Darkness

Interview with Joe Hill

We all process terror and horror differently, what is scary to some, is just plain ridicules to others. Our reaction to what scares us I believe is deeply rooted in our psyche. Case in point, Horns, which I just read by Joe Hill and I kid you not, this was the most terrifying book that I’ve read. Initially I started reading it but quit after chapter one because I thought the premise of the story was pretty stupid.

However, I just could not get the main character, Iggy Parrish, out of my mind. He had taken root in the deep dark area of my brain and the only way to get rid of him I thought was to exorcise him by following him to the end. So I grabbed the book and finished reading it. I admit, there were still some sections of the story I could not get myself to read and glanced over them quickly before moving on to the next scene. By now you probably think I am some kind of wimp. It is just a story after all.

I think being raised Catholic has something to do with how I related to Iggy waking up as the devil. As a child, the devil was around every corner tempting anyone in his vicinity. There exist a struggle between what is right and wrong and in a perfect world the devil would always lose. But what if...

...the scariest thing imaginable happen, waking up as the devil like Iggy. Scarier still is how the other characters reacted to him. I don’t know but for me taking the reader to the darkest depths of unspeakable impiety is more terrifying than say invasions of aliens or vampires.

Regardless, I totally recommend reading this book, Joe Hill is a talented writer. Which is no surprise, after all he did learn from the most prolific of horror writers, his dad.

Another blogger reviewed the book here and the another review here.