Horns

by Joe Hill

Now a major Hollywood film starring Daniel Radcliffe: read it first, if you dare ...

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with one hell of a hangover, a raging headache ... and a pair of horns growing from his temples.

Once, Ig lived the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned American musician, and the younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, Ig had security and wealth and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more - he had the love of Merrin Williams, a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic.

Then beautiful, vivacious Merrin was gone - raped and murdered, under inexplicable circumstances - with Ig the only suspect. He was never tried for the crime, but in the court of public opinion, Ig was and always would be guilty.

Now Ig is possessed with a terrible new power - with just a touch he can see people's darkest desires - to go with his terrible new look, and he means to use it to find the man 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.

• ISBN10: 057512069X
• ISBN13: 9780575120693
• Publish Date: 23 October 2014 (first published 1 February 2010)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[inlibrisveritas]

Full review to come

[layawaydragon]

TW: Rape & Abuse

Fuck, I loved this.

It's part mystery, part horror, part psychological thriller, with romance and paranormal aspects. It's not the typical horror story but it works. It SO works. It's so human.

I have dozens of highlights, some paragraphs long, where I just loved the writing or the content. I love the thoughts on the Devil and God. I usually shy away from books with religious underpinnings or premise, seriously fuck all the urban paranormals with angels and demons, but this? This was fucking awesome. There's no moral condescending or preaching. It's human searching from the hearts of the devout while dealing in the muck of humanity.

I love how the plot twisted and creeped and the POV switched. The characters were so flawed and fucked up but I found it freeing rather than depressing. They weren't wholly evil, but as they confessed, you saw the root of their problems that caused them to "sin".

And the ending! OMFG.

[Jo]

Originally posted on Once Upon a Bookcase.

4.5 Stars.

I bought Horns by Joe Hill after having it recommended to me by my best mate. It's not my usual thing, I tend to stay away from horror, but my friend convinced me, telling me it's not actually horror. I'm so glad I took his advice, because Horns is awesome!

It's been a year since the rape and murder of his girlfriend Merrin when Ignatius wakes up from a drunken night out to find horns have sprouted out of his head. No idea what's happening to him, he seeks help. From doctor, from a priest. But instead of helping - or being terrified at the sight of his horns - everyone he encounters has a compulsion to tell him their deepest, darkest desires, and ask for his permission to do the things they want. He also discovers that whenever he touches anyone, he gets a glimpse into their past, their memories of the sins they have committed. When someone reveals something about the night of Merrin's death, Ig decides to embrace his new abilities to discover what happened to Merrin, and seek revenge for her death.

Oh my god, this book! Despite being shelved in horror when I bought it, there's nothing typically horror-esque about this novel. I'm quite a wimp, and I can't deal with scary, but there's nothing terryfying about this story - at least not in the way you'd think. What scared me the most was the things people would admit to wanting when they saw Ig with his horns. It's such a clever idea, but complete car crash territory. The things the various characters admitted to wanting or feeling were so disturbing, sometimes sickening and disgusting, but I couldn't help be fascinated by the horns compulsion and by what would be admitted to next. It's horrifying to think that these normal, ordinary people would harbour such desires - not all sexual, though some were. It really has your thoughts going in directions regarding the people you know you don't want them too; what do these people really think? At the same time, it was also darkly funny; the matter of fact, calm way they admitted to these thoughts, and then their eagerness and hope when asking permission for Ig to do these things. The first third of the book is about this side of things as Ig tries to work out what's going on and how to fix it, and it's pretty amusing while disturbing.

Then the story moves on when we discover hints about what happened the night of Merrin's death. There are a few flashbacks throughout the book from Ig and two other people, giving background to Ig from when he was a teenager, and then from others about the night on Merrin's death. Despite being a fan of YA, I wasn't so interested in Ig's life as a teenager, despite feeling like YA. It's just, with what's happening to Ig in present day, and the piece of pivotal information he's just been given regarding Merrin's death, I was eager to get back to the present day and find out what would happen next. The background is necessary though; it shows us the start of Ig and Merrin's relationship, and various other relationships that become important later on. When we get back to present day, it's interesting to see how things go with knowledge of who people were in the past. And with the other flashbacks... wow. I don't really want to say much more because of spoilers, but with everything pieced together, it's seriously screwed up. With other people's flashbacks, you get their points of view, and some people are just really not at all who they seem.

