Horns (edition 2010)

No matter how many times I read this book it never gets old or boring ( )

Iggy Perrish wakes up on the one year anniversary of girlfriends rape and murder to find he has grown horns. Right there you know either this book is going to be phenomenal or just another pop lit, fast paced, fun read. Well, it was the former. I would not, however call it phenomenal. A great read and enjoying and I will probably read it again, but not out of this world great. The way Hill writes is addicting, he has a way with words that would make a lexicographer jealous.

The plot kept changing and for me personally who can usually predict what will happen next in a book, I was surprised. I knew the eventual ending, but the twist and turns kept me guessing throughout. At times it caused me to consider if I was actually reading it right, but after another read of a paragraph yes, that is what was happening.

I think the one thing which led me to like this book so much is the fact that it was not something which was whipped out in a couple of months and lauded by everyone as a great book, by an amazing author who has written scores of bestsellers. (I never read those. Too boring and predictable and most times not quite well written.)

Overall, it was a good book and without giving away any details, definitely one to read again. ( )

I will admit that I started this novel for the premise, but I stayed for the characters. All right, they aren't really likeable, sure. But it's impossible to not want Ig Perrish to slay the evil that has stolen the joy of his life while simultaneously coming to love the darkness he is slipping into. And Mr. Hill can write. There were points where I literally just felt myself so totally engrossed by the story that I forgot I was on a train heading to work. Honestly, I liked [b:Heart-Shaped Box|153025|Heart-Shaped Box|Joe Hill|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328043955s/153025.jpg|1412280], but I wasn't completely wowed by it. But in [b:Horns|6587879|Horns|Joe Hill|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348768657s/6587879.jpg|6781405], Hill has completely matured as a storyteller. I wish I could point to specific instances, but it's nearly impossible to do without spoiling. Suffice to say, Hill's creation of a realistic and engaging backstory for his three main characters carries well as the book becomes a traditional battle between good and evil with something of a twist. And a letter to one of the characters is some of the sharpest, most emotionally compelling stuff I've read in some time.

If the book loses me anywhere, it's with the theme that the Devil isn't actually a bad guy. No where in the novel do I really understand the argument that Hill tries to make relative to this, even though I of course can acknowledge an argument to be made (just look at John Milton). The true evil in this novel isn't anything sanctioned by Heaven, and the Devil, while perhaps granting our hero some of his powers, is not a character who truly plays much of role to make this theme work.

I will definitely read this again, and I look forward to Hill's next piece.

( )

Ignatius Perrish wakes up after a drunken night with honest-to-goodness horns growing out of his head. At first, he thinks he's just going crazy. But as he ventures out into the day, he finds that other people can see them too; they're just too busy telling him their deepest, darkest secrets to really comment on them. Oh, and if they know him, they're telling him exactly what they think of him. That would be bad enough for anyone, but when you've been (falsely) accused of raping and murdering your girlfriend and the whole town thinks your famous father got you off, what people have to say to you gets real vicious real fast.

I hate the name Ignatius. Even shortened to Ig or, heaven forbid, Iggy, it's just awful. And then to pair it with Perrish. I couldn't help but think of Iggy Pop.

That aside...

This was scary but not in a horror-y way. Well, not for the most part. There's the thing with the horns, but the real scare here is how this kind of thing happens every day. Again, not the horns, but the rape/murder of an innocent girl. And we always think it's the significant other who did it. Sure, most of the time it is, but what living hell the innocent ones must go through. Not only have they lost a loved one but they've been accused of doing it as well. *Shudder* Ig shows us exactly how little it feels that life is worth living after that.

What makes this so hard to read is that Ig was about to have it all. He and Merrin have a fantastic relationship. They're high school sweethearts who look like they're really going to live the happily ever after. They're both pursuing their career dreams and then they're not. And that is what makes this book so very difficult to read.

The horror-y bit that really, really got to me was the snakes. Oh my goodness, the snakes. I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to finish. I would say I have snake-a-phobia (Ophidiophobia. Don't say you've never learned anything from my reviews). Maybe I should have expected that this guy, who is becoming more devil-like by the day, would develop an affinity for snakes. I didn't. I'm sitting here shuddering just thinking about it. I would think, "Okay, I've got to be through it," and there would be more. When it really did seem safe, here the snakes came again and they were so, so, so bad. *trying not to think about it*

I'm also wondering if all boys really get up to the crazy crap that Hill and dad King write about. I mean, these guys get up to some insanely dangerous, destructive things. Did I have my head in the sand around the boy cousins I grew up with? They did some stupid things, but nothing like this.

