A group of six oddball but doughty children fall into the way of a immense and fearsome otherworldly evil that has entered our world from the deepest abyss of darkness. They are compelled to wage a lifelong battle confronting it, enduring terror upon terror in the process.
This describes the premise, roughly, of the master of horror’s seminal work It (arguably his finest; no arguments). It is also the plot of Stephen King’s offspring Joseph Hillstrom King’s latest massive horror novel, in which a close-knit group call forth the age-old, utterly malevolent beast King Sorrow from the Long Dark to aid them in overcoming some villains. Needless to say, their supernatural ritual has unintended consequences.
The author began his writing journey going to great lengths to avoid any connection from his renowned parent, using the pseudonym he maintains to this day and avoiding meeting his agent (he possesses a striking resemblance to his father). However, in his newest work, he leans into it. Certain passages that consciously reflect some of the senior author’s well-known (the famous Dark Tower introduction); a moment that brings to mind a recurring theme in King’s works (a game of puzzles). In this whopper of a novel, Joe Hill takes pleasure in his lineage, and we delight along with him.
Focusing on the companions: five of them are students at the made-up this academic setting in the New England state. There’s Arthur, bookish and intelligent, solving historical enigmas in his leisure hours; another key figure, rich, sharp, and inclined to bulldoze anyone who stands in his way; Donna and Donovan; the beautiful Allie. Then we have Gwen, who doesn’t study with them, but assumes a vital role of their band as they dabble, somewhat credulous, partly skeptical, in the occult.
The protagonist finds himself, due to circumstances beyond his control, forced into stealing rare books from his cherished academic collection by a bunch of local criminals. This wounds his academic spirit, particularly as he’s made to take the library’s most valuable and disturbing work: the diary of occultist Enoch Crane (put to death “for trafficking with the devyll in 1703”; the binding is crafted from his flesh). Our Scooby gang peruse the diary, realize they are able to call forth what the author references as a armoured devil” to help Arthur out with his coercion issue – and spend the rest of the novel reaping the consequences. The dragon will certainly eliminate those annoying regional antagonists, but they’ll have to choose a different victim every twelve months or fall prey to the beast. As Arthur later puts it: “You plant seeds of destruction, all you get is further monstrosities.”
Spanning forty years, the author shifts with seamless grace through various literary forms: as the companions endeavor to address the predicament they find themselves in by, variously, choosing undeniably wicked targets to immolate, or hunting down ways to slay the beast themselves, we move between suspense to dark fantasy, covert operations to love story to horror. My favorite genre switch was to a heroic journey, deep in the caves beneath this UK region, a part infused with the fantasy maestro that was wonderfully frightening.
We encounter trolls – those living under bridges and digital trolls, truly terrifying and perfectly brought to life. There are magical swords and treacheries, pulse-pounding sequences of bravery and scenes of terrible wickedness, both earthly and extraterrestrial. It’s a tour de force: a chilling book that is chiefly a tribute to the imagination, and to affection and camaraderie. “We longed for a tale to embrace and {now we’ve got one|presently we possess it|currently we hold it,” says the wealthy student as the companions assemble around a surface, preparing to summon their beast into being with the strength of their collective will.
According to Joe Hill in his opening statement: “Here be dragons”. Do not overlook this.
A geospatial analyst with over a decade of experience in terrain modeling and environmental data visualization.
