N0S 4R2 by Joe Hill

Book Review by Alan Bett | 03 Dec 2014
Book title: N0S 4R2
Author: Joe Hill

All books are page-turners by default, how else might they be read? But it’s the velocity of turning which provides some sort of measure. N0S 4R2 lives at the higher end of the scale. A deliciously horrific fantasy in which a young girl with supernatural gifts confronts the similarly empowered Charlie Manx, a dangerous and evil child abductor in a Rolls Royce Wraith bearing the vampiric registration N0S 4R2. Its finest creation is a dark fairytale henchman who incapacitates victims with gingerbread-scented gas – the results are grimmer than Grimm. 

This is the third novel of Joe Hill, son of Stephen King. While his earlier – and excellent – book Horns set him out as a writer of individual talent, N0S 4R2 shows that he’s also his father’s son. The influence feels inherited rather than replicated here and not only takes the voice of King classics The Shining and IT, but also inhabits his universe, with references to Pennywise and his Derry home. It is a more ambitious book than Horns, but also more sprawling and unruly, with less structural discipline. The story walks a tightrope of believability at times, often saving itself through sheer force of narrative. While lacking some depth – a serious subtext of child neglect proves mere window dressing – it remains the work of a talented and evolving storyteller whose pages sure do turn. [Alan Bett]

Out now, published by Gollancz, RRP £7.99