Horns

A Novel

by Joe Hill

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published Feb. 16, 2010 by William Morrow.

ISBN:: 978-0-06-114795-1
OCLC Number:: 419855424

(47 reviews)

Joe Hill has been hailed as "a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction" (Washington Post); "a new master in the field of suspense" (James Rollins); "one of the most confident and assured new voices in horror and dark fantasy to emerge in recent years (Publishers Weekly); a writer who "builds character invitingly and plants an otherworldly surprise around every corner" (New York Times).This gifted and brilliantly imaginative author catapulted to bestsellerdom with the chilling Heart-Shaped Box and cemented his reputation with the prizewinning volume of short fiction 20th Century Ghosts. At last, the New York Times bestselling author returns with a relentless supernatural thriller that runs like Hell on wheels. . . .Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache . . . and a pair of horns growing from his temples.At first Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more—he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside. . . .Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster 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. . . .

5 editions

Mollarom reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Superb. The book starts with a narrative hook that is devilishly entertaining. What if people couldn't help but admit their worst impulses? It's like this sinful candy, and it keeps the reader coming back for more, waiting to see what the next person will admit. Once you're hooked, then there's context, a coming of age tale that ends with a brutal crime. And then, with the context firmly established... it's time for the Devil to get his due.

Revision: Knocked it down from four to three stars based solely on the movie. The film is absolutely terrible. I felt the same way about the film Annihilation, but the difference with that is that the film Annihilation took very, very little from the book, so I could safely hate the film and still love the book. With the film Horns, yes, there were major differences between it and the book, but …

Coalford reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Really fantastic read. Love the back and forth timelines and character viewpoints.

Unruly Stacks reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Hmm. Filled with tropes, but a comfortable combination of them. I can't say I liked the characters, but I also can't say they were flat or uninteresting.

It'll be interesting to see how closely the film adheres.

rahulgopinath reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Hard to like, hard to dislike. Other than the supernatural element, the plot line - who did what why - is rather predictable.

John Kelly reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

God, he writes so much like his da, it's not even funny.

Jack Phoenix reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Effectively mixing humor and brutal honesty, "Horns" is a diabolically good read from the son of the King himself, Joe Hill.

Daniel Andrlik reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

I enjoyed this book, and read it in two sessions. If you go along for the (admittedly disturbing) ride, you'll have a good time. After reading, it's got some flaws that bother me, though. U found this far more even and enjoyable than Heart Shaped Box, though it does meander a bit. There are several unanswered questions in the book, some of them integral to the story, and I'm not comfortable with the way women are handled in the story. There are a few annoying plot holes as well, which normally would have put a book down to three stars.

On the other hand, it's a fast-paced and fun read. Even if I do typically grown at traditional representations of the Devil in fiction, I'm was willing to give this book a pass because it was fun. Which is also why it rates the fourth star from me, because 'fun' …

scifijack reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

This is the book Heart Shaped Box could have been. You unwittingly find yourself inside these characters, the good ones and the son of a bitch, and the story is thereby an almost visceral experience. Considering what exactly happens at the end, it's amazing that you as the reader are tremendously happy. Well done, indeed. Read Heart Shaped Box if you like this one, not the other way around (that way you're more likely to read both).

Thomas Gaffney reviewed Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Review of 'Horns' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

I like Joe Hill and all of his books/stories so far. With a premise that, on the front, sounds weak (a man wakes up with horns - now people tell him their darkest secrets), he manages to write an interesting, fast-paced novel on Satan, God, and human nature. Along the way, he does give us a horned person who is slowly turning into the Devil, complete with all the fire-based powers and abilities one would assume the Devil possesses.

Not as good as Heart-Shaped Box or 20th Century Ghosts, the sophomore slump for Hill's second novel isn't that big of a drop-off from Heart-Shaped box and I'll look forward to his next work.