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Horns: A Novel Paperback – March 8, 2011
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Joe Hill's critically acclaimed, New York Times bestselling, Bram Stoker Award-winning debut chiller, Heart-Shaped Box, heralded the arrival of new royalty onto the dark fantasy scene. With Horns, he polishes his well-deserved crown. A twisted, terrifying new novel of psychological and supernatural suspense, Horns is a devilishly original triumph for the Ray Bradbury Fellowship recipient whose story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, was also honored with a Bram Stoker Award—and whose emotionally powerful and macabre work has been praised by the New York Times as, "wild, mesmerizing, perversely witty…a Valentine from hell."
- Print length416 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateMarch 8, 2011
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.94 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100061147966
- ISBN-13978-0061147968
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“[A] compulsively readable supernatural thriller...Hill spins a story that’s both morbidly amusing and emotionally resonant. The explanations for Ig’s weird travails won’t satisfy every reader, but few will dispute that Hill has negotiated the sophomore slump.” — Publishers Weekly
“Horns is a well wrought tale with intellectual merit. Not only are we entertained, we are challenged to think as well.” — New York Journal of Books
“On the strength of two masterly thrillers―2007’s Heart Shaped-Box and his newest Horns―Hill has emerged as one of America’s finest horror writers.” — Time magazine
“HORNS should bring even more fans to Joe Hill . . . he has his own style, and it is very accessible as well as fast-moving. . . . HORNS is a fast-paced, fascinating murder mystery/love story with a dash of the devil himself to spice things up.” — DreadCentral.com [horror entertainment review website]
“[Horns is] devilishly good. . . . Hill is a terrific writer with a great imagination. He has a special talent for taking us and his characters to very weird places.” — USA Today
“Hill’s survey of the question of suffering is a wild ride, as filled with thrills as his hero’s headlong plunge down to a dark and dazzling river.” — Seattle Times
“The wise guys point out that the literature of horror fantasy tends to be both romantic and conservative. Normalcy is idealized and so precious that its violation is the essence of horror. Joe Hill’s sweet, fanged demonology takes us there.” — Oregonian
“Horns is thoroughly enjoyable and often original.…a richly nuanced story. Fire and brimstone have rarely looked this good. ” — Los Angeles Times
“A devilish, ingeniously designed story that positions Hill in the same realm as Neil Gaiman, Jonathan Lethem, and Stephen King.” — Pittsburgh Tribune
“Horns is a pitchfork-packing, prodigal son’s take on religion…But the real meat of the story dissects man’s relationship with good and evil wihtout sacrificing a bit of suspense…Horns is a mesmerizing page-turner.” — Tulsa World
“Brilliant in conception...HORNS is a rollercoaster of a work filled with thrills and chills.” — Bookreporter.com
“Hill’s one incredibly talented writer with a wicked sense of humor and a master’s control of pacing.” — Bookgasm.com
“No one working in horror today is more adept than Hill …His writing is both merciless and compassionate, driving hard toward the painful truth in every story while holding fast to the desires of his protagonist. ” — Seattle Post-Intelligencer
“”Darkly comic in places, touching in others, chilling on occassion…” — Valdosta Daily Times
“[D]evilishly good…Hill is a terrificwriter with a greatimagination. He has a special talent for taking us and his characters to very weird places.” — Wilmington News Journal
“Horns is not only scary but it’s also insightful, often funny and sometimes sweetl romantic.” — St. Paul Pioneer Press
“[A] fresh, tough-minded take on what it means to make a deal with the devil and your own worst nature.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Fast-paced, well-made, and wonderfully weird.” — The Globe and Mail
“This is masterful allegory as Hill proves himself…to be a compelling chronicler of human natures continual war between good and evil.” — Providence Journal-Bulletin
“a tight and well-plotted murder mystery, as well as a thoughtful meditation on good and evil....[HORNS] establishes Hill as one of the most clever and talented writers working in the genre.” — Charleston Post & Courier
“As the plot builds through flashbacks and clever exposition, Ig’s true nature reveals itself, and the reader is left questioning the traditional border between good and evil....Highly recommended, particularly for fans of Clive Barker and Christopher Moore.” — Library Journal
“A satisfying and entertaining book.” — www.npr.org on HORNS
“[HORNS is] a creepy murder mystery, a tragic love triangle, and a sweetly wistful coming-of-age story. It’s the kind of book that has you laughing on one page, crying on another and making sure the doors and windows are safely locked on a third.” — Miami Herald
“Horns is dark, twisted, even sometimes funny in a macabre way.” — Connie Ogle, "Between the Covers," The Miami Herald
From the Back Cover
The New York Times bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box returns with a relentless supernatural thriller that runs like Hell on wheels . . .
