What I've Been Reading:'Horns' by Joe Hill

The "New York Times" bestselling author of "Heart-Shaped Box" returns with a relentless supernatural thriller that runs like Hell on wheels . . .

Merrin Williams is dead, slaughtered under inexplicable circumstances, leaving her beloved boyfriend Ignatius Perrish as the only suspect. On the first anniversary of Merrin's murder, Ig spends the night drunk and doing awful things. When he wakes the next morning he has a thunderous hangover . . . and horns growing from his temples. Ig possesses a terrible new power to go with his terrible new look--a macabre gift he intends to use to find the monster who killed his lover. Being good and praying for the best got him nowhere. Now it's time for revenge . . .

"It's time the devil had his due. . . . "

The blurb on this book really intrigued me. I love horror, in fact it's probably my favourite genre. There's just something about a book that creeps you out and has you checking the room before you go in that I love. Maybe it has something to do with the flight or fight thing, adrenaline pumping through your veins. Horror writing does for me what sky diving does for other people. It makes me feel alive.

This was a stunning read. It had everything I look for in a good novel. There was horror (of both the human and non-human kind), there was a good mystery, a bit of romance and a huge helping of suspense.

Ignatius "Ig" Perrish wakes up to find he has grown a pair of horns overnight. And as if that wasn't weird enough, they seem to have some strange effect on the people around him, causing them to tell him their deepest secrets and darkest desires. In just the first 24 hours of having the horns, he finds out more about his family and friends than he ever wanted to know. And he begins to realise that there may just be one advantage to the horns. They could help him find out the truth about who murdered his girlfriend and help him clear his name.

And so begins an adventure into the dark minds of his loved ones as he tries to unravel the mysteries surrounding his girlfriend's death, while entering the no man's land of evil that lurks within man's heart.

This was one of those deep and meaningful horrors, the kind that doesn't set out to simply scare you but instead creeps inside your mind and takes root there, making you think of things differently, contemplate your own mortality.

I loved this book and can't wait to read more by Joe Hill, especially his latest novel 'NOS4R2'. I'd recommend his work for any of you who are fans of his dad (the infamous Stephen King in case you didn't know).