Joe Hill

A Novel

NOS4A2

Lara Engle

In NOS4A2 Joe Hill builds a world layered with inscapes, landscapes, good guys, bad guys, and wildly human people, places, and things. At times, I had to remind myself I wasn't reading one of his dad's books. There were spots where this dragged on and it could use a little tightening of the narrative, but that's a small complaint in a book that is a tiny epic.

COMING 13 August 2019 - BRAND NEW SERIES on AMC UK - The channel that brought you THE WALKING DEAD Summer. Massachusetts. An old Silver Wraith with a frightening history. A story about one serial killer and his lingering, unfinished business. Anyone could be next. We're going to Christmasland ... NOS4R2 is an old-fashioned horror novel in the best sense. Claustrophobic, gripping and terrifying, this is a story that will have you on the edge of the seat while you read, and leaving the lights on while you sleep. With the horrific tale of Charles Manx and his Silver Wraith, Joe Hill has established himself as the premiere horror and supernatural thriller writer of his generation.

Dennis Jacob Rosenfeld

Where to start with this one? I really liked the premise, and I like Joe Hill. A Christmas horror story is always a good idea, but this one really fell flat for me. The plot was largely derivative. It felt as though every idea and scene was a re-hash of old horror stories and films, a fair amount lifted from Hill's father Stephen King. Another problem was that I disliked all the characters. Even the ones I was supposed to root for. Not in an anti-hero kind of way. I can see from the reviews that most readers like it so maybe it's just me.

Melissa M.

Fantastic read. Leave it to Hill to give Christmas such a sinister, twisted sub plot. I love his character development and detail to make the story come alive. I got a kick out of the few subtle references to the characters in his dad's book 'Dr. Sleep' which was released close to the same time, being a fan of both authors, I appreciated the joke :)

Joe Hill, the acclaimed, award-winning author of the New York Times bestsellers Heart-Shaped Box and Horns, plunges you into the dark side of the imagination with a thrilling novel of supernatural suspense . . . Victoria "Vic" McQueen has an uncanny knack for finding things. When she rides her bicycle over the rickety bridge in the woods near her house, she always emerges in the places she needs to be. Vic doesn't tell anyone about her unusual ability. Charles Talent Manx has a gift of his own. He likes to take children for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the vanity plate NOS4A2. In the Wraith, he and his innocent guests can slip out of the everyday world to an astonishing playground of amusements he calls Christmasland. Mile by mile, the journey across the highway of Charlie's twisted imagination transforms his precious passengers, leaving them as terrifying and unstoppable as their benefactor. And then comes the day when Vic goes looking for trouble . . . and finds her way, inevitably, to Charlie. Now the only kid ever to escape Charlie's twisted imagination is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx hasn't stopped thinking about Vic McQueen. On the road again, he won't slow down until he's taken his revenge. . . .

Colleen

4 Stars
 
*A creepy horror story of Christmas gone wrong*
 

If Christmas is just too cheery for you and you want something to scare the Holiday spirit right out of you, then NOS4A2 is the book for you. This is the story of a vampire-like creature who takes children away to magical place where it is always Christmas and they’ll never grow old. This is the story of the one girl who got away.
 
I loved the concept of the story. It revolves around “creatives,” people who have the power to create pockets of unreality. Some of them use this power to help people; others are not so kind. But all of them pay a toll for using their powers. It was interesting to read the author’s note where he discusses how this idea developed and how it tied into his other work.
 
NOS4A2 is not as nihilistic as some of Hill’s other work, but it’s still full of morally grey, greatly flawed characters. I didn’t really like any of the characters, but I still found myself highly engaged in the story. There is also a lot of violence and vulgarity in the book, so be warned.
 
There were some pacing issues in the middle. Things did drag and some of it could have been edited down. Nevertheless, this was still a page turner. I had no trouble finishing this in less than three days. The reason I am giving this only four stars is that I wasn’t blown away by the ending; it was a bit predictable. The ending was still satisfying but not mind-blowing. The story is a good combination of psychological suspense, horror, action, supernatural elements, character dilemmas, and a very twisted Christmasland.
 

RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters and Character Development: 4 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 4 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

The spine-tingling, bone-chilling novel of supernatural suspense from the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Fireman and Horns—now an AMC original series starring Zachary Quinto, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and Ashleigh Cummings. "A masterwork of horror."— Time Victoria McQueen has an uncanny knack for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. When she rides her bicycle over the rickety old covered bridge in the woods near her house, she always emerges in the places she needs to be. Charles Talent Manx has a gift of his own. He likes to take children for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the vanity plate NOS4A2. In the Wraith, he and his innocent guests can slip out of the everyday world and onto hidden roads that lead to an astonishing playground of amusements he calls Christmasland. The journey across the highway of Charlie's twisted imagination transforms his precious passengers, leaving them as terrifying and unstoppable as their benefactor. Then comes the day when Vic goes looking for trouble...and finds her way to Charlie. That was a lifetime ago. Now, the only kid ever to escape Charlie's evil is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx hasn't stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. On the road again, he won't slow down until he's taken his revenge. He's after something very special—something Vic can never replace. As a life-and-death battle of wills builds, Vic McQueen prepares to destroy Charlie once and for all—or die trying.

Gillian Rose

I had a pretty decent understanding of the plot due to the AMC show, but man, this was not a fun read. The pacing was terrible. I didn't really care about anyone. It felt like such a slog. Also, I am really having a hard time reading men describe women lately? It feels so exploitative and oversexualized.

Summer. Massachusetts. An old Silver Wraith with a frightening history. A story about one serial killer and his lingering, unfinished business. Anyone could be next. We're going to Christmasland... NOS4R2 is an old-fashioned horror novel in the best sense. Claustrophobic, gripping and terrifying, this is a story that will have you on the edge of the seat while you read, and leaving the lights on while you sleep. With the horrific tale of Charles Manx and his Silver Wraith, Joe Hill (@joe_hill) has established himself as the premiere horror and supernatural thriller writer of his generation.

Sade A

First review of the year (oh yeah, oh yeah )
Down to business of reviews.
This book did not suck. It certainly wasn't the best thing since slice bread and now that i've read the book, i certainly raise my eyebrow at the 4 point rating it has just cos it really didn't feel like that great a book to me honestly.
While it definitely has a stroy there (i did think about DNF'ing but i really wanted to know how it ended), this book is bogged down with a lot of throwaway thoughts (Kinda like how Stephen King's IT is ) and honestly it was so off putting for me. Half of the time i couldn't relate to what the heck was going on.

I most certainly do not think that this book will creep you the fuck out to the extent that you can't sleep at night. Honestly it wasn't crazy scary (that's not to say there weren't some heart pounding moments) but all in all creepy level wasn't that high. 
I did enjoy the fact that the supernatural part of the book was very simply explained. You hardly get writers that can explain supernatural stuff so simply and that for me was a huge bonus. Also loved the ending and i'd have to say the book only really picked up for me when teenage Wayne got into in the picture. Everything prior to that was just heaps and heaps of long ass reading.

 All in all, I'd say, you'd really enjoy this book if Stephen King's IT was a hit with you. Writing is kinda similar, although King did faff around way more than Hill does. 
I most certainly will not be picking up any Joe Hill book anytime soon though.

Jeff James

This was the horror novel I wanted for October. It was creepy, disturbing, and hair-raisingly suspenseful.

It features a villain who is disturbing because he truly believes he is helping children by sucking all the life out of them and turning them into vampires, and a henchman who does the dirty, horrifying work of torturing and murdering the people who get in their way.

I loved the characters and the setting, and I loved the idea of people who can navigate their own personal worlds with help from a talisman. I’d heard mixed things about the TV adaptation, but I enjoyed this book so much that I think I’ll give it a chance.

Ryan LaFerney

Nos4A2 is scary, disturbing, beautiful, sad, and surprisingly touching. It's also one of the best books I've ever read. It's a non-traditional road-trippy, portal fantasy, vampire story about the cost of trauma and the value of family. 