I really liked that I was never entirely sure what to think of Ig. He says right up front that he didn't kill Merrin, and I believed him, but there's got to be a reason for the horns. I was rooting for him, but I was still questioning him a little. He can influence people and make them act on their darkest desires, and he does that a few times. What a heady, easily-addicting power to have. Was he going to come down for good or evil? I mean, c'mon, he has devil horns. He can't really be the good guy. Can he?

Hill slowly makes us question our perceptions, i.e. what looks evil vs what truly is evil. They are not always the same and yet we insist on conflating the two. Horror with a philosophical bent. Who knew such a thing existed?

Oh, last little tidbit--I loved that Judas Coyne was mentioned in this book! Will we someday need a concordance for Hill's work as well?

I prefer Heart-Shaped Box, but this was still another very strong horror novel from Joe Hill. I will definitely continue to follow his work. ( )

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/25/books/25book.html
Recommended by Jamie Citron, Linda Dyndiuk

Remember, way back at the beginning of the year, when I said that I wanted to hump Hugh Laurie's leg for writing [b:The Gun Seller|45234|The Gun Seller|Hugh Laurie|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1170275796s/45234.jpg|1128909]? After reading Horns, and just the ARC - not even the finished, shiny and perfect masterpiece - I want to hump Joe Hill's leg for writing it.

Not too long ago, I read Hill's short story collection, [b:20th Century Ghosts|4443319|20th Century Ghosts|Joe Hill|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1267559677s/4443319.jpg|1049073], and in the intro, Christopher Golden says that Hill is subtle writer, that his stories are "promises fulfilled". I think that Golden's words about Joe Hill are even more apt when it comes to Horns. This is Joe Hill fulfilling his promise to readers. Horns is his promise to the world that he can keep pulling new and amazing tricks out of his bag, and each one will be better than the last.

I'm sad that I'm finished, that it's over. I feel like I should just flip back to the beginning and read it again, because I know, without a doubt, that it will be even more brilliant the 2nd time around.

Joe Hill's subtlety and brilliance is much more in evidence and has more effect in this book than any of his other books I've read. I don't even know how to gush enough to do justice to what I want to say! I feel like with every line that I read, there was another line behind it that added to the depth of the one I'd just read. The way that he wrote Lee was amazing. Seeing things through his eyes was truly scary and disturbing. (I don't want to give too much away about his character, but I will say this, I think that Joe Hill wrote Lee Tourneau better than his father, Stephen King wrote Junior Rennie.) When Ig sermonizes to the snakes, I was proud of him in that moment. Not simply for finally realizing that the snakes were his, but for his understanding of truth, and life, and love in that moment, and for accepting Merrin's decision that last night as being her right, even though it destroyed him. I feel like Joe Hill wrote these things, but then I also feel like he didn't write them, that he doesn't have to write them because they just seep out of the pages and into me. Merrin's letter is another one of those 'between the lines' bits. My heart hurt reading her letter to Ig, I felt like I was losing something myself, and I hurt for them. I definitely had some sympathy for the devil at that moment.

Which brings me to my next couple of points. I love how music works its way into Hill's writing and stories, and the depth that it gives them. It's not just there for set dressing or for a pop culture stamp to place the story into a familiar territory for the reader, one gets the feeling that not only is music important to Hill, but that it is vital to him. I feel like he was speaking through Ig when he was appalled at Lee's lack of music appreciation, his plain statement that music is simply the background noise to events or action. Music is something that some people live and breathe, and I feel like Joe is one of those people, and because he is, so was Ig.

I also loved the devillish humor inserted throughout the story. I love when a book can take me from one extreme to another, and this was no exception. I went from confusion, to shock, to laughter, to tears, to laughter, to more tears, etc. Every page brought some new revelation, and to me, Hill's timing with the humor and the heartache were spot on.

