NOS4R2 by Joe Hill
Mar. 27th, 2015 07:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quippeThe Blurb On The Back:
Young Victoria McQueen has a gift for finding things. All she has to do is ride her bike through the Shorter Way Bridge and she’ll come out wherever she needs to be … even if that’s hundreds of miles away. But it turns out she’s not the only one with a special ability.
There are others … like Charlie Manx, who takes children to Christmasland in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with its NOS4R2 vanity plate. Only by the time they get there his passengers have changed, utterly. They’ve become Charlie’s children; as unstoppable and insane as Manx himself.
Only one kid ever escaped Charlie Manx: Vic McQueen. But her first brush with Manx lit the fuse on a life-and-death battle of wills … a battle that explodes a quarter of a century later.
Because Manx has taken Vic’s son. And Vic McQueen is going to get him back.
When Vic McQueen gets on her Tuff Burner bike, she can find things. The bike allows her to access the Shorter Way Bridge, a gateway that takes her wherever she needs to go. But using the bridge means paying a toll – a physical one that threatens Vic’s health and sanity – and she’s not the only person with a gift. There are others who can access this mysterious inscape, including the notorious child killer Charlie Manx, who kidnapped children in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith and took them to Christmasland.
Vic first encountered Charlie in 1996 when she was 17 years old and only just managed to escape with her life. It’s now 2012 and Charlie’s intent on revenge. He’s kidnapped Vic’s 12 year-old son, Wayne, and is determined to take him to Christmasland, but Vic’s equally determined to get him back, whatever the cost …
Joe Hill’s festive-themed horror is a blood-chilling take on vampires, family and love that will ensure you never look at Christmas in the same way again. Vic McQueen is a great character – flawed and broken – I loved the contrast between her relationships with her father and her son, Wayne. I also loved her relationship with Lou, an overweight man with a good heart whose love for Vic prevents him from asking questions he needs to. Charlie Manx is also a great villain who’s convinced that he is the hero of his own story, although I would have liked a little more on the psychological effect that the Wraith has on him because for me it was slightly underdeveloped, but what is on the page makes up for that, notably his relationship with the creepy and pathetic Bing who serves as his Renfeld. The star of the book though is Christmasland and specifically what it does to its child inhabitants, which both chilled me and creeped me out and left me unable to listen to Christmas songs. The slow change that comes over Wayne as he’s taken to Christmasland and his attempts to fight it was real eebie jeebie stuff and the final battle was filled with enough thrills and ick to keep horror fans entertained. Ultimately, I thought this was a fun, creepy and effective horror novel with great illustrations by Gabriel Rodriguez that kept me entertained from beginning to end and I’m really looking forward to reading Hill’s next novel.
The Verdict:
Joe Hill’s festive-themed horror is a blood-chilling take on vampires, family and love that will ensure you never look at Christmas in the same way again. Vic McQueen is a great character – flawed and broken – I loved the contrast between her relationships with her father and her son, Wayne. I also loved her relationship with Lou, an overweight man with a good heart whose love for Vic prevents him from asking questions he needs to. Charlie Manx is also a great villain who’s convinced that he is the hero of his own story, although I would have liked a little more on the psychological effect that the Wraith has on him because for me it was slightly underdeveloped, but what is on the page makes up for that, notably his relationship with the creepy and pathetic Bing who serves as his Renfeld. The star of the book though is Christmasland and specifically what it does to its child inhabitants, which both chilled me and creeped me out and left me unable to listen to Christmas songs. The slow change that comes over Wayne as he’s taken to Christmasland and his attempts to fight it was real eebie jeebie stuff and the final battle was filled with enough thrills and ick to keep horror fans entertained. Ultimately, I thought this was a fun, creepy and effective horror novel with great illustrations by Gabriel Rodriguez that kept me entertained from beginning to end and I’m really looking forward to reading Hill’s next novel.
Young Victoria McQueen has a gift for finding things. All she has to do is ride her bike through the Shorter Way Bridge and she’ll come out wherever she needs to be … even if that’s hundreds of miles away. But it turns out she’s not the only one with a special ability.
There are others … like Charlie Manx, who takes children to Christmasland in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with its NOS4R2 vanity plate. Only by the time they get there his passengers have changed, utterly. They’ve become Charlie’s children; as unstoppable and insane as Manx himself.
Only one kid ever escaped Charlie Manx: Vic McQueen. But her first brush with Manx lit the fuse on a life-and-death battle of wills … a battle that explodes a quarter of a century later.
Because Manx has taken Vic’s son. And Vic McQueen is going to get him back.
When Vic McQueen gets on her Tuff Burner bike, she can find things. The bike allows her to access the Shorter Way Bridge, a gateway that takes her wherever she needs to go. But using the bridge means paying a toll – a physical one that threatens Vic’s health and sanity – and she’s not the only person with a gift. There are others who can access this mysterious inscape, including the notorious child killer Charlie Manx, who kidnapped children in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith and took them to Christmasland.
Vic first encountered Charlie in 1996 when she was 17 years old and only just managed to escape with her life. It’s now 2012 and Charlie’s intent on revenge. He’s kidnapped Vic’s 12 year-old son, Wayne, and is determined to take him to Christmasland, but Vic’s equally determined to get him back, whatever the cost …
Joe Hill’s festive-themed horror is a blood-chilling take on vampires, family and love that will ensure you never look at Christmas in the same way again. Vic McQueen is a great character – flawed and broken – I loved the contrast between her relationships with her father and her son, Wayne. I also loved her relationship with Lou, an overweight man with a good heart whose love for Vic prevents him from asking questions he needs to. Charlie Manx is also a great villain who’s convinced that he is the hero of his own story, although I would have liked a little more on the psychological effect that the Wraith has on him because for me it was slightly underdeveloped, but what is on the page makes up for that, notably his relationship with the creepy and pathetic Bing who serves as his Renfeld. The star of the book though is Christmasland and specifically what it does to its child inhabitants, which both chilled me and creeped me out and left me unable to listen to Christmas songs. The slow change that comes over Wayne as he’s taken to Christmasland and his attempts to fight it was real eebie jeebie stuff and the final battle was filled with enough thrills and ick to keep horror fans entertained. Ultimately, I thought this was a fun, creepy and effective horror novel with great illustrations by Gabriel Rodriguez that kept me entertained from beginning to end and I’m really looking forward to reading Hill’s next novel.
The Verdict:
Joe Hill’s festive-themed horror is a blood-chilling take on vampires, family and love that will ensure you never look at Christmas in the same way again. Vic McQueen is a great character – flawed and broken – I loved the contrast between her relationships with her father and her son, Wayne. I also loved her relationship with Lou, an overweight man with a good heart whose love for Vic prevents him from asking questions he needs to. Charlie Manx is also a great villain who’s convinced that he is the hero of his own story, although I would have liked a little more on the psychological effect that the Wraith has on him because for me it was slightly underdeveloped, but what is on the page makes up for that, notably his relationship with the creepy and pathetic Bing who serves as his Renfeld. The star of the book though is Christmasland and specifically what it does to its child inhabitants, which both chilled me and creeped me out and left me unable to listen to Christmas songs. The slow change that comes over Wayne as he’s taken to Christmasland and his attempts to fight it was real eebie jeebie stuff and the final battle was filled with enough thrills and ick to keep horror fans entertained. Ultimately, I thought this was a fun, creepy and effective horror novel with great illustrations by Gabriel Rodriguez that kept me entertained from beginning to end and I’m really looking forward to reading Hill’s next novel.
