Book 53 - Now That's My Kind of Christmas Story

Title: N0S4A2

Author: Joe Hill

Genre: heavymetal horror

Oh. My. God.

Okay, I don't know what I expected when I started the journey i.e. MOTHERFUCKING ROLLER COASTER that is this book, but it wasn't even close to the actual experience. I still feel like I'm reeling and I finished it more than 24 hours ago.

Wow.

This finely-crafted story is Something Wicked This Way Comes meets Heavy Metal (the movie and the genre), with Ellen Ripley pushing her mind, body, and spirit to the edge to defeat a seriously demented Santa Claus and his creepy hook-toothed child-demon-worm things.

Yeah. It's nuts.

Hill writes with jealousy-inspiring ease. His characters are especially interesting. Vic and Lou aren't your typical heroes: she's a renown artist who's in and out of rehab, covered in tattoos, and strained relationships with her shitty parents; he's an obese comic-book nerd and autobody mechanic who says "dude" a lot more than the average adult and just adores Vic with every inch of his wonderful heart. They're people you might see having a few or more drinks at a dive bar in some small town, or maybe you'd catch Lou stuffed into a Batman costume at an expo - they're relateable, highly flawed, and human in all the ways it hurts.

Hill's also waves playfully at the reader on multiple occasions In a map described in this book, locations such as Pennywise's Circus (from It) and Lovecraft, Massachusetts (from Locke & Key) show up. And near the end:

"...as if [SPOILER AVOIDED] were trying to close itself like a book, a novel that had reached its ending, a story that reader and author were about to set aside."

I see what you did there, Hill!

Rating: 🏍🏍🏍🏍🏍 /5