At least I think that’s how you’re supposed to write it…..
What’s it all about?
Very nasty serial killer with supernatural car and obsession with Christmas seems to have come back to life and is going after the girl who got away in order to wreak his revenge.
Why did I want to read it?
It’s complicated.
What did I think of it?
That’s also complicated. N0S-4R2 had the same effect on me that Drood did only slightly more so. I have several Joe Hill books but until this had only read one (Heart-Shaped Box which I reviewed here). I should have loved this one; after all serial killer, nasty accomplice, heroine who has had her life ruined by early trauma having to face up to her fears, plucky small boy, flawed but loving husband. And then there are the supernatural elements, our heroine’s special ability, the whole Christmasland thing, and of course the car. I didn’t mind the violence; let’s face it I’ve read and enjoyed a lot of horror so violence isn’t something I’m overly bothered about. I came to like several of the characters. There was just something that didn’t click for me which left this being a good book rather than a great one. I think it was just too long and baggy for the story that was being told; I stopped reading it for a bit because a little voice in my head which kept asking why is this taking so long? And yet despite that the ending felt a bit rushed to me (while also setting up a possible sequel). What it comes down to is that I felt tense and anxious for the Vic and Lou and Wayne while I was reading it but I was never actually scared
Conclusion
A hard one. I really wanted to like this more. It’s by no means bad, has real flashes of inventiveness but *whispers* it outstayed its welcome. Hasn’t stopped me buying the comic though (Lord knows what that says about me).
Bride of the Book God 
6 comments
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December 28, 2013 at 7:58 pm
mistylayne
Great review and I absolutely agree. I really really like Hill but this was my least favorite of his. Felt very very much like his father’s work for one and it definitely did drag on. I actually didn’t completely finish it, I just skipped to the end finally because I’d had enough.
December 28, 2013 at 8:15 pm
brideofthebookgod
It didn’t so much feel like his father’s work to me (I think if it had been King it would have had a very different style) but as if he was trying to write something like his Dad. And that’s probably why it din’t quite work.
December 29, 2013 at 5:49 pm
mistylayne
That’s more of what I meant, sorry, that he was trying to write something like his dad – it felt like it was more of his father’s work than his own.
December 30, 2013 at 2:36 am
Jenny @ Reading the End
I am embarrassed at how long it took me to make the connection between the title of this book and Nosferatu. Derp. I am dumb. Yours is the first just-so-so review I’ve read of this book, I think!
December 30, 2013 at 9:39 am
brideofthebookgod
I wanted to like it more, Jenny. I know some people have loved it.
March 15, 2015 at 6:06 pm
Short Reads Round-Up #3 – Stephen King special | Bride of the Book God
[…] collaboration with his son, whose work I have also read but have found problematic in the past (see N0S4R2 for a start). King can be very nasty on occasion but I find him to have greater humanity in his […]