"NOS4A2" by Joe Hill (BR)

[Silvana]

My last BR with you guys.....this year.

Another Joe Hill! A Christmas themed horror!
Starting on December 20.

Who's with me?

[Soo]

I'm in. I figure I'll slog in the audio. =)

[Chris]

I will probably start a little early and then stall for a while.

[Silvana]

Cool! Was hoping you guys would join. The book's quite thick, but learning from The Fireman that is also thick, I believe Hill still could engage the readers.

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

I’m going to lurk because I love this book and just read it last year.

Also it flies by. Don’t be deterred by the size.

Lastly- Joe Hill is filming the miniseries for this every Wednesday on the Main Street a block’s walk from my work and I am SO STOKED! Lol

[Silvana]

That's so cool, Sarah! I did not know it's going to be a series. Did you visit the set often? And apply for an extra job? 😆

[Soo]

Ha! Library audio copy is available and I snagged it. I'll probably start in a day or so.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Ka still isn't in, but I just got the audiobook! A nice Joe Hill for what might be our actual first BR together, Silvana!

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

I wish. I think they are wrapping filming now (I didn’t find out until it was mostly done). I’m really excited to see the series though. It’s funny because Main Street has always been something I thought could be taken straight out of a Joe Hill or Stephen King book.

It’s Main Street in East Greenwich, RI in case anyone was curious enough to grab a visual.

https://turnto10.com/news/local/main-...

[Soo]

That's cool. =)

We've had a fair share of traffic jams in the DC area for filming/shows. Not that we need anymore excuses to have traffic. It's pretty hefty without help.

[Rachel]

I didn’t realize you were in DC! I’m in the burbs

[Soo]

I think of DC area as DC + 1/3 MD + NOVA.

I live out in the burbs too. I like being within driving distance to a larger metro area and live in the burbs. =)

[Soo]

I wrapped up my other story and started this one. Uh. I totally get the title now. I've been calling it the N License Tag Book.

=D

derp

[Silvana]

Hmm the soonest I can start this maybe Dec 16.

[Rachel]

Maybe we need a DC SFFBC meeting 😊

[Soo]

Rachel, that would be fun. Maybe in January? We could start up a thread to see if others may be interested & in the area.

[AndrewP]

Allison wrote: "Ka still isn't in, but I just got the audiobook! A nice Joe Hill for what might be our actual first BR together, Silvana!"

The audio book of Nos4A2 is really good.

[Soo]

I made myself stop listening because I want to talk about the story. I'm about halfway. The narrator for the audio is great. I like her for this one.

[Bobby]

I'm finishing up another book, but I should be able to start this tonight or tomorrow. I've kind of got myself into 2 buddy reads along with 1 book and 1 novella that I'm currently reading, so it might take me a bit longer than expected, but I'll be here. I love Joe Hill, so this should be fun.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

I can't wait to hear how it ends!

[Soo]

Allison, I can tell you the highlights. =)

I'm done with the book and up for chats when people are ready to talk about it.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Soo wrote: "Allison, I can tell you the highlights. =)

I'm done with the book and up for chats when people are ready to talk about it."

I would love that!

[Soo]

Soo's Highlights of NOS4A2 for Allison: (view spoiler)[

The Knack: One of the coolest part of the story is about the special ability that various characters have in the story. All of them are different & each one has a price. A knack, device to enable ability & cost for using it.

Charlie Manx: Prime Bad Guy
- Device: 1938 Rolls-Royce Wrath with NOS4A2 License Plate
- Knack: Can go to his private haven called Christmasland.
- Cost: Lost of Life Energy - Paid by kidnapping children & using their life energies to live, heal, etc. He gets a kid to be his sidekick and changes them until dealing pain & death is normal. The sidekick will age at a normal rate but have some minor power of healing/etc as long as they remain the sidekick. Manz uses the sidekick to help him get other children for life drains, hurt people for random power feeding and tosses them aside as the perpetrator of crimes.

Vic McQueen: Main Character
- Device: Raleigh Tuff Burner Bike, Triumph Motorcycle
- Knack: Ability to Find
- Cost: Her Mind, Tumor growth in brain. Intense Migraines, Memory Loss, Hallucinations

Maggie Leigh: Side Character
- Device: Scrabble Pieces
- Knack: The Sight via Scrabble - Knowledge about present/past/future
- Cost: Speech, Starts off as a minor stutter that grows in volume until talking is impossible.

