Book Review: Joe Hill, King Sorrow

Fiendishly inventive, best selling scribe Joe Hill welcomes us all to a new era of gods and monsters with his deliciously horrific and satisfyingly hefty latest novel. Ending a nine-year wait between books (the Maine-bred author spent most of that time crafting some screenplays, sublime comics and short stories), King Sorrow is like getting a welcome back hug from an old friend – and then feeling their fingers tightly gripping your throat...

For the unenlightened who missed out on the giddy, gory thrills of the likes of NOS4A2 and Heart-Shaped Box, Hill hails from one of the book world’s royal families and this prince of darkness is a hell-of-a-writer who has spent his adult life using his gift from the heavens to scare us all to death.

A natural born seanchaí who believes that not only does the devil have the best tunes, but the greatest tales too, King Sorrow may be the crown jewel in his canon.

The sprawling, decades-spanning story centres on six friends who end up ruining the lives of many due to loyalty. Keen to rescue their bookish, well-meaning mate Arthur from the clutches of some criminals, the group decide to summon a dragon and sic it on his enemies (hey, we’ve all been there, right?).

The only snag is, their new buddy King Sorrow isn’t satisfied with chomping on a few folks and then promptly scarpering off to The Long Dark forevermore. He needs a new sacrifice every Easter or else one of our heroes will be his next meal.

Essentially four novels in one mammoth volume, King Sorrow asks two classic, age-old questions. What happens when a tightly knit friend group unravels and how does one kill a big fucking dragon?

Full of heartbreak, hope, quiet horror and shocks turned up to 11, the story races along, and we’re treated to plane rides from hell, epic quests in the English countryside and plenty of prison drama and political intrigue. Joe also has a few new tricks up his sleeve too, and without spoiling too much, just when you think you know all the answers, he changes the questions.

Fans of Hill and his heritage will also find some of the Easter eggs especially tasty too, and I devoured this doorstep of a novel with the same relish the titular character snacks on suffering.

A thrilling, often chilling romp, Hill’s latest cements his status as one of the most gifted story-tellers in the game today and it’s one of the books the year.

Hail to the king, baby!

King Sorrow is published by Headline and released on October 21