Joe Hill has been hailed as "a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction" ("Washington Post"); "a new master in the field of suspense" (Ja... read full description
reviews
Mar 06, 2011
Kemper
rated it: 
Stephen King really messed up his son, Joe. It’s not surprising. The children of famous people generally end up as tabloid fodder, and with King as a dad, I’m shocked that one of his brood hasn’t gone on an extended murder spree.
King spends all day thinking of the most horrific shit possible to try and scare the collective pants off the reading public, and he had huge substance abuse problems when his kids were young. So you gotta assume that the conversations went something like More...
King spends all day thinking of the most horrific shit possible to try and scare the collective pants off the reading public, and he had huge substance abuse problems when his kids were young. So you gotta assume that the conversations went something like More...
7 comments
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(29 people liked it)
Dec 30, 2010
Becky
rated it: 
Remember, way back at the beginning of the year, when I said that I wanted to hump Hugh Laurie's leg for writing The Gun Seller? After reading Horns, and just the ARC - not even the finished, shiny and perfect masterpiece - I want to hump Joe Hill's leg for writing it.
Not too long ago, I read Hill's short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, and in the intro, Christopher Golden says that Hill is subtle writer, that his stories are "promises fulfilled". I think that Golde More...
Not too long ago, I read Hill's short story collection, 20th Century Ghosts, and in the intro, Christopher Golden says that Hill is subtle writer, that his stories are "promises fulfilled". I think that Golde More...
8 comments
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(30 people liked it)
Mar 01, 2010
BarkLessWagMore
rated it:
Ignatius (Ig) wakes up from a drunken stupor to discover he has horns growing out of his head. At first he believes he’s losing his mind but quickly discovers that they are indeed real and come with a terrifying power that compel others to spill what they’re really thinking and it’s never all hearts and flowers either.
Poor Ig learns things about those closest to him that would destroy most people and soon realizes he is completely alone. A year earlier the love of his life, Merrill More...
Poor Ig learns things about those closest to him that would destroy most people and soon realizes he is completely alone. A year earlier the love of his life, Merrill More...
10 comments
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(15 people liked it)
Mar 31, 2010
Allison (The Allure of Books)
rated it: 
I'm really glad I picked this up. Horror isn't really my thing, or at least it hasn't been. I've tried several times to read King, but so far he and I haven't clicked very well. I've been hearing a lot about Joe Hill lately because a few of my very good GR friends recently formed a group to talk about his books. They invited me to it and I just though "eh. thanks but no thanks." Then one day I clicked the link to read the summary of Horns and thought "hey, cool cover!" Which,
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4 comments
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(10 people liked it)
Oct 21, 2011
Mike (the Paladin)
rated it: 
Well, I see a lot of reviewers liked this one... I may not be the first, but if I am, please let me be the first to disagree. Maybe it wasn't totally crap, but I found it a major disappointment.
Let me say I liked Heart Shaped Box a lot. It was a genuinely scary book that while it might not have broken totally "new" ground proved that the writer could do good psychological terror/horror without resorting to cheap cop out. This book, while not being terrible, was full of cop More...
Let me say I liked Heart Shaped Box a lot. It was a genuinely scary book that while it might not have broken totally "new" ground proved that the writer could do good psychological terror/horror without resorting to cheap cop out. This book, while not being terrible, was full of cop More...
Jul 30, 2011
Lou
rated it:
This is a creative story of the Urban Legends sort of stuff. I liked his debut which was more frightening and ghostly here he writes in a different style and mixes the plot around switching from past to the present. Take care because no dark secret is safe when the Devils around he can see back into all you're Buggery!
The momentum is good picks up and takes off in tension, themes of relationships and family intertwined in this hell-bound story. I would give it 5 stars but i don't want to p More...
The momentum is good picks up and takes off in tension, themes of relationships and family intertwined in this hell-bound story. I would give it 5 stars but i don't want to p More...
3 comments
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(8 people liked it)
Mar 04, 2010
The Holy Terror
rated it:
It's hard for me to rate this book. On one hand I was hooked within the first 20 pages. On the other hand though I found it emotionally draining and painful to read. There's a quote that Ig reads to himself that I think sums up my feelings as well:
"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."
I often read fantasy and paranormal books to escape the harsh realities of li More...
"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."
