NOS4A2

OH MY GOD
THE ENDING?!?!?

I enjoyed this so much! I had some issues with the story, it just felt incomplete sometimes but its hard to explain

nearly cried when I thought Lou died, he was the highlight of this book and I love him

the acknowledgements at the end actually made me laugh and has convinced me to read Joe hills other works!

I picked this book up because Joe hill is Stephen kings son but I didn't go into this book with high expectations because Joe and Stephen are two different people and I wasn't expecting this to be a King book but a Hill book. Ive seen some reviews of people getting disappointed that this book didn't read like a King book.. im sorry but if you went into this expecting King, prepare to be disappointed. Hill is NOT King and King is NOT Hill. they are two different authors.

Maybe 3.5 stars?

This book's premise is pretty creepy but I also kinda feel like it was just that little bit shy of hitting the true creepy-spot for me. Maybe it was in finding out too much about the antagonist too quickly? Maybe it was that there was no particular enigma or mystery to find out here, so it really kinda felt like a horror-thriller but there wasn't really any kind of suspense.

I felt like the pacing of this book was a little slow too, weirdly enough because there is quite a lot of action happening. There were so many parts where I just felt like skimming or skipping ahead already - but maybe it was also because I already could tell how the plot was going to develop miles ahead and just wanted to skip through all that and just find out the ending already. I had a strong suspicion Maggie Leigh would eventually become one of Manx's victims, I knew that we'd see Manx turn on Bing at some point, and that Vic would obviously kill him, and then find a way to destroy Christmasland because Manx would've kidnapped her kid. I wasn't sure if Vic would survive the book or not, so I wasn't that surprised or impacted when she did in fact die in the end.

I kept dragging my feet coming back to this book, which is probably why I finished it so quickly because I kinda wanted to get it over and done with. There was a lot of things depressing and unpleasant about it, but I guess that's also kinda the point of a horror novel, so I don't know whether that's really a negative point in this case. At the same time, it didn't quite cross a line and become too triggering where I would've just DNFed, so I guess that's why I eventually pushed myself to finish it.

It did have some elements that were pretty thought-provoking, although I don't know how intentional this was. For example, it painted a pretty visceral picture of how frustrating it is to be in a situation that is not aligned with what the institution would like to pigeonhole you in. In this case, it's Vic having one side of the story but the institution choosing to believe another story about her and twisting all the facts to align with their side of the story, and how powerless it made her feel. This is unfortunately all too real. It reminded me of the Netflix documentary, Take Care of Maya, where the institution also forcibly removed a daughter from her mother because it made a judgement and believed the daughter to be suffering from abuse from the mother, though both daughter and mother deny this. So the bit where the police kept repeating, “Your son's well-being is paramount.” while disregarding and even risking the safety and well-being of both parents while also completely dismissing the accounts of both parents as false reminded me strongly of that documentary and how real a situation this can be in America.

Anyway, so... 3.5 stars because I did occasionally find my thoughts wandering back to Manx and Christmasland even after I had put the book down so at least there's something in that.

When I was in high school, I had a big Stephen King phase (like had my sweet sixteen party at the hotel that inspired the Shining big). I read a huge portion of his catalog and really loved the suspense and scare factor. Sometime in my twenties, I stopped liking that feeling, and mostly cut horror out of my media diet. So when my book club picked this one, I was apprehensive. My only experience with Joe Hill was a short story collection I found when I lived abroad and read because English books were so hard to come by, and that collection was SCARY.

I'm not sure if this book was not that scary or if I'm just no longer as easy to scare as a I once was. Hill refers to it as his senior thesis on horror fiction, and the nods to his father's work are everywhere. It's at many points clever, and the heroes are unconventional and interesting. It also has an extremely well written child protagonist which is a rarity. The pacing and suspense are right up there with King's work too (I do feel bad to keep comparing the two as I'm sure Hill is sick of it, but this book is so clearly a love letter to his father's work).

That said, did I enjoy it? Not really. As a new mom, I'm really not into child endangerment stories, and a lot of the trauma and scary parts were less suspenseful and more uncomfortable for me. Mild bad things happen to kids and dogs in this book, and I am just not here for that I pretty much knew who would live and die because of the tried and true King formulas, and the horrific Christmas imagery was just not something I enjoyed at all. Is it a bad book? Not at all. If you enjoy horror, especially works like IT, I think this is a great piece in that genre, but the time when I could really enjoy it is long past.

