Flyer book review: NOS4A2

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“NOS4A2” by Joe Hill / William Morrow Books, 768 pages


Charles Talent Manx III is 115 years old, drives a vintage Rolls Royce Wraith with plate number NOS4A2 (Nosferatu), and wants to take unhappy, neglected children to Christmasland. Our introduction to Manx is on his deathbed, but he doesn’t die. Inside his Wraith, Manx can create his own roads to Christmasland, where unhappiness is not an option.

Victoria McQueen can escape her alcoholic, indifferent parents by hopping on her bicycle, a Raleigh Tuff Burner, and pedalling away. Vic’s gift, and curse, is her ability to find lost things. On her prized Tuff Burner, she can travel across The Shorter Way bridge, which only she can see. The Shorter Way takes her to lost things just by thinking about them, and takes a little from her in return.

Joe Hill‘s “NOS4A2” is the story of Vic and Charles, how they create the worlds that destroy them, and how they intersect and collide. Their stories span decades. In her youth, Vic discovers Manx and is the only child to ever escape him. As an adult, Vic will have to find Manx again… But, the less you know the better.

“NOS4A2” is Hill’s best novel yet, more than fulfilling the promise of his previous novel “Horns.” In “NOS4A2,” Hill grounds the supernatural with naturalism, and his foundation for the extraordinary is the ordinary. You never fall out of Hill’s spell because you never stop believing that what you’re reading is real, a rare and exceptional feat for a Horror/Fantasy writer. “NOS4A2” is Hill at his most suspenseful and illuminating.

I highly recommend “NOS4A2” for fans of horror, or anyone wanting a great escape.

» Buy it locally at Nightbird Books