This has been the slowest I’ve read something in a hot minute. And I feel bad because it’s not as if I didn’t enjoy Joe Hill’s Horns, I just found my self opting out of reading on a lot of the days in the first half of the month.
I didn’t realize how long it had been, but I actually watched the 2013 film adaptation of this novel back when it came out. It was one of the first projects Daniel Radcliffe did after his Harry Potter days, and I knew he’d be in a bunch of cool indie films ever since. But this is not about him, this is about the book. Of course, I can’t help but compare to the novel, even if it has been over ten years since I’ve seen it. One day Ig Perrish wakes up to find that he has two little horns poking out of his forehead. He thinks maybe he’s more drunk than he thought.
But then the weirdest stuff starts happening. People are telling him their most absurd secrets, and if they really want to do them, all Ig has to do is provide a little positive reinforcement. This newfound ability backfires on him though when he learns what almost everyone in his small town thinks of him. This is complicated because a year prior, his longtime girlfriend, Merrin, had just broken up with him when she was found dead in the woods. Of course Ig was the only suspect, but the evidence that existed that could have cleared his named was burned up in a lab fire and he’s been the town’s pariah ever since.
The only person that doesn’t seem to feel any disdain towards him is his older brother, Terry. When Ig meets up with him, Terry admits that Ig and Merrin’s friend Lee Tourneau is the one who killed Merrin. Ig also learns from this confession that when someone touches Ig he can also see all the really bad things that people have done in their lives. It’s here that Ig gets part of the story, but his brother was passed out drunk to provide the rest of the details. It’s when Ig confronts Lee that he’s able to get the rest of the terrible details. Merrin was a good person, and it’s a crime what happened to her, but it’s also a crime what would have happened to her, but I won’t spoil all of the surprises.
This was a fun, albeit overly detailed book. I know learning about how Ig met Merrin was important, and that it was also important to see the Lee was a sociopath even ten years ago, but this book did kind of drag on. I did also like seeing what else Ig’s horns made him capable of – siring thousands of snakes is pretty neat. And also handy in the end. I will say that ultimately Ig did get his happy ending, just maybe not in the way you’d think. Also, if reading is not your style, I thought the movie did a fine job of covering most of the details, so check it out!