I often read fantasy and paranormal books to escape the harsh realities of li More...
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(15 people liked it)
Oct 06, 2011
Kelly
rated it: 
In order to enjoy this book for the disappointment it is, I suggest the following for the over 21 crowd:
Take one sip every time...:
Someone exclaims any one of: "No!"; "Oh my God!” “What ARE you?”
A character or location from a Stephen King novel is mentioned.
You want to slap the main character and tell him to man up.
Merrin’s hair is described.
The pace becomes inert.
The word devil appears. (*Warning* you may get intoxicated from t More...
Take one sip every time...:
Someone exclaims any one of: "No!"; "Oh my God!” “What ARE you?”
A character or location from a Stephen King novel is mentioned.
You want to slap the main character and tell him to man up.
Merrin’s hair is described.
The pace becomes inert.
The word devil appears. (*Warning* you may get intoxicated from t More...
2 comments
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(5 people liked it)
Feb 25, 2011
Stephen
rated it:
4.0 to 4.5 stars. I had a difficult time deciding on a final rating for this book as I was thinking everywhere from 5 stars to 3 stars depending on where I was in the book. As I discuss below, I think this is in part a reflection of the subtlety and complexity of the story. I do think it is safe to say to those of you (like me) that read and enjoyed Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel, but were not necessarily "blown away by it", that both Hill's writing and story-telling have improved over his
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4 comments
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(21 people liked it)
Jul 24, 2011
notyourmonkey
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 03, 2011
Rusty
rated it:
As you probably know by now, the main character, Ig, wakes up one morning to discover that he has grown horns. This after a long night of drinking, and mourning his murdered girlfriend. He also quickly discovers that anyone he encounters feels an overwhelming desire to tell him their deepest desires. This is a very interesting premise and I consider myself a big Joe Hill fan, but this book did not do it for me. I probably missed some subtleties, but at page 65 or so, the protagonist still se
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(2 people liked it)
Dec 07, 2010
Dwayne
rated it:
Horns is one of those books that grips you with blood drenched nails and then quietly whispers to you and forces you to finish it. I've been waiting to read this book since its release, it was worth the wait, I loved it! I started reading Horns last Sunday and finshed it a day later. I couldn't put this book down. The author's voice is a perfect fit for the story and there's no intrusion. The characters he created lept from the page and walked around with me. Good stuff! It's in the author's blo
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(4 people liked it)
Oct 16, 2011
JG (The Introverted Reader)
rated it:
Ignatius Perrish wakes up after a drunken night with honest-to-goodness horns growing out of his head. At first, he thinks he's just going crazy. But as he ventures out into the day, he finds that other people can see them too; they're just too busy telling him their deepest, darkest secrets to really comment on them. Oh, and if they know him, they're telling him exactly what they think of him. That would be bad enough for anyone, but when you've been (falsely) accused of raping and murderin
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3 comments
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(2 people liked it)
Nov 19, 2010
Brett
rated it:
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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0 comments
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(2 people liked it)
May 30, 2011
Colleen
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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22 comments
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(3 people liked it)
May 27, 2011
Jeanette
rated it:
I could perhaps go up to 3 1/2 stars, but not 4. I liked the initial theme about Ig's horns and how he discovers their powers. When people are in his presence, the horns make them tell him their deepest secrets, after which they forget having seen him or talked to him. It bugged me, though, that almost everyone's secrets were related to depraved sexual behavior or fantasies. C'mon, Joe, you've got a better imagination than that! Not a ONE of my deepest, darkest secrets is related to sex. The
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2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Jun 11, 2010
Felice
rated it:
There's a novel that is doing all kinds of damage to me. It's making me lose what little courage I have in the dark or to be home alone. That novel is Horns.
When Ignatis Perrish wakes up after a night of bad behavior he's got regrets, a hangover and devil horns. Quite the triple threat. Ig soon realizes that the horns are no hallucination and in fact they have come with a gift. The initial discovery of the gift is a sarcastic crack up but that doesn't last long. Ig discovers there is More...
When Ignatis Perrish wakes up after a night of bad behavior he's got regrets, a hangover and devil horns. Quite the triple threat. Ig soon realizes that the horns are no hallucination and in fact they have come with a gift. The initial discovery of the gift is a sarcastic crack up but that doesn't last long. Ig discovers there is More...
