"Ignatius Martin Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things."
With that irresistible opening line, Joe Hill's Horns grabs you and won't let go. And when Ig touches his forehead and realizes he's growing horns - and quickly learns that every person he meets will tell him their darkest, ugliest thoughts - you know he's in for a hell of a ride, especially when he realizes that his newfound power may lead him to his girlfriend's killer.
I hadn't read Horns until Herald TV critic Glenn Garvin stumbled out of his office one day to ask: Have you read this guy Joe Hill? I hadn't. Glenn, who keeps me posted on all necessary vampire, zombie and other horror-related events, said: This book is great. Since he was the first person to tell me The Walking Dead TV series was awe-inspiring, I listened to him, and he was right. Horns is dark, twisted, even sometimes funny in a macabre way.
Also worth your time is Hill's first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, which I'm reading now, which involves a haunted suit, a murderous ghost and heroic dogs. But more on that later.
Hill appears at 7 p.m.Tuesday at Books & Books in Coral Gables. You can read Glenn's interview with him here. And if you like Hill's books, you might want to check out some of the stuff his old man writes. He's not bad either. Name of Stephen King.
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