Merrin Williams is dead, slaughtered under inexplicable circumstances, leaving her beloved boyfriend Ignatius Perrish as the only suspect. On the first anniversary of Merrin's murder, Ig spends the night drunk and doing awful things. When he wakes the next morning he has a thunderous hangover . . . and horns growing from his temples. Ig possesses a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre gift he intends to use to find the monster who killed his lover. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. Now it's time for revenge . . .
It's time the devil had his due. . . .
About the Author
Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Fireman, NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box; Strange Weather, a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections Full Throttle and 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Award–winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), In the Tall Grass (Netflix), and The Black Phone (Blumhouse).
Product details
- Publisher : William Morrow Paperbacks; Reprint edition (March 8, 2011)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 416 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0061147966
- ISBN-13 : 978-0061147968
- Item Weight : 11.7 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.94 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #78,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #157 in Ghost Thrillers
- #252 in Ghost Fiction
- #2,244 in Murder Thrillers
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box, The Fireman, and Full Throttle. He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long-running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with artist Gabriel Rodriguez. Much of his work has been adapted for movies and television. His second novel, Horns, was translated to film in 2014 and starred Daniel Radcliffe. His third novel, NOS4A2, is now a hit series on AMC, starring Zachary Quinto. The first season of Locke & Key was released on Netflix in early 2020 and became an overnight smash. His story, "In The Tall Grass," co-written with Stephen King, was made into a feature for Netflix, and became a mind-bending cult horror sensation. Most recently, Hill has returned to graphic novels -- his latest comics include Basketful of Heads and Plunge for D.C., and Dying is Easy for IDW.
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Here's what I can tell you about the plot - a young guy wakes up after a crazy miserable all nighter of drinking way too much and "behaving badly". In his bleary sickened hungover awakening, he realizes he has horns growing out of his head - real horns. Devil horns. Makes you wonder just what in hell did this guy DO?
Now I have to stop - I don't want to reveal the story. The author does it beautifully - creates a perfect progression by moving back and forth through time from every conceivable vantage point, absolutely beautifully. As you read, you are captured by the story and characters you can't help but care about. You realize early on this is a story that demands resolution and justice. It tweeks at any preconcieved notions about the nature of good and evil. It is a story about jealousy, revenge, love and madness and it's perfectly fantastical.
You realize straight up that you can't stop reading until you know the whole story. So gird your loins for late night reading because the writing is compelling, the characters perfectly realized and very very flesh and blood.
To be honest, until this week, it had been years since I had much interest in fantasy/horror. I used to read a lot of it but as we do, I moved along into SF/F and then any good writing - fiction, non fiction - whatever.
After I finished this book, I went to the Joe Hill website and looked around Amazon and discovered the author is the son of Stephen and Tabitha King. So he is the son of the man who created his own genre of late 20th century horror.
I confess I stopped reading King quite a way back - his novels seemed to me redundant, and I felt he hadn't moved past his initial concept (the behind the scenes evil entity) in - The Stand, Salem's Lot, The Shining, etc. But I cannot help but admired his prolifacy and consistancy and over the years, I'd read up a book or two just to see where he was because he has always pushed the edges of his own envelope.
Years ago, when I was still reading everything Stephen King wrote, I came across Danse Macabre - a non fiction about horror. At the end there is a list of (I think it is) the top 100 stories and books he believes one must read if one is truly intersted in understanding the genre. Thanks to Stephen King I enjoyed an orgy of obsessive horror reading as I tracked down every title at my favorite second hand bookstores (no easy fete) and I still have many - brittle, yellow and falling apart - in my bookcase. Joe Hill's "Horns" would be on that list.