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(3 people liked it)
Feb 23, 2010
Rachel
rated it:
Ok before Kandice starts bleeding, here I go....Horns is one of those books that starts out catching your interest right away, grabs on and doesn't let go until it gets you to the end. It's entertaining, exciting but also rather deep and thoughtful. When I was a teenager, for whatever reason, I tried to read Why Bad Things Happen to Good People and thought it was too philisophical and boring (I was a teenager). Horns examines the same topic but makes it fun. The story starts out more bizarro
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4 comments
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(10 people liked it)
Jul 26, 2010
Charity
rated it:
4.5 Stars
When people saw me reading this they would ask if it was "any good". To stay that this was good would be a massive understatement. It was supremely good. It was deliciously good. It was piss-your-pants good. It was leave-the-lights-on-all-night good. Yeah, it rocked! I was haunted, I was chilled, I was tingled, I was addicted. Putting the book down, even for a moment, was a hardship. Hill wrote about a psychopath that was so real, so disturbing, so terrifying, that More...
When people saw me reading this they would ask if it was "any good". To stay that this was good would be a massive understatement. It was supremely good. It was deliciously good. It was piss-your-pants good. It was leave-the-lights-on-all-night good. Yeah, it rocked! I was haunted, I was chilled, I was tingled, I was addicted. Putting the book down, even for a moment, was a hardship. Hill wrote about a psychopath that was so real, so disturbing, so terrifying, that More...
4 comments
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(4 people liked it)
Feb 23, 2011
Jason (FNORDinc)
rated it:
it is the day after the 1st anniversary of your girlfriends rape and murder, both of which you have been blamed for.
you wake up with a horrible headache, the hangover tied to your previous nights drinking binge. you look in the mirror and find your forehead has sprouted two devilish horns.
you find that every person who sees your horns want to tell you all of their worst thoughts, compelled to seek your advice about acting on them.
and this is just the beginning.
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you wake up with a horrible headache, the hangover tied to your previous nights drinking binge. you look in the mirror and find your forehead has sprouted two devilish horns.
you find that every person who sees your horns want to tell you all of their worst thoughts, compelled to seek your advice about acting on them.
and this is just the beginning.
More...
0 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Feb 01, 2012
Stefan
rated it:
Another entertaining offering from Joe Hill.
If all that I had read from Joe Hill to this point had been Heart-Shaped Box, I would have been a little surprised with this one. However, since I read 20th Century Ghosts, I know that there is a lot more to Hill's repertoire than just straight horror. Horns is more of a black comedy than an actual horror novel although it does contain some horror elements.
The novel centers on a young man named Ig who wakes up one morning with horns More...
If all that I had read from Joe Hill to this point had been Heart-Shaped Box, I would have been a little surprised with this one. However, since I read 20th Century Ghosts, I know that there is a lot more to Hill's repertoire than just straight horror. Horns is more of a black comedy than an actual horror novel although it does contain some horror elements.
The novel centers on a young man named Ig who wakes up one morning with horns More...
Jan 31, 2012
Shanti
rated it:
Horns: A Novel, Audio
Horns: A Novel
By Joe Hill
Narrated by Fred Berman
The narration was ok, not great. The different characters would start out sounding different then sounding the same or switching voice of characters. This made it hard to knows who is talking sometimes as the listener is expecting the different voices to be consistent with the character. Otherwise the narrator did a good job.
I am a classic, epic, period piece, bio, genre reader. This s More...
Horns: A Novel
By Joe Hill
Narrated by Fred Berman
The narration was ok, not great. The different characters would start out sounding different then sounding the same or switching voice of characters. This made it hard to knows who is talking sometimes as the listener is expecting the different voices to be consistent with the character. Otherwise the narrator did a good job.
I am a classic, epic, period piece, bio, genre reader. This s More...
Jan 30, 2012
Steven
rated it:
Horns overall, was just ok, it has a good start to it and a very intriguing premise. The idea that people are divulging their darkest secrets to the main character, and telling him things they'd never tell anyone, makes it very interesting. And I'm sure this is what has hooked a lot of people to read this book. The first 1/3rd of the book is great, and it sort of has diminishing returns after that. His powers make the story itself sort of get old fast, and everyone he encounters all seems to be
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Dec 24, 2011
Mark
rated it:
Ignatius (Ig) Perrish finds that after a night on the town he wakes up with two unexpected extras. The first is that he appears to have developed two horns on his forehead and secondly that by touching people he finds that people insist on telling him their darkest thoughts.
