*NOS4A2, by Joe Hill

9780062200570
William Morrow/Harper Collins, 2013
692 pp

hardcover

Scoff if you will at my choice of reading with this novel, but it reminds me that sometimes picking up a novel is an act of satisfying a need for fun and entertainment.  I read enough tough stuff over a year's time that it's liberating to just pick up a book off my beaten path, lay out by our pool in the hot sun and relax.  At 692 pages it may seem like a huge task getting through it, but I've discovered that while reading this book time just flew by.  It's probably going to be the best selling horror novel of the year.

You can read about it at my horror/weird fiction/sci-fi/fantasy page , but let me offer a heads up for anyone thinking about reading this:  I actually found this book less  horror-creepy than psychologically disturbing.  Children are abducted from their homes and separated from parents who meet horrible fates; luckily the author doesn't give blow-by-blow accounts but what he writes is terrifying enough. While the dustjacket gives ample warning, some of what happens to these parents is just downright chilling and not fun to think about afterwards -- just something to consider if you're thinking about buying or borrowing it. Anyway, getting past the disturbing scenes, I liked it. It's good.