This has to tickle his parents to no end. I know it tickles me to think of it. The kid's a chip off the old block.
And he's just getting started.
Read him.
Any potentially clunky symbolism (and political commentary, as well) that he seeds it with can be forgiven as well in light of the story being so much fun. There's enough philosophy in here as well that the violence isn't gratuitous, only shocking and quite often deeply sad. He's very good at descriptive phrasing. Be warned, though, if you find yourself starting to sympathize with the characters and feel the same things they do that I found myself getting dizzy and almost passing out after a particularly descriptive section. If you end up reading it, which I highly recommend, you'll know exactly what part I mean. For that reason, I'm overlooking any of the stuff that other reviewers may dismiss as cliche. I've had movies give me dizzy spells on a couple of occasions, but never books as far as I can remember and I've since learned to recognize this as the mark of an effective writer/director.
I'd also like to say that, for someone with his pedigree and genes, he pulls quite a few interesting tricks out of his lunchbox (you'll get that one when you read the notes afterward).
That being said, there's a movie adaptation of this coming out in October and I kind of can't wait...for it or his new book that comes out in a week and a half from the date of this review.
In the end, I'd give it 4 and a half stars if the ratings system allowed for it because it's the first book that I've finished in a while (I have 3 or 4 books that I've started but not finished) that wasn't by Chuck.
Top reviews from other countries
Horns was a shocking book. Every time I turned a page I would say to myself, “WTF! Man, did you just do that?!” The fact that Joe Hill was not afraid to do the unexpected made this an amazing story.
Ignatius Perrish has suffered many losses during his life, the greatest of these was the brutal rape and murder of the love of his life, Merrin. A year later, Ig finds himself in his own personal hell.
Joe Hill has created such a diverse, troubled and realistic cast of characters. Who are the good guys…who are the bad guys? This is what pulled me into Horns and never let me go. Each and every character is fully developed, by the end of the story we intimately understand the motivation behind their actions (however warped their reasons may have been).
What I really loved about Horns were the blurred lines between good and evil; heaven and hell, devils and demons. Is Ig, with his full set of Horns the Hero or the Villain? Can the devil be the good guy?
Horns is a book that I hated to put down; it was not rushed, it never (ever) dragged on. This is a fantastic example of book perfection, I have never read anything quite like this before.
7 Stars
Characters you immediately "see".
Dark humour.
A brilliant writing, that slowly unfolds all the complexity of the plot.
A book that not only untertain you, but also takes you out of your comfort zone, and makes you think and grow up.
I honestly don't see what else you could ask for.
Probably the best book i read these last months.
The story is brilliant and for a change the author does not keep you curious long enough to know the suspense but then does it mean the book is finished after the elements are out in the open? Hell no… ironically its after all the secrecies get revealed, that the book reaches its optimum entertainment… how?... read the book for god’s sake..
Yes there are bit areas where the language is kind of ….how do you say…. Hmm…. I don’t know… not impressive…I guess… or too complicated? However the book is amazing. Massively entertaining.
It’s a good thing that the book is getting converted into a movie because I can’t wait to watch it on big screen provided they are sticking to the original version and all the goodness of the book.
While I loved the book…the ending was something that still haunts me as in not settling well… I still have no clue what happened in there….( or maybe it was my brain that stopped working halfway through all the creeps ???)
On a personal note (forgive me father for i have sinned) i actually agreed and believed with many points that the author/character gave in support for satan... (i think i may have brought a ticket to hell with that statement but hey... as per the author/character... hell is where the party is ...so... whats up satan bro.... !!! )
It was not till I finished the book and sat down to research about the author (read: typing the author’s name in google ) that I came to know that Joe Hill is actually the son of Stephen King…wow lineage is strong and since I have not read a single Stephen king book (oh yeah …. Pardon me for not wanting to pee out of scare at night or going into that delayed state of mental shock) I cannot actually say whether he has taken forward his father’s talent or is better. For me the author has done a superb work in this book.
The book is dark, wicked and entertainment at all turns. It keeps you feeding enough to not let go off the book till it’s over. Now that’s what I call a good entertainer