Horns

A Novel

By: Joe Hill

Narrated by: Fred Berman

Length: 13 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a thunderous hangover, a raging headache, and a pair of horns growing from his temples. At first, Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who was raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real.

Once the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed: born into privilege, the second son of a renowned musician and younger brother of a rising late-night TV star, he had security, wealth, and a place in his community. Ig had it all, and more—he had Merrin and a love founded on shared daydreams, mutual daring, and unlikely midsummer magic. But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. In the court of public opinion in Gideon, New Hampshire, Ig is and always will be guilty because his rich and connected parents pulled strings to make the investigation go away. Nothing Ig can do, nothing he can say, matters. Everyone, it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone, that is, but the devil inside.

Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. It's time for a little revenge. It's time the devil had his due.

©2010 Joe Hill (P)2010 HarperCollins Publishers

Horror Story! Gritty and well delivered!

Tons of bad reviews? Why? This is a great, tragic, humorous and dark, journey! The ending is dark and somewhat uncomfortable. I loved every second! Well done as is Joe Hill's other stuff. Thank you!!

macabre

a very dark story that was narrated perfectly, i actually had to fight back tears at some parts...great for a binge listening

Shout with the devil

Would you listen to Horns again? Why?

I would listen to Horns again because it's a fantastic story!

What other book might you compare Horns to and why?

I don't know if I could compare this to any other books. Horns feels unique and fresh.

Which character – as performed by Fred Berman – was your favorite?

Ig was my favorite. Since we follow the character all the way throughout we get a strong connection with him.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

I don't want to spoil anything with this book. Although, when you find more about what happened to Ig, it's heart-breaking.

Wow!

What an awesome story! This one would make the King proud! The Character balance...Excellent! Story-line...Excellent! Fluidity ...Excellent! Joe Hill really has a unique talent of balancing out good and evil. Stunning. I typically don't write reviews but this deserved one!

An ok story, good performance.

I agree with some of the other listeners on a few points. It could have done without the male fantasy of men sexually abusing women in such a gory way. Pouring gasoline down the throat of an attractive woman? I was ok with spiritual or religious matter described, but objectifying women over and over gets old and becomes expected. I have yet to read a story where the woman tortures a man or fantasizes about it. No plot twist....and I don't think the appearance of the horns was ever addressed. I read a movie will be made, looking forward to that. I think this will make a great movie!

Good and not so good

There are parts of the story that are really good and parts that really aren't.

I started out thinking 'ok, great, this is a really good story', then out of nowhere I hit a pothole. Then the story got good again, then another pothole. It was really kind of frustrating to be honest. I am not the one to put down a book once started. I mean it has to be absolutely terrible for me to not finish. I didn't put Horns down but I considered it. Multiple times. It could stand to lose a good 5hrs of just absolute crap that adds nothing to the story. Also, it moves between time with no notice or note of any kind and you are a good couple of paragraphs in before you can tell you're in a flashback.

I didn't find Ig to be a particularly sympathetic character. He was alternately a jerk and a doormat, not really what I'm looking for in a protagonist. It is a relatively dark book but would have liked at least one of the MC's to be more likeable.

It seems a lot of the reviews are about how terrible it is that it deals with dark material or it being about something satanic or whatever. Read the description of the book before you buy it and if that's not what you're looking for, don't buy the book. It's listed as a horror book, if you don't want a horror book, again, don't buy Horns.

Overall, I didn't hate the book, there were parts of it where I couldn't wait to see what happened next and there were parts of it I was just ready to be done with it. I think the good parts outweighed the bad overall. Will I listen to it again and again, probably not. Would I recommend it to a friend, maybe but not strongly.

Don't listen to the naysayers

This story was excellent, though I have to say the description is a bit meh. I wasn't interested in reading this one but I read some of the reviews and glad I took a shot! One of my favorites from Joe!

Enticing story

The author takes you on a journey where you start to have sympathy for the Devil. Really cleverly written book well done. Stephen King, and his two sons are my favorite horror authors. I’ve read so much of Joe Hill and I haven’t read one thing I can say isn’t five stars.

Creative, chilling, masterful

Joe Hill is creating a legend in the shadow of his father that in time may prove a run for King’s money. Complex but relatable (real!) characters developed with finesse and a storyline that keeps you interested, on edge, and engaged.

Slightly better

You can tell that the author is Stephen King’s son. Their style is similar, but joe Hill is better. The story itself was ok. The characters were strong, but the story was weak. AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY