HEX
Books | Fiction / Horror
3.5
(717)
Thomas Olde Heuvelt
“This is totally, brilliantly original.” —Stephen King“HEX is creepy and gripping and original, sure to be one of the top horror novels of 2016.” —George R.R. MartinThe English language debut of the bestselling Dutch novel, Hex, from Thomas Olde Heuvelt--a Hugo and World Fantasy award nominated talent to watch Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay 'til death. Whoever settles, never leaves. Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a seventeenth century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children's bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened or the consequences will be too terrible to bear. The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town's teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting. But, in so doing, they send the town spiraling into dark, medieval practices of the distant past. This chilling novel heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in mainstream horror and dark fantasy.At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
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Author
Thomas Olde Heuvelt
Pages
448
Publisher
Macmillan
Published Date
2016-04-26
ISBN
1466864583 9781466864580
Community ReviewsSee all
"One of the most creative horror novels I have ever read, and I've read A LOT of them. The characters evoked really strong feelings, whether those feelings were love, frustration, or hate. The plot didn't just revolve around a typical supernatural villain, but deepened the entire story with themes about community, conformity and tradition that might spoil the book if I elaborate too much here. The ending, while very sad, was incredibly fitting and satisfying. My only critique is this guy has a weird obsession with bringing up nipples. He does it at least 10x, I swear. "
"That moment when you write an entire review and then clear it. I will continue to breathe. Ok lets do this.
TOH took horror and flipped it upside down. He takes what I believe is Dutch folklore, and perfectly transplants it to the American culture. Meet Black Spring NY and it’s citizens, currently haunted by a 300 year old witch Katherine Van Wylder, and their modern day HEX system/app that helps them hide her, her chains and threaded eyes/mouth in plain sight from the rest of the world. In a 2-3 part book, we learn how quickly Katherine goes from being the representation of dark evil witchcraft to the light and love of basic human kindness. She goes from being a misunderstood and something to fear to someone we can definitely empathize with.
This story has so many themes I’m bound to miss some, but not only do we see the effect deep pure fear has in the human psyche but also the extremes that both fear and love can push a person to do some heinous things. How a parent is willing to not only sacrifice others to protect their loved ones, but how they’re also willing to sacrifice their own children for their own sake, or even one child for another.
This is definitely a very dark story, I want to say check your trigger warnings as there are some scenes that I found a bit hard to read through. There is also an overwhelming theme of nipples in this book that at times I found hilarious and other times very disturbing.
I was left with so many questions however, which is fascinating and infuriating. But will I recommend this book? Absolutely, by far a really amazing modern take on witches and curses that I have not seen anyone else conjure. "
"I expected to like it just from the summary. What I was not prepared for was to be sucked in by it. The last 100pgs I just couldn't put it down. This is not your typical witch/ghost story, and the dark inhumanity of certain characters will linger in my thoughts for a long time."
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Alicia Gudge