Considering this, Horns does an amazing job at looking into good and evil, and also religion. Ig seems to be turning into a demon, but he's not the person who has wronged. And there are nice, good people, who turn out to be the complete opposite, and yet are thought so highly of. There is a part of the book where Ig gives a speech to some snakes (who have become enamoured by him since the horns) about God and the devil, and the supposed respective good and evil of the two. It's really thought-provoking, and as an atheist, I found it a really fascinating discussion. It's not a book that talks about devil worship or anything like that, but it does ask the questions, is God really good, is the devil really bad? The arguments are really interesting, and Ig really had me seeing where he was coming from.

I do have one problem with this book though. The ending. Once it reaches it's conclusion, and the main plot has been wrapped up, it ends really ambiguously. To the point that I was complaining to my best mate and to my mum, and "What the hell?!"-ing. I like explanations, I like to know the hows and the whys, even if the answers are non-plausible fantasy elements. I'm a fantasy fan, I'm great at suspending disbelief and just going with it. But don't just leave me hanging with no explanation whatsoever! I want to know how and why that ending was possible, and it's bugging the hell out of me that there are no answers! Seriously, I was thinking this book was amazing until that part, and now I'm left floundering with no answers. This doesn't sit well with me! It feels unfinished! Not the story, but my reading experience. I need to know, but I never will. And I am so wound up about it.

Saying that, this is maybe one or two pages of the whole book, which really is awesome! A really fantastic story, with an awesome premise, that gets you thinking. If you have no problem with ambiguous endings, I highly recommend Horns. I highly recommend it even if you do. So looking forward to watching the movie now.

[sarahjay]

I loved this book. It's not something I would normally have picked up, but I'm on board with Joe Hill after this. I was so drawn in by the writing style. The dialogue was perfect and descriptions so vivid... yeah. Looking forward to reading more by him.

[cornerfolds]

A couple of weeks ago I was minding my own business, watching The Next Great Baker, when a trailer for a new movie popped up on my Facebook feed. Harry Potter's face was there, so I obviously watched it. I was in awe of this trailer. The film looked like it would be completely amazing, so I decided to share it with my friends. That was when I was told that it was based on a book and that the book was (apparently) epic.

I went into Horns with very high expectations after seeing such an awesome trailer and hearing such great reviews for the source material. The story is about Ig, a guy who has been dealt a really crappy card (i.e. his girlfriend, Merrin, was murdered and everyone thinks he did it) and wakes up one morning with horns on his head. Shenanigans ensue. I was completely captivated by the first fourth of this book. Then, very suddenly, the true murderer is revealed and the book completely switches gears.

The next half of the book is a series of long and drawn out (um, hello, it's half the book) unnecessary flashbacks. The book literally jumps back to Ig as a fifteen year old and the reader is taken through his teen years with Merrin, how they met, fell in love, etc. Ig's best friend, Lee, is also put under the microscope and we learn all about his childhood including, but not limited to, the tom cat that used to meow from his back yard. It was about this time when I found out that Joe Hill was, in fact, the son of Stephen King. It was about this time when everything started to make sense.

This is a Stephen King book written by another hand. Everything about this book screams King. Don't get me wrong - I love some of Stephen King's books. That being said, he has a way of dragging things out to a ridiculous point and including tons of minute details like which way the grass was blowing at this time or that. While it came in at only 368 pages, Horns took me 10 days to read and I actually listened to the last several chapters on audiobook on a four hour drive. Otherwise it would have taken longer. But I digress...

Apart from learning about the childhood of each character, the flashback portions of the book detail the murder of Merrin and all the events leading up to it from multiple points of view. While I understand that all of these flashbacks were supposed to relay relevant information that could only be portrayed by the person who'd experienced it, it could have been done in a different, less grueling way.

