Have You Read This? Review of NOS4A2

Around this time of year, people may have noticed that there are a lot of movies featuring homicidal Santas (Silent Night, Deadly Night and Santa’s Sleigh are two examples). There’s also, believe it or not, more than one movie about Krampus, the dark side of the Santa legend, a monster that punishes the bad rather than reward the good. Christmas, it seems, is fertile ground for horror, but the most unique take on a Christmas-themed monster is Charlie Manx from Joe Hill’s NOS4A2. Not only does Hill use the Christmas backdrop in an originally frightening way, but he also adds his own spin on the vampire mythos.

The book’s title comes from the license plate on his car, a 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith. The car is linked to Charlie Manx as well as the device he uses to feed: it is his main mode of transportation throughout the novel, the key to entering a world of Manx’s own creation called Christmasland, and the talisman used to drain the children he takes to Christmasland, turning those children into monstrosities as twisted as Manx. Christmasland not only serves as a lure for the children Manx takes there but it’s also the “stomach” he uses to digest their goodness. The stolen kids practically have the run of Christmasland, but their ideas of fun and games have degenerated into games like “Scissors for the Drifter.”

Enter Vic McQueen, a young girl who, like Manx, has a power tied to an object. She has a bike that can allow her to go virtually anywhere in the world. Unfortunately, that power brings her into the path of Charlie Manx. Though she survives the encounter, she is traumatized by the event, prevented from living a normal life by Manx’s children. The stakes are raised even further when Manx, who wakes after a long coma, discovers Vic has a son and a potential candidate for Christmasland. Vic McQueen is a compelling character, a woman who tries to ignore her gift but ultimately finds the strength to confront Manx thanks to the unconditional love of her son, making her a hero to root for. However, it’s hard to compete with Charlie Manx, who is such a unique villain, one who claims that he is “saving” his victims, very much like an adult Peter Pan.

The descriptions of Christmasland could easily be a neighborhood in the North Pole where Santa is afraid to park his sleigh. Think about Santa Claus, Indiana abandoned for the night, where the rides might work but there are monsters hiding beneath them, in alleys. Eventually, you notice there are a lot of places to hide, lots of dark alleys. The rides are distracting and you find yourself turning just a little too slowly to catch something moving in your peripheral vision. Hill takes a Christmas-themed amusement park and adds his own monstrous twists to all the attractions, including the children brought there to play forever.

Like his father Stephen King, Hill definitely knows how to create a strong emotional core to underpin his horror, and Christmasland and Charlie Manx and every other twisted bit of lore he incorporates works because of that underpinning. That’s what makes this story a delight not just during the holidays, after the kids are in bed and the egg nog’s all drunk, but all year round.