Ignatius Perrish spent the night drunk and doing terrible things. He woke up the next morning with a pair of horns growing from his temples. At first, Ig thought the horns were a hallucination, the product of a mind damaged by rage and grief. He had spent the last year in a lonely, private purgatory, following the death of his beloved, Merrin Williams, who had been raped and murdered under inexplicable circumstances. A mental breakdown would have been the most natural thing in the world. But there was nothing natural about the horns, which were all too real. Once, the righteous Ig had enjoyed the life of the blessed. But Merrin's death damned all that. The only suspect in the crime, Ig was never charged or tried. And he was never cleared. Nothing Ig can do or say matters. Everyone it seems, including God, has abandoned him. Everyone that is, but the devil inside. . . . Now Ig is possessed of a terrible new power—a macabre talent he intends to use to find the monster who killed Merrin and destroyed his life. It's time for a little revenge . . . it's time the devil had his due . . . |
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| Review Date: May 21, 2010 |
| Reviewer: Nicole Del Sesto, Northern Cal |
This book kicked Heart-Shaped Box's butt. I can now take Hill seriously as an author, and not an over-hyped progeny.
The audio started a bit rough for me, because every 3 or 4 sentences the narrator took an audible breath, but the story started so strongly, I quickly forgot to be annoyed by the breathing. The first chapters of the book are absolutely hilarious.
I found the premise of this book to be really original, and for the most part, really well done. A young man, Ig, tortured by the unsolved rape and murder of his beloved high-school sweetheart, wakes up from a drunken evening to find horns growing out of his head. Not just any horns, but powerful horns, which compel people to tell their deepest darkest truths.
The story flashes through several periods of Ig's life, and his early relationships with his girlfriend, brother and their group of friends. Parts of that were a bit indulgent for me, but parts of it were really good too. As the story progressed, it mostly got stronger. Toward the latter part of the book, (without giving ANY kind of spoiler) one bit was really cliche and added absolutely nothing to the story, and frankly was a contributing factor of my rating of the book a 4 vs. a 5.
Overall, however, this was a very entertaining listen. Humor, thriller, creative, original, fast-paced, hard to put down.
In terms of the narrator, again, once I got over the loud breathing I thought he did a really good job. There were parts where he really added a level of suspense by the way he read.
I'd definitely recommend either the written or audio of this book.
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