Horns by Joe Hill
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Genre: Paranormal thriller Main characters: Ignatius “Ig” Perrish, Lee Tourneau Time and place: Gideon, New Hampshire; 2010 or so First sentence: “Ignatius Martin Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things.” Summary: Ig Perrish’s life is a mess. A while ago he had everything anyone could have ever wanted: a rich, loving family, a great, promising job, and a wonderful relationship with Merrin, the girl he has been in love with ever since he was 15. And yet one night has changed everything: Ig and Merrin had a serious fight, he got drunk, and she got raped and murdered. As if losing the love of his life wasn’t enough, Ig was the prime and only suspect, with no way to prove his innocence since the lab data collected at the crime scene had been destroyed in a fire. When the book opens, Ig is just back from another drunken night spent at the place where Merrin died. The anniversary of her death is fast approaching, and Ig is not taking it very well, to say the least. Needless to say, in the morning he doesn’t remember anything of what he did; it must have been something really bad as two horns are now standing proudly on his forehead. Ig thinks at first that they must be an illusion, born out of his grief. But people start acting strange around him, telling him their secrets and asking him permission to do bad things. This way Ig finds out a lot more things about the people around him than he would have wanted, but the most surprising confession comes from his own brother, Terry, who, without realizing, tells him the name of Merrin’s killer. |
One of the central elements of the book is the transition that Ig is forced to go though: he used to be a kind-hearted, quintessentially good person, always making the right choices and so on (so much so that Lee reached a height of social success by trying to emulate him). And yet the horrible thing that happened to him transformed him in a demon. I can’t help but wonder what is the message that the author wanted to send out (if there was one), something along the lines of “there is a time for being good and a time for being bad”. It is debatable whether Ig got any satisfaction out of avenging Merrin’s death (he probably did since it was what he needed), but small as that satisfaction can be it sure beat the alternative: the good Ig would never have known who did it in the first place, not to mention the rest of the details.
Speaking of who did it, I was partially amused to notice that the villain in this piece was rather similar to the one in the latest book written by Mr. Hill’s father, Under the Dome. Rennie, the used car salesman in the latter book, is somewhat an older version of Lee: they’re both using God and righteousness as a shield to hide their lack of moral values (with a bit of craziness on the side). This being said I was a bit sad about Lee when I read about him as a child, that previous, un-mentally disturbed version of him that was actually likable. But hey, the book needed a villain, right?
Also, I have very much liked the way Merrin’s character was built, little by little, brick by brick. She was definitely the love of Ig’s life, but other than that there is much we don’t know, and the reader’s opinion of her fluctuates almost with each and every scene. Ambiguity – a nice thing to have in a book, I would say, it makes for a more interesting ride — and that was the case here, too.
The timeline alternates between the present and flashbacks of the past (sometimes as seen by Ig through others’ eyes via his special abilities), and to be honest at times I have found the past (especially some of the parts involving young Ig, and Lee) a bit boring — I assume though that this is not that much a fault of theirs, it simply has to do with a fact that the present (horns + people unconsciously sharing their secrets) was way, way cooler than anything grounded on reality could ever be.
The book also contains an interesting theological debate: Ig, the horned one, feels like his mission is to punish sinners. It is, after all, what the devil does. The question being, is then the devil good or bad?
A quote somewhat related:
“[...] In a lot of ways, I guess Satan was the first superhero.”
“Don’t you mean supervillain?”
“Nah. Hero, for sure. Think about it. In his first adventure, he took the form of a snake to free two prisoners being held naked in a Third World jungle prison by an all-powerful megalomaniac. At the same time, he broadened their diet and introduced them to their own sexuality. Sounds like a cross between Animal Man and Dr. Phil to me.”
Thoughts on the title: Self-explanatory. The central idea of the book, no more, no less. Although it does come to mind that the horns are only the starting point, not the essence.
Thoughts on the ending: Loved it :) Just as implausible in its own way as the ending of Mr. Hill’s first book, and yet I was just as happy so see it come to pass. show spoiler
What I liked most: The whole getting to have horns idea was quite cool. Especially as the author has taken care of people’s reactions when noticing them. Making them want to spill their darkest secrets was a nice touch too. Also, show spoiler
What I liked least: show spoiler
Recommend it to? Anyone who likes Stephen King, as the style is rather similar (although Mr. Hill is a bit tamer so far). Anyone who enjoys thrillers too.
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