A review by horrorgami
N0S4A2 by Joe Hill

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I've been putting this book on hold ever since i got it back in 2014 as a gift, and I'm so upset it took me this long (basically 10 years) to finally finish this book. It was such a whirlwind of a book, and I easily got attached to not only Victoria "the Brat" McQueen, but her parents (Linda and Chris), her unlikely librarian friend (Maggie), and the father of her child (Lou Carmody). Each character had there own thing about them that made them loveable, despite their obvious flaws. They were written so much like an every day human you interact with, that you realize that its okay to have flaws, were all human, and mistakes are okay and you can learn from them and grow past them. 

A horror novel set in Christmas was something I never thought would bring any genuine fear or fright, but Mr. Hill did a very good job in making that the case. There were moments where I was scared, moments I wanted to cry, moments I did outright cry, and moments where I was able to applaud and cheer for Vic and her accomplishments. 

Even the antagonist, Charlie Manx, was a well written character - he was bone chilling and there were times that I really didn't know what he planned to do next. Usually in horror novels, once you get a few hundred pages in, you can tell what a person will do next - they become predictable to a sense. This is not the case with Charlie Manx at all. If he were a real life person standing in front of me, he would be someone I would be afraid of, and would hope to be able to run the other way, unscathed. 
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