I further loved the full picture of Merrin we got, even though we never got to really meet her. We got a composite of her from various other sources, like a police sketch artist making a picture from one person describing the nose, another describing the shape of the eyes, another giving us the hair, or the mouth, or the jawline, etc. Merrin's loss hit me like a ton of bricks, even though I knew about it from the beginning. But it still hurt, because I came to love her the way that Ig did - even though there was a brief time that I disliked her when I saw her through Lee's eyes. Even though I knew it was hopeless, I still wanted to hope that something would happen to magically reverse what actually DID happen. That was wishful thinking, but what I'm saying is that Joe Hill made me feel that way, despite knowing what I knew about the impossibility of that.

I both loved and hated the way that people would spill their deepest and darkest thoughts to Ig, and I really felt for him having to endure the awful things that people thought about him. I couldn't imagine hearing those kinds of things from the people I love, and the people who are supposed to love me. Everyone claims to want the truth about how people feel about us, but I think that the plain, unvarnished truth is awful and unbearable. In my head, I can hear Jack Nicholson yelling, "YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH!" and it's true. I would have probably just crawled in a hole somewhere if people had said to me what they said to Ig. So, kudos to him for being stronger than I am.

I think that's enough gushing... There's a lot more that I wrote down to mention, but I think you all get the point now, don't you?

If you haven't already, read this book. Discover the greatness that is Joe Hill. I'm waiting! :) ( )

One of the concepts that I love in horror is that despite all of the random chaos the universe contains, some of the worst evil imaginable comes from humanity. Joe Hill really grasps this in everything I’ve read by him, and I love to read more of his take on it. And what I love about Horns is that it really explore the consequences of what people conceive of each other and how deep evil cuts.

That’s really the heart of the story. You really don’t want Iggy to give into this dark, twisted version of himself, but the circumstances around him unfortunately force him into the role. He’s obviously been through a lot since Merrin’s death, and having the court of public opinion constantly punishing him, it’s surprised that he didn’t ‘fall’ to begin with. It’s a thin line to sympathize with Ig, when he starts encouraging others to act on their dark deeds; at the same time, you want him to succeed and humiliate the bastard who killed Merrin. He’s a very pitiable character, and it works well.

As for the flipside, it’s hard to get into the character of Lee, mostly because he’s a complete sociopath. At times, he does feel like a villain for being a villain’s sake, even when we get his point of view of events. But the interesting thing is that Lee so honestly believes that no person could be that innocent and good-natured that of course he’s going to hate Iggy’s guts. But, man, Lee is just such a creepster that you’re pretty much rooting for him to die by the end. (The friendzoning aspect with Merrin doesn’t help either.)

I would have really liked to have seen more of Iggy’s brother Terry, especially in the flashbacks and Merrin. Merrin does come off as a “Too Good For This Sinful Earth” girl, but I did end up liking her. You get the sense that she did really love Iggy. Terry does play a large part in the plot, but he only shows up when he needs to. There is a little bit of aloof older brother-ness to him, but he doesn’t really play a large role in the narrative aside from the beginning and the end. I like both of them, and I wanted to see more.

My big issue with the book overall is that…to be honest, weird. Not in that the concept’s strange, it’s just some of the revelations come straight out of left field. I really don’t buy the explanation behind Iggy’s start of darkness with the Treehouse of the Mind, mostly because it’s introduced fairly late into the story. There’s already a great explanation with Iggy being constantly judged by everyone around him, there’s really no need for a further catalyst for him to become a devil. The first quarter of the book feels like the start of a short story with way too much backstory to stand on its own, and the book doesn’t really pick up until we get the revelation of who killed Merrin, and some of the flashbacks go on for too long. (Side note, I like the little shout-outs Hill throws in; the one about Derry and Terry interviewing a skinny Brit in a leather jacket made me giggle. )

If you’re just getting into Joe Hill’s fiction, I would recommend not starting with this. There’s good parts to it, and I did enjoy it, but coming into him, this would turn some people off. (Start with 20th Century Ghosts and then maybe Horns.)
( )

I don't know what to say about this book. I truly feel that my words won't do it justice.

Read it. If you're reading this review and wondering if this is the book for you, do it. For a moment, I'll be the tiny devil on your shoulder urging you to take the plunge, to give in to temptation. It's well worth your time.

