Horns by Joe Hill

“When it comes to revenge, the devil is in the details” 

 – from the novel’s dust jacket.

Joe Hill is an author that I have followed very closely since first discovering his comic series Locke and Key. He has this brilliant way of creating a narrative set inside a world that is so close to our reality that you intrinsically understand the workings of it. He then introduces a small twist of the fantastical, creating a visceral feeling of horror or delight, depending on the story. Usually, it’s horror.

Horns is Hill’s second novel, following behind Heart-shaped Box, which is a novel that sits very high on my list of favourite books. This fact, tied with my love for Locke and Key, meant that my expectations were set high, and because of this, I came away a touch sad. The book is still a delight to read, but it didn’t compare to the expectations I had. It took me a few hours after I finished the book to come to terms with the fact that this book is very good, and that my problem was that it was different from what I expected. In fact, when I look at Horns, it’s a much more layered, nuanced story than Heart-shaped Box, and there is no reason I shouldn’t view it as better. From a technical standpoint it’s a step above earlier works, (minus a telegraphed event or two, though perhaps they were intentional), and it still pulled me in like very few books manage to do in the past few years. I guess I expected a fluid story like his previous book, and instead I got an almost patchwork tale that had me feel slightly disconnected from the protagonist’s plight.

The protagonist in this case is Ignatius Perrish, (Ig for short), who wakes up one morning after a night of debauchery to discover he has horns growing from his head. Thus starts our adventure with Ig as he tries to piece together how this happened and what the consequences of this will be for him. Of course, with Joe Hill, no matter how simple of an idea his story stems from, it will always reach far beyond where you expected such a collection of circumstances could possibly lead. To tell more about the plot would of course ruin the wonder that the book will create but suffice to say, at its heart, the book is about love and loss just as much as it is about horror and revenge.

Perhaps the reason why I don’t love this book the way I do his other works, is that this book says a lot to me about love and loss when those are topics that strike a chord with me right now. For each idea it put forth that was a solace, it said something else to reopen a wound. The book should be read for this reason alone I feel, but it’s also a hard thing to suggest at the same time.

Now, here is where the book failed for me. Even though Hill had his hooks in me for the above reason, I did not feel a connection with Ig. He existed within the pages, but he felt distant and untouchable. Ig bares his soul in the book, and yet I still felt like there was a divide between us for the entirety of the novel. This may be in part because we as the reader never stay along one linear path with Ig. We jump back in time to experience Ig’s childhood, and we experience events through the eyes of other characters as well, diluting our connection with the Ig we are meant to follow throughout the course of the novel. I do get the impression there is meant to be a slight disconnect between the reader and Ig, but it does make it hard to feel invested, (and I really wanted to feel invested in Ig, goshdarnit). That being said, my favourite part of the book is part way through as we experience events through the eyes of Ig’s brother Terry, and had there been no other point of view beyond Ig’s we never would have had those wonderfully written pages to enjoy.

Overall, this wouldn’t be the first book of Hill’s I would suggest someone read, (that honour would be given to Heart-shaped Box), but it has its merits, and is definitely a book I’m glad to have in my collection. It’s layered enough that I know it deserves another read over, and I know reading it in a few years I will take away something completely different to mull over.