Horns is more supernatural suspense than straight out horror, and is also, at times, a touching romantic comedy. It looks at fear, secret dark desires, love, hate and death.
The first part, in this five part book, is called “Hell”. It can probably be best summed up by the saying “Hell is other people.” Our hero, Ig, wakes up after a night of angry drinking and sacrilegious vandalism, sporting a pair of horns. We discover that Ig is the primary suspect in the rape and murder of his girlfriend the year before. It isn't only the new horns and the old accusations that Ig has to contend with. People reveal their darkest secrets in his presence and often act on their darkest desires, and Ig is, more often than not, who they want to harm. Through this device, Hill shows that everyone has a dark side and no one is completely innocent. Hill looks at what is evil and how evil materialises. It also contrasts the idealised love between Ig and his dead girlfriend, Merrin, who being dead cannot reveal her darkness to him, and his new girlfriend, Glenna.
Glenna is flawed, less intelligent, less pure and less classy than Merrin. When Ig, or the reader, compares the two, Glenna suffers as a result. Her main flaw seems to be a strong desire to make others happy, leading to some self destructive decisions, but almost as far from evil as one can get. Yet she is still cheapened by comparison. I believe Hill was fully aware of what he was doing here and is intentionally challenging Ig's and the reader's prejudices as far as Glenna v Merrin are concerned.
In the second part, “Cherry”, we return to Ig's childhood. We see how and when he first met Merrin and the couple's friendship with troubled teen, Lee. These two parts vary in content, pace and style. In isolation it isn't easy to fit the pieces together. However, the parts become a whole as the book progresses and I prefer this way of handling the vital backstory than the more usual flashback method. It allows for a slow and balanced revelation later on. Lee, at first, is shown as a youth with problems but a big heart. He saves Ig's life and shows extraordinary humility about his bravery. It is only later that we learn about the toxicity of this antagonist. He is set against the devil and shown to be more evil and less capable of redemption.
The third part continues the story of horned Ig, and adeptly handles theological philosophy in an entertaining and thought-provoking way as Ig learns to embrace the demon revealing itself in him.
“So many have wept for Jesus on His cross. As if no one else has ever suffered as He suffered. As if millions have not shuffled to worse deaths, and died unremembered … Merrin and I were to each other like man and wife. But she wanted more than me, wanted freedom, a life, a chance to discover herself … I hated her for this. So did God. For simply imagining she might open her legs to another man, He turned His face from her, and when she called to Him, as she was raped and murdered, He pretended He did not hear … His terror of a woman's power to choose who to love and how to love, to redefine love as she sees fit, not as God thinks it ought to be … Only the devil operates with any reason, promising to punish those who would make earth itself Hell for those who dare to love and feel.”
The fourth part shows us Lee, the antagonist, warts and all. His childhood and his relationship with his difficult mother. The fifth brings all the threads together and offers a supremely satisfying conclusion.
It's a fun read, which frequently soars above fun to become a great read. Horns displays Joe Hill's talent for writing the quirky and the strange.
4.5/5 stars.