Victoria McQueen has a secret gift for finding things: a misplaced bracelet, a missing photograph, answers to unanswerable questions. On her Raleigh Tuff Burner bike, she makes her way to a rickety covered bridge that, within moments, takes her wherever she needs to go, whether it’s across Massachusetts or across the country.
Charles Talent Manx has a way with children. He likes to take them for rides in his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith with the NOS4A2 vanity plate. With his old car, he can slip right out of the everyday world, and onto the hidden roads that transport them to an astonishing – and terrifying – playground of amusements he calls “Christmasland.”
Then, one day, Vic goes looking for trouble—and finds Manx. That was a lifetime ago. Now Vic, the only kid to ever escape Manx’s unmitigated evil, is all grown up and desperate to forget. But Charlie Manx never stopped thinking about Victoria McQueen. He’s on the road again and he’s picked up a new passenger: Vic’s own son.
This is my second Joe Hill novel. My first one, of course, being his most recent, The Fireman, which, as you recall, I absolutely adore. This one is no different. I didn't know much about this book going into it. All I knew from the get-go was that there was a Christmas theme, kidnapped children and a creepy old man. That was it. Initially I thought that Christmasland was like a camp of some sort. But Joe Hill, in his Joe Hill way, made it be so much more than that.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Like I mentioned in my review for The Fireman, one of my favourite books ever, The worlds and characters and events he creates are so unique and original. Charles Manx is like a creepier, evil-er version of Willy Wonka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (I am not unconvinced that Wonka was in fact a man of evil intent), and if I ever see a Rolls-Royce Wraith from 1938, I am going to run like Manx himself is chasing after me, that is how good of a character creator Joe Hill is. Every single character brings something original and unique to the table and Hill manipulates the readers' emotion into feeling sympathy for the characters or feeling terror for the characters, sometimes both with the case of the character of Bing, who is so twisted and messed up, you can't help but feel sympathy for him, but also heave a sigh of relief when he gets what's coming for him. The characters are ragged, sweet, funny, twisted, pure evil, the list goes on and on. No two characters are the same.And by god, does he know how to write a good villain. Manx made my blood chill. If I was ever in a battle against the forces of Christmas-using-evil, I would hella have Vic McQueen and Maggie as my backup crew. These ladies are so realistic and badass and cool. They've been through the ringer and came out stronger. What Joe Hill does so great is not make his characters all black-and-white. His characters are a mosaic of greyness for the most part, making for a realistic cast of characters.
Hill's writing style as always is incredible. Like The Fireman, he builds up the tension slowly and carefully, until you're up until 1am to see how it ends, because oh god, it's so intense and exciting and thrilling by the end and you need to know what happens next. He doesn't create a false sense of security. No, instead he throws the false sense of security out the window. There's always an uneasy feeling threading its way through the narrative, waiting for the other shoe to drop. There are many references to his Dad Stephen King's works snuck in there (my personal favourite is the reference to Pennywise the Clown from It) as well as many other pop culture references; the character of Lou is a walking pop culture reference which makes it all the more human and real. It took me so long to realize that the title of the book is a play on the silent movie Nosferatu which features vampires and is hugely influential on horror creators, so the title works.
All in all, this book is nothing short of incredible. Joe Hill has very quickly become one of my favourite writers This book was the perfect blend, with excellent characters, a unique plot, and the perfect amount of humour and thrills. It's thrilling, it's witty, it's exciting, and it's oddly enough very sad in moments. I'm giving NOS4A2 a 5/5. I absolutely enjoyed this book and can't wait to read others by Joe Hill.
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