Bing Partridge: Latest Sidekick/Stooge
- Man in Gas Mask
- Probably Mentally Disabled
- Gets his kicks raping & killing.

Special Children: Some of the kids that Manx + Help kidnap become cruel extensions of Manx & live in Christmasland as his kids. They're forever young, twisted and vicious.

*I think the special children are all ones that have a knack of their own and Manx subverts them to become another tool for him to become stronger with his own.

Vic stumbled onto Charlie Manx when she was a young teen. She manages to get free and Manx gets thrown into a Supermax prison. Vic spends a good chunk of her life thinking that she's crazy. She does a bunch of crazy & normal things to try and make sense of her life. In her 30's, she finally manages to get on her feet. She wants to be a good parent for her kid, Wayne.

Manx's car was bought by Nathan Demeter in Kentucky and he repaired it to it's former glory for his daughter, Michelle. The Wraith kidnaps Nathan, hurts him to start the life drain process and takes him to Bing. Bing takes over and eventually kills Nathan. Manx gets shot of life energy & walks out of the morgue.

Manx & Bing kidnap Wayne and start the transformation process to make Wayne into a Special Child. Except Wayne's grandmother shows up as a ghost and gives him a clue to keep himself safe. Talking backwards does something to stall the transformation process and he can hold onto himself a little longer.

Vic ends up doing a bunch of crazy stuff to take on Manx. On the way, she realizes how much her parents and Lou (Vic's ex & Wayne's Dad) mean to her. Great development about family bonds and friends.

Vic blows up the Wraith & kills Manx. She rescued Wayne & manages to get them back to Lou. She had tied Lou up to keep him safe before heading off to face Manx in Christmasland.

Vic dies at the hospital. A combination of injuries taken & use of her knack to save Wayne.

Epilogue:

Lou drives Wayne & Tabitha (FBI agent, now Lou's girlfriend) to the place where Vic showed up with Wayne from Christmasland. There are Christmas ornaments on the tree branches. Each ornament holds a part of a child taken by Manx. In one of them, there's a piece of Wayne. It keeps him connected to Christmasland and the children abandoned there. They whisper in his dreams and call him on the phone to ask him when he's coming back.

Lou manages to find Wayne's ornament and breaks it into pieces.

From the woods, lost children that have been gone for years start to come out with frightened faces. They haven't aged a day.

A few children are hiding in the woods and each of them hold an ornament. Their eyes flash with malice as they watch Lou, Wayne, Tabitha & the lost children. They slip away. They have to find their way back to Christmasland.

End of Highlights. (hide spoiler)]

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

OMG! Thank you! What a wacky story!

[Soo]

Yup. I figured you would want the overall and cool parts minus how many die/etc.

I did think that the story was a really cool & extreme example of the price of power. (view spoiler)[How most will choose to take the price for doing upon themselves and others will be ruthless in making sure they never pay a price for what they gain. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

I too am finishing Alif and should be able to start this tonight.

[Allison, Fairy Mod-mother]

Soo wrote: "Yup. I figured you would want the overall and cool parts minus how many die/etc.

I did think that the story was a really cool & extreme example of the price of power. [spoilers removed]"

It was a perfect summary, thank you! I think I made the right choice with this one, though I'm excited to talk about the parts that I did like.

[Silvana]

Ugh, crazy end of year rush at work made me forgot today is the 21st!

Just starting (view spoiler)[and am currently amused with the Brat.

And I like her dad's wise words: it took a clever man to figure out a way to make a profit off his bad habits. (hide spoiler)]

4%. The bridge (view spoiler)[is a portal? But this is like reading a scary version of the Narnia's wardrobe. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

14%

I am kind of confused.
(view spoiler)[so this Maggie still lived in our world, right? For a moment I thought she lived in Christmasland.

When she explained about the existence of two worlds, and mentioned a knife I couldn't help but thinking about The Subtle Knife from His Dark Materials. Is it an homage?

Anywho, the story has not been what I expected so far. (i.e. Kids got abducted and one escaped and saved them all). Looking much more complicated now that we have all these inscape thingies.

So only certain people could access these realms? What about the cat who died and never be found? I got so distracted over animal's death. (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

(view spoiler)[Maggie is a librarian in the midwest somewhere. At that point, I think she's early to mid 20's.

The abilities take form in unique ways for each person and has a cost for using it.