The devil is in the details. That's what makes this work so spectacular. The story is great too, but it's Hill's weaving of detail, symbols, music, emotions, and perspectives that makes it stand out.

I must say, I loved the Judas Coyne reference, even though it had nothing to do with the rest of the story. It's cool to see an author link his works, and trust Hill to be as subtle about that as anything else he does.

Becky made mention of the way he weaves music into his work, and I must say that's one of the things I've noticed and come to love about Joe's writing. Being of the same generation might have something to do with it, but I've always felt that connection between music and life around me. The Mick and Keith references were great in this case, and I have to admit that young Iggy had me wanting to pull out all my Beatles CD's and give them a spin.

I won't say too much about the plot. By now you've probably read the blurb, and that's enough to go by. I don't want to spoil anything. I will say that I love his characters and the way Joe Hill brings them to life. I will say that I was chuckling by the opening lines of the book. The main character's initials showed me that Hill would be applying his subtle humor here: Ignatius Martin Perrish. ( )

Joe Hill is an amazing writer, and he happens to be one of my favorites, this novel did not disappoint. Joe Hill has a talent for creating this darkness within his characters from the closet serial killer, to the morning lover you get to see the deepest darkest depths of pain inside each characters soul in this book. Joe Hill is also a pro at writing a perfect ending, each time I read his novels the end always completes the book for me, wrapping up all loose ends with every character. So you find out how life continues for each character after they have been affected by the plot.

My favorite thing about this novel is you pretty much start the novel knowing everything about the killer, and his victim. The story then fills you in slowly on the back story letting you get to know each and every character personally, and how they all tie together in the story. Here is where the kicker is even though you get to know the story backwards it is sorta out of order, you only learn the story as you run into each character. This keeps you turning through the pages eager to learn how everything fits together.

The only thing I really didn't like about this novel is right in the middle it slows down a lot, and it is especially noticeable because the beginning starts off so strong. When the story talks about the characters life growing up I was getting bored questioning slightly if I needed to know some of the information given, but once the story starts unfolding I realized all the information was a must in understanding the story.

I recommend this novel for adult readers only, this novel contains some language, and graphic imagery that might not be suitable for younger readers. ( )

Another by Joe Hill. This one's a novel-novel and a lot stronger than the graphic novel I read earlier. It starts off with Ig, waking from an epic bender he went on on the anniversary of his girlfriend's murder. He can't remember what happened and there are horns growing out of his head. Ig reacts to this turn of events with disbelief and suspicions of his own sanity. He arrives at the conclusion that clearly, despite what his senses are telling him, the horns must be a delusion and decides to carry on as if they aren't there, but to head to the doctor just in case. It's up in the air if it's the horns or the delusion of horns he needs the doctor for, but either way a doctor seems like the right person to see.

The thing is, while Ig does his best to carry on as usual, everyone he meets can't help behaving strangely with him. They seem untroubled by the horns, if they even notice them at all, but they invariably share their darkest impulses with Ig, even begging him grant them permission to do the unthinkable. And if he does....well they dive in with apparent relish, indulging in their rage, insecurity, vice or whatever. It's a frightening power and immediately isolating for Ig who is unprepared to suddenly have the worst of strangers and loved ones alike thrust upon him. And yet, despite the hurt of seeing humanity's hidden face, Ig also finds a strange pleasure in letting people off their leashes.

The story could probably be a bit tighter, but ultimately finds it's purpose in Ig's decision to use his new condition to find the man that killed his girlfriend and have his revenge on him. Poetically, through an unfortunate turn of events, it is Ig himself that was convicted of the crime in public opinion and, never being granted a trial for lack of evidence, was forever demonized in his community. So there's that nice bit of a man perceived a devil finding solace and hope in becoming a devil. And then there's the always welcome consideration of the nature of the devil himself. It's a nice turn to read a book that acknowledges it's mythological roots, but rather than being bound by them grows and flourishes on it's own terms. ( )

Like a few others, I actually read Heart Shaped Box first and enjoyed it more than Horns. I did like the overall story, but some things were very overstated. Many times I was reading and thinking 'Okay, okay, I get it, let's move on'... But that's a problem I also have with Hill's father, Stephen King. ( )

Oh man! You gotta love Joe Hill! Always delivers with a fierce punch. This superbly twisted story is about Ig Perrish and how he woke up one morning to a pair of horns growing on his forehead. Along with the horns comes this awful ability to see what other people have lived by touching them. Also, people feel compelled to tell Ig their most inner thoughts when they see him. Amidst all this phenomena, Ig sets out to find who raped and murdered his long time girlfriend. What he discovers is something only the Devil should know... ( )

Awful. Don't waste your time on this turgid book clotted with bad writing. If I could have awarded minus stars then I would have. ( )

Although he's only got a few books under his belt, Joe Hill is quickly on his way to becoming one of my favorite authors.

