HORROR REVIEW: Horn's - Joe Hill

BOOK BLURB:

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples. Once, Ig lived the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned American musician, and the younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, Ig had security and wealth and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more - he had the love of Merrin Williams, a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic. Then beautiful, vivacious Merrin was gone - raped and murdered, under inexplicable circumstances - with Ig the only suspect. He was never tried for the crime, but in the court of public opinion, Ig was and always would be guilty. Now Ig is possessed with a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look, and he means to use it to find the man who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge; it's time the devil had his due. HORNS: It's moving, sad, often funny, redemptive, and filled with hope.


REVIEW:

Joe Hill is one of those authors that is trying to take the horror genre into a slightly different tangent with his work. Not that it’s a bad thing but with his first offering (Heart Shaped Box) leaving me feeling that it was more of a novella trying to get out I did wonder if he might be biting off a bit more than he could chew. Then with his second title 20th Century Ghosts I was left wondering if he was little more than a hack who had the time to experiment with his writing due to his parentage as to be honest I only really liked one tale within its pages.

That said, whilst I wasn’t a huge fan of Stephen King’s son I am prepared to give each offering a go as his writing, whilst not always to my own personal taste is something that creeps into the readers imagination. What unfurled within this offering is a tale of love, horror, betrayal and murder and whilst its more of an emotional psychological ride than anything else does have moments of levity in typical Hill humour. Its quirky, its definitely different to a lot of offerings out there and its guaranteed to be one that will make many readers pay attention to this author. He really has improved in my estimation with this offering and delivered what felt like a proper full length novel without over egging the pudding. Great stuff.