I believe the cat death was part of a kidnapping? Bing likes to kill things. But I can't swear on that. I forgot about that one. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

Thanks, Soo.

I am now at 20% and it's getting more exciting. Well, in a creepy way.

(view spoiler)["... there was something awful about Christmas music when it was nearly summer. It was like a clown in the rain, with his makeup running." (hide spoiler)] Chills.

Some random comment: I just have to LOL when Vic (view spoiler)[listened to the Alvin and Chipmunk song. Cmon, they're not bad hahaha. I remember teasing my dad with the album. (hide spoiler)]

one and a half hour later....

41%
I don't know if I could take any more of (view spoiler)[Bing's craziness. I wished the description on the violence done to the mommies/daddies in his 'House of Sleep' were not repeated so often. Yikes. So disturbing. (hide spoiler)]

and yet I was intrigued with (view spoiler)[this Manx guy. What was he actually? If he's a vampire then we have not got any bloodsucking stuff yet.Or maybe he's a different kind of vampire. For sure he ain't just a crazy human, not after he's able to survive autopsy and back on his feet again. (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Bing (view spoiler)[Even though he's the sidekick, he definitely wins the award for being the most disturbing in the story. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

Silvana wrote: "Thanks, Soo.

I am now at 20% and it's getting more exciting. Well, in a creepy way.

[spoilers removed] Chills.

Some random comment: I just have to LOL when Vic [spoilers removed]one and a half ..."

Re: Manx

(view spoiler)[I thought of him as an energy vampire- sucking the life out of people without sucking the blood.. if that makes any sense.

According to a psychic my mom saw once- this is sort of a real thing. (Not resulting in death.) (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

Sarah wrote: "Manx..."

(view spoiler)[that makes sense. I wanna know he converted the kids into monsters too. That first car scene was mental. (hide spoiler)]

Soo wrote: "Bing [spoilers removed]"

IKR?!

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

Silvana wrote: "Sarah wrote: "Manx..."

[spoilers removed]Soo wrote: "Bing [spoilers removed]"

IKR?!"

Maybe it’s time for a re-read because I don’t even remember it. *slinks away in shame* lol

[Silvana]

Well I barely even remember details from a book I read two weeks ago 😂

[Soo]

lol

I totally want to talk about Manx's ability once people are closer to the end. One of the cool things about the story is how some parts are explained in a straight forward manner and others are shown by events/actions. It was a nice mix I thought.

[Silvana]

52%

This book should come with a (view spoiler)[content warning: dog death.

Poor Hooper :((

Could Bing and Manx die already please.

But I love how tenacious Vic was. You go, girl! (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Right before that part of the story, when the focus was on Vic: (view spoiler)[I really didn't care for Vic too much because she's not all that likeable by herself. I was totally cool with her as a kid and then it went sideways after she meets Manx. Which makes sense but she is not a lovable character.

But, yup. I am with ya. She does NOT give up and that is freaking amazing. (hide spoiler)]

[Bobby]

Well I finally got a chance to start it, so I'm only at 4%. (view spoiler)[Knowing what the book is about from the blurb, I was anxious the entire time Vic was crossing the bridge. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

Bobby, glad you you could finally start. It really flies.

(view spoiler)[I did not really pay attention to the blurb to be honest. I did not know anything about that bridge and was completely taken by surprise. (hide spoiler)]

[Silvana]

I am getting slightly tired of reading this, even though it is not hard to read, the flow is okay but sometimes there were soooo many descriptions, I just wanted the plot to move forward. Did any of you feel that?

I ended up skimming four of five pages of Vic getting her bearing.

70% already
(view spoiler)[ that Bing was no more. Kinda wished he died in agony real slowly but I am not complaining much.

Vic's phone call with Manx should end with her dropping the mike ;p
(hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Yup. I felt that way too. (view spoiler)[The middle dragged. That's basically where it's a steady grind of misery on all fronts. It was a bit much to take.

The story will fly pretty soon though. About now is where it goes from a jog to flat out screaming run. (hide spoiler)]

[Sarah, The Unsettled]

Silvana wrote: "I am getting slightly tired of reading this, even though it is not hard to read, the flow is okay but sometimes there were soooo many descriptions, I just wanted the plot to move forward. Did any o..."

Huh- I don’t remember feeling that way about this one. I did feel that way about The Fireman though.

