NOS4A2 Author: Joe Hill | Language: English | ISBN:
B009NF6Z2K | Format: PDF
NOS4A2 Description
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.
Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. 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.
Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. 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.”
Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.
- File Size: 1890 KB
- Print Length: 709 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 0062200577
- Publisher: William Morrow; Reprint edition (April 30, 2013)
- Sold by: HarperCollins Publishers
- Language: English
- ASIN: B009NF6Z2K
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,474 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #15
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > United States - #47
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Psychological - #63
in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Psychological Thrillers
- #15
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Literature & Fiction > Horror > United States - #47
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Suspense > Psychological - #63
in Books > Mystery, Thriller & Suspense > Thrillers > Psychological Thrillers
Joe Hill called NOS4A2 his "senior PhD thesis on horror"," about a very bad man with a very bad car". Manx is a 140 year old man who drives around in a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the vanity plate NOS4A2 and kidnaps children, taking them to Christmas-land. He entreaties helpers as needed to "take care" of loose ends (like parents).
This is a truly horrifying tale that grabs you in the first chapter and doesn't let go until the end - at which point you're almost guaranteed to have a nightmare or two. Through all 700 plus pages Hill does not waste a single word. Each character is well thought out and presented; each a solid building block in this fascinating and chilling tale.
To me Bing Partridge, who is the chosen assistant in our timeline, is the most disturbing character in the story as he is not deliberately malevolent. Victoria, Vic, the Brat is the young lady hero who is a "finder" and can move through the inscapes thus putting herself in harm's way. There is always a toll; a price for our actions and passing into another place/time causes Vic to become very ill the longer she remains "over there". When Vic rides her bike through the no-longer-existent, rotting covered bridge and meets a punk styled librarian, she learns of Maggie's talent for reading impending events through manipulation of Scrabble tiles. Though Victoria is warned to stay away from the Rolls Royce Wraith it becomes like a magnet drawing her closer and closer.
Christmas-land holds a horrible end for the children whose bodies are never found since they are ordained to live there forever. It becomes Vic's destiny to put an end to Manx, the vampire of the chi, who does not drink blood but takes from his victims something far more precious.
One of the fun things about reading a lot of horror novels is watching the faces of your more well-adjusted friends as you explain, straight-faced, the premise of a book you just enjoyed. When I say that I just finished a great book about a vampire Rolls-Royce Wraith that sucks the life out of children and keeps them trapped forever in a Christmas-themed fantasy world, responses range from polite disinterest to something like self-righteous indignation (the latter reaction generally coming from friends that would list Ulysses as a favorite novel). When I explain this to a horror fan, though, I anticipate a slight widening of the eyes, and an enthusiastic response -- possibly followed by a trip to Wikipedia.
This is not because the people that read horror novels are idiots or have low standards. Quite the opposite -- it's because we know that good writing -- the gift of storytelling, the gift of execution -- can override a ridiculous sounding premise, and we take immense joy in seeing this being done successfully. There's almost a sense of rebellion in this process -- take THAT, Flaubert! -- and a great deal of fun. And I imagine that Joe Hill had -quite- a bit of fun while writing this monster of a novel. He overcomes the relative weakness of a far fetched plot idea by making great use of his strengths: a natural gift for characterization and a large, welcoming imagination that birthed an interesting new mythos. Taken as a whole, it feels as if we are witnessing something very exciting: a writer growing in confidence, skill, and discovering his own unique voice to craft what is rightfully being called a breakout novel.
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