Executive Summary: I liked this book a lot more than I expected to, especially given that it's horror, which is not really my genre of choice.Audiobook: I love Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway. In fact I happened to stop listening one day and turn on the TV and Voyager was on, which made for a very surreal experience.I didn't know she narrated audiobooks, but she has a great voice for it. Not only that, but she does a variety of voices that really add that extra something that makes it worth doing this in audio rather than reading with your eyeballs.Full ReviewI first ran across Joe Hill with his excellent [b:Locke & Key 26225895 Locke & Key Joe Hill https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1441385552s/26225895.jpg 46920430] series. That is also supposed to be horror too, but for me the fantastical elements made it really enjoyable for me. This book is in a similar vein.I know Joe Hill changed his last name to try to distance himself from his much more famous father, but this book felt like it could easily have been written by his dad. There were a few easter eggs that seemed to nod to his father, including a mention of Mid World, which I thought was interesting because one of my first thoughts about this book was that Randall Flagg would be very interested in capturing some of these people to use as breakers.I love the idea of traveling hidden ways and discovering secrets that was the core of the fantastical elements of this book. It reminded me a lot of [b:The Talisman 59219 The Talisman (The Talisman, #1) Stephen King https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1170530286s/59219.jpg 3324421]. I feel bad comparing this so much to his father, but in this case I think that's a good thing, because he is one of the few horror writers I seem to like.That said, this is definitely its own thing, even if it might happen to take place on another level of the Dark Tower. This book is the kind of horror that is more about the kind of things people do to each other and themselves than a book about a monster or killer doing awful things.Don't get me wrong, this book has those things, but not all the worst parts of this book are perpetrated by the villain, but the protagonists. I think that's another reason why it reminded me of a Stephen King book. I thought Vic McQueen was a great character who is incredibly flawed and terribly damaged.I'm sure it's hard for Joe Hill not to have been influenced by his parents, and he talks a bit about growing up in a family of writers in his author's note at the end. I'm certainly much more inclined to pick up another book of his now after how much I enjoyed this one. I'm also really looking forward to seeing how the TV adaptation of this comes out.

Enjoyed the new take on the well worn theme of vampires, and was so excited to enjoy, once again, the mystical elements of [a:Stephen King 3389 Stephen King https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg]'s Gunslinger series, [b:Christine 10629 Christine Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1663053062l/10629.SY75.jpg 1150571], and [b:The Stand 149267 The Stand Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305l/149267.SX50.jpg 1742269]; Randall Flagg, Trashcan Man, The Crimson King's eye, Tom Cullen's M.O.O.N, a car with a mind of its own, downright creepy people, and people giving their all for others. And I had flashes of [a:Neil Gaiman 1221698 Neil Gaiman https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1234150163p2/1221698.jpg]'s [b:American Gods 30165203 American Gods (American Gods, #1) Neil Gaiman https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1462924585l/30165203.SY75.jpg 1970226] on the kids under the ice.I aspire to be more like Lou in his immediate and full support of his loved ones and friends.Thanks Rob for the recommend!

I absolutely loved this book, with all my twisted little heart. I wanted to go back and read it again as soon as I finished it, I didn't want to leave its world behind me. Joe Hill signs his best work to date and wow, what a trip it is!! I have to admit that the ending did feel a bit rushed and some characters did not quite get the spectacular finish I was hoping for... but honestly, that was a minor annoyance next to the ridiculous amount of fun I had while reading NOS4A2. I already cannot wait for Joe Hill's next story.

This is the Hill I was expecting to read. You can really tell the level of writer he truly is. I was BLOWN AWAY by how much I loved this book. I don't want to compare him to his father, because he is an talented author in his own write, but this book gave me the exact type of experience that made me one of King's biggest fan's. That being said, this story was unique, enthralling and had me reading late in to the night. It made me laugh, gave me chills and tugged at my heart strings all at once. It's my first Joe Hill book and now I'm hooked for life. Hill is not an auto-buy. What a horrifying and beautiful story!

Rating: 3.61 leaves out of 5-Characters: 3.75/5-Cover: 4/5-Story: 3.5/5-Writing: 4/5Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror-Fantasy: 4/5-Paranormal: 4/5-Horror: 2/5Type: AudiobookWorth?: YeahHated Disliked Meh It Was Okay Liked LoveIt was an okay story. I like the jist of it but there times when I just didn't want to go back to it once I put it down. Vic started out pretty cool and then she became unlikable for a bit then so so later on. I did find some things in the book Joe had taken from his dad, which is kinda cool. As for the ending. Really didn't care for that either.

I read a few reviews here where readers were thrown off that NOS4A2 wasn't more like his dad's work. On the contrary, I felt like this particular novel was too much like his dad's work. I even felt like maybe SK ghostwrote some of this or least outlined the story for his son. I'm glad there were allusions to King's work like the True Knot from [b:Doctor Sleep 16130549 Doctor Sleep Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1510335480l/16130549.SY75.jpg 17851499], Pennywise from [b:It 830502 It Stephen King https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1334416842l/830502.SY75.jpg 150259], Shawshank...you know what, the whole book is just a reference to his dad's work. You even have Leland Gaunt driving his spooky car through Dark Tower portals. He says he put these in there as a joke, but ha ha after the 30th one? Anyway, I thought he did a pretty good job of pulling the reader into the universe but lacked good character development and the ending was done in true Stephen King form:650+ pages about how bad this dude is and 2 sentences for his downfall

This book was really really good in the beginning and then it dropped off for me. Joe Hill writes like a mixture of Dean Koontz and Stephen King (go figure). This story is not a traditional vampire story like I thought it would be. The villain is basically a guy who is called a vampire, has a bunch of needle teeth, and the way he stays young is by “saving” kids from an abusive home and bringing them to a horrific Lovecraft utopia called “Christmasland” in his 1932 Rolls Royce that magically turns the child into a monster like him and rejuvenates him into looking younger. This story is a bit out there if you ask me but worth reading at least once in your life.