[Silvana]

Finished!

Soo wrote: "Yup. I felt that way too. "

Agree with your spoiler. (view spoiler)[The last chapters were crazy. I will not watch the TV series, children freak me out! (hide spoiler)]

I am (view spoiler)[still sad over Vic's death. But twas a glorious death.

Had a scare when Wayne still showing vampirism traits but Hill turned it around quite quickly. So basically Lou just destroyed some Christmas decor at the Sleigh House? How did he know he needed to do that to bring back those children? And those children are back to their previous state? Even the ones who got destroyed in Vic's explosions? (hide spoiler)]

Sarah wrote: "Silvana wrote: "I am getting slightly tired of reading this, even though it is not hard to read, the flow is okay but sometimes there were soooo many descriptions, I just wanted the plot to move fo..."

I remember there were some slog in The Fireman too but I guess I felt it more with NOS4A2. I rated Fireman slightly better 3.75 rounded to 4.

I still want to read his books, maybe try getting the ones with fewer pages. How's Heart-Shaped Box and Strange Weather? I need to check the discussion thread for HSB.

[Soo]

Ending: (view spoiler)[I liked the wrap up but felt like it was a bit of a rushed job to tie up some things and leave other things open for interpretation.

My thoughts on the children's survival:

I figure Manx was a soul/life eater. When he changed the chosen kids into his little monster empire, their souls were trapped into an ornament. The ornaments were kept outside of Christmasland. That's the only reason why I can see the kids surviving from being in a different plane and getting back into the "real" world.

Or the fact that some of them took their ornament and escaped to look for Christmasland.

No idea how Lou figured out the deal with the ornaments. It's not like that was really talked about. Maybe he had dreams or Wayne said some odd things about missing his ornament? Simply guesswork there. (hide spoiler)]

My thoughts on Hill's books: (view spoiler)[

Locke & Key audiobook adaptation is my favorite book by Hill. It's what got me interested in his writing. A nice mix of creepy, fantasy & horror.

Fireman vs NOS4A2

I listened to Fireman about a month ago and enjoyed the book but felt like there were a lot of rambling bits and uneven story progression. The virus was really cool but I felt like Hill never decided exactly what the virus was and the story tried to explore all options but failed to deliver clearly.

NOS4A2 is better as a whole piece, the middle part was weak but the intro and ending were very strong. It also kept more true to the story frame. It was a horror story that could be close to home and yet otherworldly-bizarre.

If the Fireman had another editing sweep and made more cohesive, that would be my pick between the two books for concept. I loved the concept for the Fireman.

Judging by overall writing & togetherness, I gotta say NOS4A2 was better in that regard.

I think the difference is how long it took him to write the two books too. I believe he said that he worked on the Fireman for several years. It took less time for him to write up NOS4A2.

Heart-Shaped Box has tons of great visuals and connected points that sort of dissolve into a bland plot point. It's so bland that it washes out the cool parts and turns a cool story into a tawdry tale.

Strange Weather - I only read the first novella of the four and it was okay. I still need to read the rest but I feel like he does better with a novel vs short stories.

If King and Hill ever decide to write a story together, I would read that. I read one that King did with his other son and it was "okay" but not a memorable read.

I looked up Mrs. King's work and have zero desire to read any of those books going by the blurbs. (hide spoiler)]

[Bobby]

So I'm still going slow, but I'm up to 11%. I was actually surprised I had gone over 100 pages, with as little reading time as I've had lately, so the pace is good right now (view spoiler)[Just got introduced to Bing. Something sounded familiar about the chemicals, so I went back to the beginning with the nurse. It looks like Bing is the Gasmask Man, who obviously does terrible things to the parents of the kids Manx kidnaps. The creepiness and suspense is definitely there for me. (hide spoiler)]

[Bobby]

Okay I'm now at 20%

(view spoiler)[I really enjoyed when Vic met the librarian, because it kind of defined this power that certain people manifest in different ways. Instead of this just being a one off type of crazy supernatural occurrence, it's actually a type of power that is out in the world, and it has set rules and limitations.

I just got to the point where Vic crossed the bridge to Sleigh House, and I'm steeling myself for some crazy stuff that I'm sure is about to happen. (hide spoiler)]

[Soo]

Agreed! That part was cool.

[Chris]

I just passed 50%. Enjoying it a lot. The pace doesn't bother me. I like the characters and the details.