this one is as good if not better. The last chapter really brought it all together and didn't leave you wondering. Ok fine. Going to change my rating to a 5 :)
Vic McQueen has a gift. With her Tuff Burner bike, she has the ability to travel across a bridge that doesn't exist and find things that have been lost. But one day, after a fight with her mother, Vic goes in search of trouble. She finds it in the form of Charlie Manx, a serial kidnapper whose victims are never seen again. Manx shares Vic's ability and also travels roads that exist outside of our reality. He uses these roads to travel to Christmasland, a world that's not all it's cracked up to be. The children he takes there never grow up and never want to leave, but they aren't human anymore either.
BalasHapusOh, such a fabulously creepy and fast-paced read! Hill shares his father's ability in creating tales that can draw the reader completely into their fictional landscapes. I purposely saved this one for a weekend when I knew I'd be able to devote most - if not all - of my time to it without interruption and it was so worth it! Clocking in at a whopping 692 pages, I managed to finish NOS4A2 in just two days. Not that that's a huge accomplishment, I would have liked to linger inside its pages much longer! I couldn't help it, though. I found myself unable to set the book down for any significant period of time.
Vic is a cool character. She's flawed in so many ways, as are the people around her. Along with her son, Wayne (Bruce Wayne) and her Colorado hero/lover Lou, they make a perfect set of compelling characters.
Then there's creepy old Charlie Manx and his gasmasked henchman. Gingerbread will never smell the same again!
Horror and dark fiction fans should know, Hill is an awesome writer in his own right. Whether you come to him because of his parentage or you discover him completely by chance, you'll quickly find that he's an amazing talent. And if you're not reading him yet, you should be!