Horns grabbed my attention from the very start, and kept my attention until the last page. This book tells the story of Ig Perrish who is an overall really good guy, but is slowly turning into the devil due to certain circumstances.

There are plenty of highs and lows within Horns that will have your emotions reeling. In some parts I laughed, some parts I was anxious, some made me angry, and some made me sad. This book is a emotional roller coaster that I really enjoyed riding.

Horns was so well written and executed, it will be going on my favorites shelf with the others books that I love to re-read. I absolutely recommend this book--you won't be disappointed! ( )

I really enjoyed Joe Hill's first novel, The Heart-Shaped Box, because it was genuinely scary as well as a good story. Horns disappointed me, because it wasn't scary at all, although parts were gruesome and there were far too many snakes (I think books and movies should have an S rating for those suffering from ophidiophobia).

The protagonist of the book, Ig Perrish, wakes up from a drunken sleep to find that he's grown horns. He discovers that his horns give him insight into people's worst impulses, and also give him the power to take revenge against the murderer of his lover. It's an inventive story, but it started unraveling at the end - I grew bored with the violent climax and confused by the metaphysical twist. Plus, I found the character of Ig a bit cloying. When he wasn't acting like a pitchfork-wielding demon, he was a bit of a choirboy.

I'll read Joe Hill again, but this one just didn't do it for me. ( )

Very readable and a great premise. Highly recommended. ( )

Horns is an enjoyable, but minor addition to the horror genre. Though Joe Hill (aka Stephen King Jr) still needs a bit of subtlety to move into the top-tier, it's an easy enough read with enough there to make it worth your time.

Ignatius is having the worst year of his life. Accused of raping and murdering his former girlfriend, things couldn't get any worse until one day he wakes up with a set of horns growing out of his head. Ignatius is becoming a devil.

Horns has a great set up, though its exploration is somewhat erratic. The horns compel people to tell Ig their darkest desires - and sometimes act on them - an intriguing idea. Unfortunately Hill's ideas of what constitute people's darkest desires are largely boorish cliche. Every person he meets in the first third of the novel represents a fairly standard moral nadir - and they're all incredibly selfish and bad.

This is compounded by Hill's happiness in fleshing out his characters with brief sketches. There is room for ambiguity even in these quick-draw portrayals, but he largely eschews it, instead using stereotype as shorthand. The expositionary dialogue accompanying the homophobic, lecherous, drug-addled confessions is incredibly clunky.

He does much better with his portrayals of Ignatius and the other main characters, who are much more nuanced and sympathetic - with the notable exception of the novel's villain, who is another lazy psychopath stereotype and absolutely boring. Ignatius' existential angst, and his relationships, have a much better texture. Though somewhat of an Everyman, he's easy to spend time with.

The structure also fights against Hill's seamlessness, with the book diving into a lengthy flashback about a third of the way through. Hill captures Ignatius' childhood well, but this Stand By Me-ish segment, though better written and executed in the main, does lack some of the sizzle and allure of the sections with the horns.

Hill also cannot resist the temptation to make endless, undergraduate, puns about devils. If there's a proverb or image left unturned, I couldn't find it, and I really didn't like it much. I felt like these incessant winks at the reader really broke me out of the narrative and they were neither funny nor clever. And this in turn illustrates my main criticism of Horns, I suppose.

Hill is prepared to sacrifice his atmosphere, characters, and credibility to service his plotting and what he wants to say. This is a journey with a destination very much in mind, and while it *is* a good plot - nice tension, believable journey, intriguing ideas etc - the laziness around some of the characterisation and writing really cast a pall over the book for me. I couldn't help imagining how much stronger Horns would have been if Hill invested a bit more into his characters, and his writing - or if he'd simply invested as much into his other characters, and the setting as a whole, as he did with Ig and his childhood. Also, if he'd docked say, 70 pages from the ultimate length and jettisoned the winky, "cleverness".

