He has been pretty busy the last few years, writing up a storm, 20th Century Ghosts, Heart-Shaped Box, and Horns, establishing himself as a respected, successful writer of horror fiction, picking up at least eleven literary awards to date. Joseph Hillstrom King, under nom de scare Joe Hill, is a man who not only would be King, he already is one. If you like your Christmas trees decorated with sparkling abominations, your Santa more by way of an oversized, but underfed mortician, and your Santa’s special elf a rapist psycho-killer, then this is the book you will want to find frightening off the other packages under your tree next Christmas. NOS4A2, the author’s latest tale from the dark side, takes a beloved annual celebration and gives it the special family treatment. Joe Hill - image from NY Times photo by Phillip Montgomery Hot toddy made with blood from a guy named Todd? Brownies made with under-age Girl Scouts? Did their whipped cream scream? Well, probably not, but one must wonder. Did they share hot chocolate like the rest of us, or maybe add bits of human flesh instead of marshmallows. I suppose it is possible that Dad left his darker impulses by his keyboard.

One must wonder, however, how Christmas might have been celebrated in the King household. I put on It’s a Wonderful Life, wife by my side, hopefully at least one of my now-grown kids at hand, and keep the tissues handy. Every year a real tree, lights, sorting through and selecting from the decades and decades of collected ornaments, gifts, and hopefully a tree skirt free of cat vomit. And even now, having achieved geezerhood, I am still a complete sucker for the big day. There is nothing quite like the anticipation leading up to Christmas morning. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.Ĭhristmas was one of the best things about being a kid. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget.

Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble-and finds Manx. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.” He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.Ĭharles Talent Manx has a way with children. Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. NOS4A2 is a spine-tingling novel of supernatural suspense from master of horror Joe Hill, the New York Times bestselling author of Heart-Shaped Box and Horns.

NOS4A2 by Joe Hill