“Maybe all the schemes of the devil were nothing compared to what man could think up.”
It’s time to switch it up. I’ve been in a spooky mood lately, and the spookiest book I’ve read in awhile (that’s not part of the literary canon), is Joe Hill’s Horns. Short, quick, and potent, Horns centers around some dark subject matter. I’d probably give this book an R-rating: it’s not for families, kids, or the weak-stomached. Get past the gory, crude, and dark subject matter, however, and the reader is left with a pretty engaging moral and theological debate.
Horns quite literally plays Devil’s Advocate and asks questions like: Is the morality of “sin” universal or relative? and Is it possible for someone to sin their way to salvation? Whether or not the book answers these questions is another thing entirely. All in all, Horns is less filled with super beautiful and quotable lines and focuses in on presenting the perspective and the concept of Evil in two completely different ways. Terrifying, mysterious, and thought-provoking, Horns is a quick and jaw-dropping read that plays on the reader’s deepest fears and darkest desires. So, suspend that disbelief, momentarily forget about those pre-existing beliefs, and hear the Devil out.
“Him and God are supposed to be at war with each other. But if God hates sin and Satan punishes the sinners, aren’t they working the same side of the street? Aren’t the judge and the executioner on the same team?”
Horns is a mystery novel, and it begins with Ignatius “Ig” Perrish waking up from an understandably rough night, as the day before was the anniversary of the rape and murder of his girlfriend, Merrin Williams. The entire town of Gideon, New Hampshire believes him to be the guilty, although Ig was never even charged for the crime due to both a lack of evidence and his insistence on his innocence. He has a headache on this particular morning, which is again understandable since he is very hungover, and oh yeah, horns have just broken out of the skin on his forehead. Soon, Ig is shocked to find that one: no one seems to think his horns are all that weird (and they forget about them as soon as they look away), and two: that the horns cause people to compulsively confess to him their deepest desires. AND, when they want Ig to weigh in on what they should do about their urges, he finds his opinion has considerable sway in their immediate actions; however, he can’t make any of them do something they already don’t want to do. Oh, one more power, upon skin-to-skin contact with a person, he learns their identities as well as some of their darkest secrets.
As Ig attempts to figure out why he has spontaneously grown horns, he begins to realize why some secrets should never be spoken. The saddest part of it all is that no one even realizes they’re saying them out loud, much less saying them to Ig. Right as the first few chapters come to an end, Ig accidentally finds out the identity of Merrin’s killer, as the horns force out some crucial information from someone unexpected. The remainder of the story becomes Ig trying to solidify his innocence through proving another guilty (with the help of the horns, of course), but this is all easier said than done. Turns out, trying to frame an ingenious sociopath who has intimate knowledge of your life is just about as hard as it sounds, supernatural horns or not. We also get the perspective of the killer, and are plunged into the terrifying mind of a twisted child who slowly and deliberately grows into the murder we already know him/her to be.
Smart, angry, unpredictable, and psychologically terrifying, Joe Hill’s Horns is a book worth reading, if you want a good scare and an interesting philosophy to discuss with your friends. Morally fresh, this novel blurs the line between evil and eviler, suggesting the engaging theological perspective centered around how “sin” by be an unfair institution in which whether or not the sin was really committed isn’t important at all–it’s all about perception, and often, dealing with assumed guilt. Happy reading, and don’t forget to leave a light on.
Facts Worth Mentioning:
Creepy psychological “whodunit” novel? Sound familiar? It is! Joe Hill is actually Stephen King’s son. I guess horror really does run in the family.
Itching to shred that image of that one child star you love? You’re in luck! Horns was recently made into a feature film starring the ever-talented Daniel Radcliffe. Though the film adaptation is a bit different than the book, Radcliffe’s American accent is completely killer, all jokes aside. On top of that, the trailer is really awesome. Check it out, but only after you read it.