pub: Gollancz. 435 page hardback. Price: £14.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-575-07916-8.

check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk and www.joehillfiction.com

Ig can't quite work out what has happened to him. Last night, he was just some guy who everyone believed had raped and murdered his girl-friend and never been caught. Today, he's still that guy but today everyone has a story to tell him. They need to speak the truth about how they really feel.

He's got horns growing out of his skull. People can't see them and when they've opened their hearts to him they don't remember. Ig knows when he touches them, he will experience every little detail about their life. There is one person he really needs to see. Maybe the power of the horns can set him free from the past.



Ig is living in a limbo. His brother, a successful TV host on the west coast, has managed to escape the association of being connected to a known murderer. His parents and grandmother shock Ig when they reveal what they really think about him. His girl-friend is just a substitute for the love of his life who he's supposed to have killed. His friends circle warily around him. The town is a seething pool of resentment and lost hope and Ig is there to hear it all pour out. Then there is the real murderer of Ig's beloved girl-friend. It's just possible that the horns will help him find out the truth.

As Ig begins his morning after the night from hell before, he doesn't know how far these new enhancements will take him and as he examines the past through the others he meets, Ig has to deal with shocking truths about himself.

It is shocking, gripping and beautifully constructed. 'Horns' is funny, sad and at times grim. Ig's life and loves take him from his childhood with his brother to the moment he finds out the truth about the murder and beyond as he exacts his revenge.

This is a devilishly enticing book which leads to a couple of late nights and inappropriate reading before work.

Sue Davies