Finally, the ending. I had a few problems with the ending. The first is that it's far too neat and tidy. I guess the surprise at the end was supposed to be sweet and gratifying, but it just seemed ridiculous (which is saying a lot considering the book's premise). The other issue is that there were unanswered questions. For example, what the heck was the point of the horns? So he "needed" them? Why? I would assume that a bad person would end up turning into a devil - not someone who was completely innocent. And what was the actual point of the treehouse? It truly just seemed like a lot of randomness thrown onto the pages and attempting to make some deep, philosophical point.

I didn't completely hate Horns. I enjoyed the first little bit and really any part that dealt with present-day Ig and his horn problem. Overall, though, this book was just a "meh" book. Nothing special. I'll still see the movie, for sure, because I feel like it just has to be better. There's no way they can replay the same thing three times in the movie. Everyone would hate it!

Actual rating: 2.5 stars

[clq]

Horns is a really good book. Annoyingly there are a few things which prevented me from loving it, but don't get me wrong. It's a really good book.

The premise is great. Simply put (and I'm grossly oversimplifying so as not to spoil anything): we have a main character with an intriguing backstory who is put in a position where he is forced to see and confront the worst secrets of everyone he meets. This is a great tool with which to tell a story, but can easily go over the top if not handled carefully. Fortunately, most of the book is done brilliantly. Unfortunately, there are a some places in which the book crosses the line from telling the story to abusing the powers it has given itself. This doesn't happen often, it doesn't happen badly, but it happens just enough to rip me out of the otherwise rather effective, and consistent, mood of the book.
There are so many scenes and moments in this book that feel completely genuine in the way the convey shock and emotion, which is why it feels a little out of place when "cheap shots" are taken to add just a bit extra. The book doesn't need the overegging, and it feels wrong.

The understated complexity of the story is also wonderful. There is always a little more to it than meets the eye. Nothing very big, but enough for the reader to pause and think back when a piece of the puzzle they didn't necessarily know existed is put in place. Unfortunately this is also slightly overplayed, and a few times I think the story goes just a little too far in making sure the reader has understood exactly what it is doing. Again, I think the story is solid enough that less would be more in some cases. That said, for a book in this genre Horns definitely has a layer of complexity to it which makes it stand out. Most of the time it does strike a balance perfectly: subtle enough not to distract, but present enough to really add a lot to the story.

I'm not sure whether or not these are the reasons for the book never properly gripping me. I enjoyed it throughout, and it dragged me in, but never far enough for me to become truly engrossed in it. I'm not complaining, it's a great book, and while it's hard to pinpoint exactly what it lacks, I just feels that it lacks something.

[ibeforem]

This was an interesting book about love and how far people will go for it, hate, and the evil that exists within all of us. Ig’s story is tragic even before the book begins, but you feel like he’s better off in the end. The book jumps back and forth in time, showing us Ig’s past as well as his present transformation. When people see Ig as the devil, they feel compelled to blurt out their darkest desires, which leads to some very interesting, yet believable, conversations. I liked the concept that the devil can’t make you do anything you aren’t willing to do. Hill does a great job not only with dialogue, but with his description and setting. I could immediately picture the site of the old foundry, including the detritus left behind by years of teenage foolery. I found myself marking passages for later review, something I rarely do in a book in this genre. A few of the passages that caught my eye were:

'The service ended, and conversation rose like water filling a tub, the church a container with a particular volume, its natural quiet quickly displaced by noise.'

''It goes against the American storytelling grain to have someone in a situation he can’t get out of, but I think this is very usual in life.''

'The maiden and the devil walked in the furnace light at the end of the day, and the devil admonished her…'

'Maybe all the schemes of the devil were nothing compared to what men could think up.'

While this book isn’t the type of horror to keep you up at night in fear of what lurks beneath your bed, it is the type to keep you up reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it and look forward to more stories from the mind of Joe Hill.