Victoria “Vic” McQueen is not like other kids. She’s good at finding things – impossible things, forgotten things, and lost things. With her beautiful, big Raleigh Tuff Burner bicycle, Vic is able to cross the Shorter Way Bridge – a bridge that only exists in her mind – and travel impossible distances in mere seconds, leading her directly to the places and things she needs to find. Creating, maintaining, and crossing the bridge takes its toll, though, and Vic learns that there’s a cost for travelling roads that shouldn’t exist with her mind.

She also learns that she’s not alone in her ability.

There’s a girl named Maggie, a badass librarian in Here, Iowa, who can divine answers from her beloved Scrabble tiles. There’s also a man named Charles Manx, who kidnaps children in his 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith and takes them on his own private road to a place outside of space and time called Christmasland. Manx is an energy vampire. He feeds on the children, changing them into cold, cruel, ageless creatures locked forever in his imagined world of eternal Christmas Eve. He never physically harms them and literally thinks he is saving them by kidnapping them and taking them to Christmasland. When seventeen year-old Vic goes out looking for trouble on her Tuff Burner, her bridge crosses Charles Manx’s path and Vic barely escapes with her life. With Manx incarcerated and later in a coma, Vic goes on to live her life, convinced that the Shorter Way Bridge was a delusion of her childhood and grows up to raise her son, Wayne (yes, named after Bruce Wayne). Though Vic has her problems with substance abuse (and continued hallucinations of Christmasland and vampiric children calling her in the night), Vic is finally getting herself together and dedicated to being a better mother to her twelve year-old boy. And that's when things change.

Charles Manx is declared dead and autopsied, but his body disappears from the morgue – and a 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith with a NOS4A2 license plate makes its terrifying way to Vic’s door, to make her pay, and take her son away to Christmasland. And Vic isn't going to let that happen.

Clocking in at just about 700 pages, Hill’s novel is monstrous in both form and in content – it’s also, by the way, SO influenced by his father Stephen King. And this is a good thing. Hill has such an imagination and such a way with characters. Although it's a monstrous novel, the drama, the fantasy, the horror of it all keeps the pages moving. All of Hill's characters are so human, so relatable that they are easy to cheer on, even when they are messing up. 

A Creepy, Disturbing Thrill Ride, with a flawed, yet lovable heroine, NOS4A2 is Joe Hill at his best. This is literally one of my favorite novels of all time.

Janice Hopper

I'm not as good with horror as I used to be. Maybe it's having lived long enough to know that really bad things can happen in real life. 

I got though this book, but there were quite a few times when I had to take a break and think about something else. That's how unsettling I found a lot of this book. But it's well-written and it managed to pull me along through the story. 

I kinda liked the fact that a fat man who was also a geek was one of the Good Guys. 

So many stories that employ some kind of magic make the magic seem like just another tool, to be wielded without any cost to the user. This book knows better than that. I liked that too. 

I don't know that I would read it again or even that I can say I enjoyed it. Enjoyed isn't the right word for a story that mad me so uncomfortable. But it was well-done and probably worth reading.

Ewan

I wasn't really sure what to expect from the premise of "Creepy old man saves kids and takes them to Christmasland" but this book was insanely good. 

I had only read The Fireman and Locke and Key before and while they have dark elements, nah dude, this book is dark. Yet never depressing, just dark themes. Oh, I haven't mentioned yet, the book is not just about the creepy old man scooping up kids like a mangled child-catcher. It is also about Vic, a kid who realises that she can travel across a bridge that only seems to exist in her mind, to find things that are lost. 

This book really is excellent, Joe borrows liberally from classic tropes and scenes yet always makes them original. The cliche "page turner" couldn't be more apt, yes i also found myself covering up the bottom of some pages so my eyes didn't flick down and spoil the narrative for me. 

As a brief footnote, I am not one of those people who can perfectly visualise everything they read, I always have a vague sense of what it looks like but cannot "see" it. Here was different, I followed Vic everywhere, picturing it all, thanks to Hill's accessible style.

