Monday, July 22, 2013

Horns - Joe Hill


After a night of binge drinking and mourning the death of his girlfriend Merrin Williams, Ig Perrish woke up to find he had grown horns. At first he thought they were simply a figment of his imagination, but he quickly realizes that is not the case. And what's more, he has a new set of powers to go along with his new physical features. Powers that he plans to exploit to find Merrin's true killer.

Call me slow if you like, but since mystery/suspense isn't something I leap to read, I had no idea Joe Hill was Stephen King's son. I found this out today. It made everything make so much more sense. Hill definitely has the skill for writing suspense, and that's what this book was. His character development was pretty astounding as well. I found myself deeply disliking Lee Tourneau and easily sympathizing with the Devil.

Told in sections, the story is mostly from Ig's point of view, except for a section called "The Fixer" which gives Lee's perspective. Rather than distract from the narrative, as some POV changes can do, it filled in the missing pieces and worked really well with the story. The plot also gave a new (to me, at least) twist on who the Devil really may be. And is God really all good, and the Devil all bad?

My favorite bit, I must say, is Ig's sermon to the snakes. In it, he observes that woman is more alike God than man, in that woman is a creator. God fears woman because it is she who steers men away from Him - His competition. God says love and pray now and get salvation later, but woman offers salvation in her own way, and it's much more immediate.
"The devil and woman have been allies against God from the beginning, ever since Satan came to the first man in the form of a snake and whispered to Adam that true happiness was not to be found in prayer but in Eve's cunt."

I definitely stepped outside my usual bounds with this book, not just because it's adult fiction, but because it's suspense. Generally such stories fill me with anxiety and I don't like feeling that way when I'm reading. Reading is supposed to be my escape. BUT it was really good. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and the end left me satisfied - all the loose ends tied up nicely, and every character got what they deserved.

Admittedly, I picked up this book because there will be a film adaptation of it coming out in October, and I saw this picture:
So, I guess I do choose books by their covers sometimes... or in this case, cover films...

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