I love this time of year for many reasons: the beautiful
weather, leaf piles, warm coffee, candy corn… Most importantly, the advent of
Halloween gives me an excuse to satisfy my desire for horror.
When it comes to scary movies, I’m the biggest wimp there
is. Here I am at a ‘certain age’ and still hiding behind my hands when it comes
to the ghouls and blood. I have yet to watch Sixth Sense and see the room tent
scene with Vomit Girl. Because you know what? I’m hiding behind the couch pillow,
that’s what. Pathetic.
It’s easier with books, although I read Salem’s Lot
(scariest book ever) while house-sitting for a professor. She lived in a
revolutionary farmhouse wayyyyy out in the country. There were no streetlights
to be seen, just me and the dog and the vampires. Of course I should have
stopped reading at sundown, but Salem’s Lot is also a really good book. I read
the last page at 3 am and waited for dawn with the lights on, thank you very
much. But at least the experience didn’t come with a little kid singing
lullabies in some creepy soundtrack or a boyfriend who thought he was funny as
he grabbed my ankle in the dark.
Over the years I’ve read the rest of King’s books with a
great deal of pleasure. The characters like Carrie, Mrs. Torrance and Tom
Cullen grabbed me like hands appearing out of a cemetery at midnight. Perhaps my favorites (besides The Stand) were 11/22/63 and Under The Dome (so much more than the TV show.)
In fact, I just can’t get enough – it’s difficult to wait in
between King releases. So when I discovered Joe Hill, I was thrilled.
Spoiler alert – Joe Hill has a very famous dad. Do
you see where I’m going with this?
When I read Heart-Shaped Box, I rediscovered that creeping
fear and addictive storyline. Judas Coyne, the aging rock god and his goth
girlfriend, Georgia, are surprisingly relatable. What happens to them when
Judas buys a ghost on eBay, or at least a haunted suit, is terrifying.
Granted, the ending is not as wonderful as the rest of the
book, but we all know that’s a failing of the King family… Yeah. Joe Hill is
actually Stephen King’s son – a fact I did not know until I finished
Heart-Shaped Box.
He also wrote Horns, on my TBR list ever since I saw the
movie with Daniel Radcliffe. But for this October I’m reading N0S4A2, another
horror story with a definite Stephen King vibe.
And I have to stop here and apologize for comparing Hill to
his famous dad. However, it’s just so great to get a new serving of fantastic
characters and kick-ass action, plus amazing concepts.
In N0S4A2, Victoria McQueen can ride her Raleigh Tuff Burner
bike over a covered bridge to a place where missing objects lie. The power
gives her migraines, but she can’t stop until she follows Charles Turner Manx
to Christmasland, a place where he kidnaps children.
Victoria is a great character, well able to hold her place
next to King’s famous adolescent boys: Gordon LaChance of The Body, Danny
Torrance of The Shining, and Ben Mears of Salem’s Lot. Victoria’s desperation
and dreadful childhood drew me in immediately. Obviously Hill has discovered
King’s formula to “Make the readers love the characters, and then release the
monsters.”
Oh, and the Kindle edition is only 1.99, so there's that.
Oh, and the Kindle edition is only 1.99, so there's that.
If you are a Stephen King fan and searching for more books,
I recommend the books by Joe Hill. I plan to read my way through his catalogue,
20th Century Ghosts and Horns included.
It’s going to be a good Halloween.
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