Book review: Horns by Joe Hill.

Joe Hill has been on my list of to-read authors for ages.

Specifically since I was in my first university year and a I met a good friend of mine.

We instantly connected, as we shared the same passion for horror literature.

During our second coffee and "let´s-talk-about-all-the-horror-novels-we-like" date, she mentioned she totally hated Stephen King, but liked his son better.

A long time went by, and although I totally forgot about the connection with S. King, my memory withheld the name of Joe Hill.

Unfortunately, getting a copy of his works in Spanish was difficult by then, 

and I was not as familiar with English language as I am nowadays, so I didn´t feel confident enough to try.

However, I received a copy of Horns this Christmas,  and I could finally give it a chance.

First thing I truly liked about Horns was the fact the story starts with the character waking up with horns on his head,

 pretty much like Gregor Samsa at The Metamorphosis. I think this was a really clever choice, as you feel a deep empathy for the character from the beginning, sharing his own shock and anguish about the situation. Ig is actually an interesting protagonist as he is not turned into a saint (his dark side is probably more interesting), but even so, the reader inmediately feels sympathy.

In general, the characters are all round and well drafted.

I was specially fond of his vivid psychological description of Lee Torneau, since this is a difficult kind of person to portray.

Next interesting fact about the novel is the general atmosphere.

Hill is able to create a realistic pandemonium, reflecting how ordinary life can turn into hell with the right circumstances given.

The brutal honesty Ig has to carry on during the whole story makes the reader to feel

this hell-on-earth as very realistic, and it was probably my favourite side of the book.

Although these features are attractive enough by themselves, I couldn´t avoid a certain

disappointment towards the end.

Around last third of the novel, the story develops into a hallucinatory trip in which mysticism collides with reality by replacing it. All notion of reality is disintegrated,

and somehow my feeling was Joe Hill didn´t know hot to conclude his plot.

I must admit this let me a bitter taste towards a novel which I adored.

Other than, I truly enjoyed and felt the urge to know more as I advanced on the reading.

I totally recommed this book to surreal fiction readers, but I wouldn´t describe it as

properly horror genre.

Please, give it a chance if you are looking for something definitely different to read.

 

So tell me darlings, what was the last book which made an impression on you?