Horns by Joe Hill

"Ignatius (Ig) Perrish has been living in Hell. It's been almost a year since his girlfriend was brutally murdered, and Ig is still the primary person of interest. One morning, after a particularly rough night, he wakes to find he's grown a pair of horns. If that wasn't terrifying enough, he realizes that the horns compel people to tell him their deepest, darkest secrets. When he goes to his family for comfort, his brother drops a bombshell, and Ig realizes that the horns are the key to unlocking the mystery behind what really happened the night Merrin was killed. This was a brutal, disturbing, and dark read, but Hill has an undeniable knack for grabbing you right from the get go and not letting up until the very last page." 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐⭐

Pros: Ig is a genuinely good person/Though a brutally horrific story, Hill's style is effortless; you can't help but keep turning the pages.  

Cons: It's typical for a man to think a woman's flirting and then lash out when faced with the truth. It wasn't a con with the story per se, just men in general.  

Full Review:

It's been almost a year since Ignatius (Ig) Parrish was arrested for the brutal rape and murder of his girlfriend, Merrin Williams. Though Ig is innocent, having spent the night passed out in his car in a derelict Dunkin Donuts parking lot, no one believes him. Though he was never convicted, he's still the primary person of interest. His life has been Hell ever since. 

After a particularly rough night, he wakes up, sick and hungover, and when he looks in the mirror, is horrified to find that he's growing horns out of his head. They're small, just the length of his ring finger, but they are real. 

He manages to make it to a Clinic and begins to realize that the horns seem to have a certain power over people. They seem to compel them to tell him exactly what's on their minds, like when the doctor who examines him explains that what he'd really like to do is crush up some Oxycontin and snort a line, even though he told himself he'd never snort Oxy's at work. 

Ig has no idea what to do or where to go, and so he goes to the one place where he knows he'll find some love and acceptance. He heads to his parents' house. Yes, things have been a little strained since Merrin's death,  but Ig is desperate. Unfortunately, when he gets there, his family are not immune to Ig's newfound power.

He hears, in no uncertain terms, that they're all horrified at what he did, that he's ruined their lives, and that everything would be better if he just disappeared. When he stumbles into his brother, that's when the ball drops. Terry tells Ig that he didn't kill Merrin, but he knows who did. 

All of this happens within the first 50 pages, so Hill is an expert at catching the reader, hook, line, and sinker. Though the story is not a happy one, in any way, shape, or form, Hill's effortless style keeps the pages turning. Though I already read this book once before, it was just as good the second time around. And though it's not for the faint of heart, if you're looking for an intense study into the darker parts of humanity, this book does not disappoint.