Book Review -- Horns |Sinnful Books

Title: Horns
Author: Joe Hill
Genre: Horror
Pages: Hardback, 368
Published: 2010
Opening Lines: "Ignatius Martin Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke the next morning with a headache, put his hands to his temples, and felt something unfamiliar, a pair of knobby pointed protuberances."

"At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spend the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

"Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilage, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more -- he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

"But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside . . .

"Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look - a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere . . . It's time the devil had his due . . ."

~ Jacket copy

Thoughts: When I saw that Joe Hill had another book out, I was excited. Never having the money to buy a new book when I was at our local Hastings, I finally decided to see if the library had it. After reading several reviews, I was sad and kind of hesitant about reading the book. It appeared as though this book could live up to the caliber as his previous book, The Heart-Shaped Box.

The book follows the story of Ig Perrish after he wakes up to find he has horns growing out of his temples. He finds it especially interesting that people tell him their innermost thoughts, and, after touching them, he sees their life story. In addition, he is able to persuade their thinking. The book takes the reader into his past when he first meets Merrin, the adventures he goes through to win her over, the present before she was murdered, and the story of the perp.

While this book was not straight horror the way his first book was, it does delve deeply into human nature and what length people will go for the people they love. They characters in the book were very fleshed out and believable. Even though Terry, Lee, and even Glenna where not the main part of the story, I felt that each character was given enough to draw on the reader's sympathy. It is obvious that Hill is a great writer the more you read about Lee. In addition, the landscape is well shaped and coloured. The foundry felt as though it was an much a character was the people.

Several times, while reading this book, it felt as though I was reading It all over again. The stories of Ig's childhood, the Evel Knievel hill and their exploits, etc. was very, very reminiscent of his father's work.

I really enjoyed this book. The pacing was perfect. The book was very engaging and was hard to put down. Even though it is not straight horror, it is still a very enjoyable book.

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