Jayme Bosio

It creeps me out how much Joe Hill writes like his dad. I'm not exaggerating. IT. CREEPS. ME. OUT. There were moments where the memories of my teenage years came flooding back to me...alone in my room reading "Carrie", wishing I had telekinetic powers because that would be cool (not so I could murder all the popular kids). And considering how much my teenage years sucked, this was not really a pleasant sensation. 

However, I must say that I really enjoyed this book. It's been too long since I was this excited about a book. I couldn't wait to get in my car so I could start listening to it again. I loved all the characters (especially Maggie Lee, but I'm a bit biased) and thought he did a great job of creating heroes with some major flaws (my favorite kind of hero). And while some parts were predictable, the story itself was original enough to keep me coming back for more.

Sabetha Danes

This book has been on my tbr list for FAR too long. Mostly because it was dauntingly long. 

But I was able to get a copy of the audio book and I must say, if you're going to read it, I recommend listening instead. The narrator does a fantastic job at giving an already horrifying story the next level of terror with the added voices and tone infliction through out the book. 

While it was a 20 hour audio listen, it never felt drawn out or unengaged. Every word moves you through the world of Victoria, and the horrors that may or may not be in her mind. I loved the mix of reality with fantasy, it made me question what was real all the way up to the last page. A nice bitter sweet ending, with horrifying implications. 

You'll love this book if creepy children give you the heebie jeebies, and you love blending magical elements into the real world. 

TW: Kidnapping, abuse, child violence, rape discussion.

Juhi 

What a crazy ride this book is…so well written. I was thinking of how familiar it felt to Stephen King’s style only to find out that he’s actually his son…. Of course! Loved the shout out to his dad and intricate symbolism. There are definitely graphic and unsavory descriptions of things but I think they served to really develop *just* the creepiness of a particular character, and its not overdone. Who knew someone could make Christmas so creepy?!

Caroline Lewicki

NOS4A2 was so creepy, thrilling, and captivating. I wanted to be reading it so badly, I downloaded an audiobook so I didn't have to stop. Joe Hill writes such a colorful cast of characters, you become attached to each one, even the villainous Charles Manx. 

What I loved most about the book was the ambiguity. The end left me still wondering if Christmasland was real or a figment of Vic's imagination that was pressed upon her son. Was Charles Manx really living off of his Rolls Royce Wraith? Did he really come back to life with the resurrection of the Wraith? I'm not sure that I'll ever know the answers for sure but that's the scary part about Hill's writing - he leaves you questioning your own beliefs and sanity. 

If you like Stephen King, definitely pick up Joe Hill. He has a very similar style and vibe. NOS4A2 was a must read for me and I'm glad I picked it up in time for Halloween!

Erin Russell

I’m never tempted to re-read books... like ever. So it shows how much I loved this one when I say that I feel like I could use another go of this beauty.

mollie hughes

reread. didn’t remember how vulgar hill was in most books. not overly vulgar but a little jarring at times when something is described extremely over sexualized. overall great plot and wonderful christmas horror that is more psychological than anything. 

Sasha Mann

Story starts off in a strange way. You learn that Charlie Manx is a bad guy, and that there is more more him than there seems at the surface. 
We meet our protagonist Vic McQueen and she seems to have a very strange supernatural type of power. We get to experience young Vic for her first ever moment of realizing what she can do.
Very captivating writing style. Very scenic in descriptions. At times it might be a bit much,but overall it works for the story 
Meeting yet another character who you know  is playing a more sinister role. The writing and vibe take on a more uneasy feel though nothing truly bad has even happened yet. You see how manipulative Manx is and it in itself is frightening to witness.
The characters in this are so varied in the actions and personalities. Personally I am a big fan of Maggie. She is such a fun character. And Vic is just wonderfully written. She is very relatable at the various ages we get to experience her life through.
Several tensely written chapters as Vic has her first run in with Charlie Manx. Several of the chapters meaning in a sort of cliffhanger,ensuring the reader will want to continue on with the story 
I feel like the horror is really well done in this novel. It hits in different t ways depending in the scene that is happening. There were moments where I was merely horrified and moments that practically had me biting my nails in tension

Trish 

Very good. Fast paced and interesting characters.