This sounds like a litany of criticisms, but I want to give Hill his due: Horns is very readable, quite intriguing, and its central character is sympathetic and interesting. However, it's just too uneven to wholly recommend. ( )

Sometimes justice can only be had if the devil gets his due. ( )

Of course the son of Stephen King is gonna be a brilliantly messed up writer. This is easily one of the most darkest, disturbing books I've ever read. Loved every second of it, I'll be grabbing a copy of Heart-Shaped Box whenever the opportunity arises.
And this edition included a short story at the end, The Devil on the Staircase, which was pretty good too. I do enjoy that irregular formatting. ( )

I enjoy the writings of Joe Hill but this book was slow reading in sections for me. I think it is the way it jumped from one point in time then would flashback to various other times for a couple of consecutive chapters at a time. All in all, though, I enjoyed it. ( )

Ig wakes up one morning, hungover and with no memory of the previous night’s activities, to find he has grown horns on his head. Even more disturbing, everyone he meets starts confessing their most horrible deeds and desires to him. He remains the only suspect in the rape and murder of his girlfriend, Merrin, a year prior, so many of these confessions include people’s belief in his guilt. Ig’s brother Terry is a famous trumpet player with a late-night variety show; his best friend Lee is a bit of a weirdo who works for a local politician; his new sort-of-girlfriend Glenna is a good-hearted girl who is pitifully desperate for love. The story of Ig’s search for Merrin’s real killer is interlaced with flashbacks of high school events when his relationships with her and Lee began. Though there are some undeniably horrifying moments and this book is certainly not for the squeamish, nothing ever felt gratuitous. I felt a surprising affection for Ig and Terry; there were parts during the last few chapters when I was smiling through tears. Definitely recommended. ( )

Horns has a silly grabber of a premise: The protagonist, Ig Perrish, wakes up after a night of heavy drinking and doing bad things -- he can't quite remember what -- to find that he has horns growing out of his forehead.

It's not long before Ig figures out that everyone he meets is compelled to confess their deepest sins and darkest desires to him, and he can grant them permission to act on them. He is literally becoming the devil on their shoulders.

There wouldn't be much of anywhere to go from here, except Hill takes us into Ig's back story, so we can care more about him and his girlfriend, Merrin, who was raped and murdered about a year ago and is the center of the novel's strange events. Hill's writing is easy to read and suspenseful, but unfortunately, things fall apart a bit in the third act (despite some wonderfully grotesque scenes featuring snakes). There were a few plot holes I couldn't get past, and least one underdeveloped character turned out to have a surprisingly important role. While not as good as his debut novel, Heart-Shaped Box, Horns is still a fun read, especially around Halloween.

Read because I like the author (2011). ( )

Illustrated review of Horns, by Joe Hill: bibliovermis.com ( )

Ig Perrish's life was hell. His girlfriend, Merrin, was raped and murdered, and though Ig was never charged, everyone felt he was guilty. Ig woke up one morning after a night of drinking to discover that he had sprouted horns from his head. And the horns had an interesting effect on people - it made people tell Ig exactly what was on their minds. Through this type of confessional, Ig discovers who killed Merrin and goes on a journey to seek revenge for her death.

Joe Hill has a great writing style - a sense of evoking good and evil in the most common of characters. I enjoyed his first book, Heart-Shaped Box, but for some reason, Horns didn't appeal to me. The premise was interesting, the writing was solid and the characters were interesting. It just didn't add up to a good story - and I can't put my finger on why. My best guess is that horror isn't really "my genre."

If you're interested in reading Horns, please be sure to check other book reviews and don't solely rely on this one. Joe Hill can write (he has good genes), and I think lovers of horror may find Horns a better selection than I did. ( )

Joe Hill (son of King) is on his way to being a great supernatural writer as long as he can conquer the curse handed down from his father. The novel itself contains a little supernatural thriller, a little romance, and a lot of mystery. Unfortunately, he can't hold the tensions together which blends the three together like a bad cocktail.
In this regard he follows his father's curse of having a, great beginning, decent middle, and a lackluster ending. ( )