Even without these new problems, Ig is a man very much down on his luck at this time. Accused of being the rapist and murderer of his girlfriend, Merrin Williams, though never convicted, Ig realises that his new power c More...
Even without these new problems, Ig is a man very much down on his luck at this time. Accused of being the rapist and murderer of his girlfriend, Merrin Williams, though never convicted, Ig realises that his new power c More...
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(1 person liked it)
Dec 22, 2011
Rick
rated it:
Perhaps the purpose went over my head, but I felt as if Hill had a great premise but little insight into the deeper thematic nature of the novel. While the idea of a man waking up one morning to find he has become a minor demon is compelling, certain plot complications, like having people always tell you exactly what they are thinking, tend to wear themselves out as a dramatic device quickly. This candor really doesn't tell the protagonist much that he probably didn't already intuit, except for
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Jul 24, 2011
NJMetal
rated it:
The Devil is in the details. Joe Hill's "Horns" is full of them. "Horns" is the story of Ignacious Perrish, a man who wakes up one day to find he is becoming the devil, horns and all. This story strove very hard to be a five star caliber book but some areas, for me, turned it down a few notches.
"Horns" on the surface may seem like the story of a man trying to cope with his mysterious transformation in to the devil himself. What we learn through a num More...
"Horns" on the surface may seem like the story of a man trying to cope with his mysterious transformation in to the devil himself. What we learn through a num More...
Jul 06, 2011
Sara
rated it:
It's gotten to the point that if the book is written by Joe Hill I'm going to read it regardless of the plot. I didn't really look to see what this book was about when I picked it up and was surprised by the wonderful concept that is this book. It sounds like a horror novel but plays out more like a thriller.
It's been a year since Ig Perrish's girlfriend, Merrin, was mudered. He was supposed to go to London for work but ended up staying behind as the number one suspect in her murder. His l More...
It's been a year since Ig Perrish's girlfriend, Merrin, was mudered. He was supposed to go to London for work but ended up staying behind as the number one suspect in her murder. His l More...
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(1 person liked it)
Jun 12, 2011
Jason
rated it:
I think the son has easily become a better writer than the father. More popular...probably never, but better...yes. Don't get me wrong...i love most of Mr. King's tales...noone knows his people from good to bad as well as he, but his son Joe has become quite the tale-teller. Heart-shaped box was a winning debut...and 20th Ghost Stories was aimed right at my heart, as I am a true believer and lover of both the short story genre and the ghostly weird tale...and now, with HORNS, (and also with hi
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2 comments
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(1 person liked it)
Jun 02, 2011
Brian
rated it:
Diabolus Ex Machina
I finished this book weeks ago, but have been uncertain as to what kind of post to make about it. On the one hand, the book has an awful lot going for it: not least an interesting, Kafka-esque premise (the book opens as main character wakes Ig up to find that he has devil horns, then strangers start telling him their fondest sins) and Hill’s own considerable talent at the prose level. Like his father, Stephen King, Hill clearly has the talent to create memorable stor More...
I finished this book weeks ago, but have been uncertain as to what kind of post to make about it. On the one hand, the book has an awful lot going for it: not least an interesting, Kafka-esque premise (the book opens as main character wakes Ig up to find that he has devil horns, then strangers start telling him their fondest sins) and Hill’s own considerable talent at the prose level. Like his father, Stephen King, Hill clearly has the talent to create memorable stor More...
May 09, 2011
brian
rated it:
I've just finished two books each by the son of a famous author. The Day the Leash Gave Way by Trent Zelazny and Horns by Joe Hill. The Hill book was recommended to me by a Goodreads friend and the Zelazny book was suggested by Amazon's far more impersonal algorithms.
I didn't care for The Day the Leash Gave Way but I definitely have to temper that statement with the observation that I went in hoping for more of his father's work. To his credit, and my disappointment, the younger More...
I didn't care for The Day the Leash Gave Way but I definitely have to temper that statement with the observation that I went in hoping for more of his father's work. To his credit, and my disappointment, the younger More...