Katie

The good: (most of) the characters were phenomenally fleshed out and interesting, even the villains. I liked the story overall, though it felt more like an action-packed supernatural thriller than horror to me. Maybe I just went in with the wrong expectations. Highlights include Lou, the magical bike(s), Lou, a deeply flawed but strong protagonist in Vic, Lou, showing complicated family relationships in a realistic way, Lou, oh and did I mention Lou?

Seriously I would die for him.

HOWEVER my huge gripe with this book is that includes so much gratuitous violence towards women. I can tell that it's meant to be part of the horror and it's certainly the villains thinking and doing terrible things to women, but it quite honestly feels like a cop-out. It feels like Hill included the most fucked up things someone can say about or do to women as pure shock value, and not because it was truly an integral part of the narrative. The villain could still have had a negative experience with women and have that be part of his character motivation, but a lot of the overly descriptive acts of violence felt unnecessary. The bad guy duo would have been just as scary without it.

Same thing with the inclusion of the n-word. It wasn't even some shit-eating racist character saying it; it was just part of the narrative in some dumb convoluted metaphor that could have easily been rephrased. Sit down, white boy.

Jordan Robinson

I have FINALLY finished N0S4A2! AND WOW IT WAS GREAT!!

Adrianna Giunta

3.5

I had really high expectations for this book, too high it seems! I enjoyed the book as a whole but it was so long and dragged in so many places. I feel like Charles Manx as a character could have been explored more, we didn't really get to understand the origins of his story and why he became this person. This is more on the four star side of a 3.5 mainly for the overall enjoyment I felt reading this.

Ugh.

I wanted to love this book. I loved Horns and was very excited to hear this one. Now, part of the problem is that the voice the narrator uses for one of the characters is this wretched, nasal noise and the sound equalization is not finished very well, resulting in this horrid, irritating cry for much of the first half of the book. I had to turn down and finally shut off the book on several occasions, even finishing other books in the interim, due to this issue.

I think the idea is very interesting and it keeps the reader wondering what the exact specifications of these powers are and how they work. I think it was all very vague, even with Manx's descriptions of his understanding of what he was accomplishing.

I think the book could have ended a lot sooner. I was done with it by the time the child was stolen, and the interim between dealing with feds and actually looking for the kid was tiresome at best. We get it, the investigators were the enemy because of a lack of understanding. I don't need pages and pages to understand that. 

I didn't like some of the overt references to King's works, either. Hill already writes a lot like his father, so seeing something linking them even more solidly in his work was a turn off from the work as a whole.

Overall, not a bad book. But, like a lot of King's works, too long and needed some better editing to whittle away the unnecessary descriptions.

Anastaciya

4.75 ⭐
Absolutely loved this. I wish there was more about Manx, of his story, how he became what he was. Still enjoyed this a lot.

StaticWaffle

This book was amazing! Between Joe Hill’s control of tension and suspense and Kate Mulgrew’s fantastic narration I was intrigued and captivated the entire time.

Hill’s writing was wonderful and he really did a good job of making the book scary and suspenseful, yet emotional. I connected to the characters and was deeply invested in their development throughout the story and in the plot. Mulgrew did a wonderful job of narrating the book and in voicing each character distinctly. She certainly added to the level of suspense while reading the book.

The only reason this wasn’t a five star book for me was due to Hill’s description of Lou. If you struggle with weight issues please take care when reading this book. Lou’s characterization is almost entirely centered around his weight and most of the time when Hill describes his appearance he comes off as fat-phobic and ignorant. However, despite the unfortunate incessant description of Lou’s weight, he is still a well-developed character.

I would recommend this book to anyone who liked suspense and horror. It was truly fantastic to listen to! Just please be careful about the aforementioned issue if that is a triggering topic for you.

NOS4A2 A Novel

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