This one was definitely a trip! Joe Hill seems to have inherited the knack for writing a good horror story from his parents -- I could see Stephen King's influences pretty much throughout this macabre tale. The story is a parallel tale of the evil Charlie Manx and Victoria (Vic) McQueen who is on a collision course with Manx from childhood. Vic discovers, after receiving a new bike for her birthday, that she is able to use the bike to find lost things by taking the bike over an old covered bridge that apparently only exists in her mind. The bridge always leads her to the lost item. While Charlie Manx uses an old 1938 Rolls Royce Wraith with the vanity plate, NOS4A2, to take kidnapped children to his creative Christmasland. Along the way, Vic and Manx cross paths and Manx winds up in a high-security mental hospital where he eventually dies -- or does he? Well of course not, not in this world created by Hill. Manx vows revenge on Vic and kidnaps Vic's son, Wayne, which leads to a final confrontation in Christmasland. Throughout the novel, Hill throws some kudos to his father including mentions of Pennywise; Derry, Maine; and the True Knot from King's great followup to The Shining, Doctor Sleep. Overall, I really enjoyed this one even though it took a lot of suspension of reality. I also enjoyed Heart-Shaped Box and I have a couple of others of his to read on my shelf: Horns and 20th Century Ghosts. I see that Hill also wrote a comic or graphic novel prequel to NOS4A2 called Wraith. I may need to check it out as well!
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