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Sheila Deeth
, March 30, 2017
(view all comments by Sheila Deeth)
Joe Hill’s Nos4a2 is a long sprawling story where all the pieces fit together, where none of the scenes could be cut, and where every character plays a vital part. It’s a powerfully gripping read, combining physical and emotional terror, human need and greed, sanity and the edges of insanity, and a flawed protagonist growing from child to parent to runaway. “You’re not crazy. You’re creative!” Maggie tells Vic. But creative carries a price, and sometimes that price is too much to pay.
Parents and children people these pages, flawed, human and achingly real. Sometimes they refuse to listen or understand. Sometimes they break, and sometimes they break each other. But sometimes the anchor of love just might be enough to build new bridges and restore what’s lost. Maybe.
The premise of Nos4a2 is seriously cool--what if the constructs in our heads, as well as the music and paintings in our heads, could be made real? The resulting story is executed to convincingly it pulls the reader in without any space to reason why. Arguments ring true because they have to be, and the bike will chase the car. And Vic will be, must be, surely victorious…
Author Joe Hill builds his readers’ trust and never betrays it in this beautifully structured, hauntingly executed tale. It’s the sort of novel that stays with you afterward, inviting you to ask just what happened, what would you be willing to believe, and what price would you pay.
Disclosure: It was a Christmas present.
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