NOS4A2

NOS4A2

Author	Joe Hill
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre	Horror
Publisher	William Morrow and Company
Published in English	April 30, 2013
Pages	720 pages
ISBN	978-0-06-220057-0

NOS4A2 (pronounced Nosferatu)^[1] is the third novel by American author Joe Hill.^[2] The book was published on April 30, 2013 through William Morrow and Company and focuses on a woman trying to save her son from a vicious killer who has set his sights on him.^[3] The novel is called NOS4R2 in the United Kingdom.^[4]

A limited edition version of the book was released through Subterranean Press, featuring the novella Wraith that was cut from the manuscript as well an alternate ending.^[5] A comic book tie-in miniseries from IDW Publishing entitled Wraith: Welcome to Christmasland was announced. The miniseries takes place in Christmasland and features characters from the novel.^[6]

NOS4A2 was nominated for the 2013 Bram Stoker Award for Best Novel.^[7]

Synopsis

The book takes place over several decades, and opens in a hospital in 2008. Charles Manx, a convicted child abductor, briefly wakes from a coma to threaten a nurse. Her coworkers don't believe her claim, because he exhibits only limited brain function.

The book flashes back to 1986. Vic McQueen discovers that she can find things by riding her bicycle through the Shorter Way Bridge. The Bridge always takes her to the location of whatever she is seeking. Traveling this way takes a mental and physical toll on her. She has to lie about how she finds things, because the truth would not be believed. On one such trip, she travels to an Iowa library where she meets Maggie, a librarian that can use Scrabble tiles to determine the location of missing items or information. Similar to using the Bridge, this divination process takes a large toll on Maggie, causing a severe stutter. She warns Vic against Manx, whom she calls "the Wraith" because she is unable to divine his real name. Vic travels home, but loses her bike and develops a terrible fever. Manx enlists chemical plant worker Bing to acquire a gingerbread-flavored sevoflurane that the factory produces. Bing believes that Manx is taking the children to a place called "Christmasland" where nothing bad happens, and he willingly uses the sevoflurane to capture children for Manx.

Years later, Vic uses the Shorter Way after she has a fight with her mother. She asks her absent father if she can stay with him, but he rebuffs her. Vic uses the Bridge to travel to Manx's house, thinking that her abduction will hurt her mother. Once there she experiences bizarre events, such as a child with rows of sharp brown teeth and cold mist coming from his nose when it is not cold outside. Vic barely escapes from Manx after his house catches on fire. She runs into Lou Carmody, who takes her to a gas station to call the police. Manx arrives at the same station to purchase gas, and is captured by the police after he sets fire to one of the officers.

The story returns to 2008. Vic begins a relationship with Lou and gives birth to a son, Wayne. Unhappy and scarred by the past, she restores motorcycles and develops a successful series of children's books. She is tormented by phone calls from children who chastise her for role in Manx' arrest. Her torment destroys her relationship with Lou, but they part amicably. She eventually recovers. Maggie appears on her doorstep and confronts her with the uncomfortable fact that Manx is still at large. Vic denies that he really exists, accuses Maggie of lying and sends her away.

Manx reunites with Bing. They kill Vic's neighbors and move into their house. They watch from a distance as Vic and Wayne repair an old motorcycle. When Vic takes the motorcycle for a test drive, Manx and Bing kidnap Wayne and severely beat Vic. Wayne is able to call Lou to alert him to the kidnapping. Vic calls the police to report the abduction. The police refuse to believe her, claiming that Manx died in the hospital. FBI psychologist Tabitha Hutter is assigned to Vic. Despite a cell phone trace that reveals Wayne's location, Hutter doesn't believe Vic's story.

Vic escapes protective custody and uses the Shorter Way to find Wayne. She arrives at Bing's house. Bing attacks Vic, but she kills him in self-defense. She tells Lou that she intends to pursue Manx, then takes the Shorter Way to Maggie's library. The two women search for answers using Maggie's Scrabble tiles. Vic discovers that the way to destroy Manx is to destroy his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith. Maggie is killed when Manx arrives at the library while Vic is sleeping. Narrowly avoiding capture by local police, Vic goes to her father's house. Reconnecting with her estranged father, she takes some of the explosives that he uses in his demolition work. Vic returns to Lou with the explosives. Hutter and the police arrive, believing Vic responsible for the deaths of Bing and Maggie. Vic and Lou escape, arriving at Manx's home. Vic leaves Lou behind and travels via the Shorter Way to Christmasland. She attempts to destroy the Wraith, but Manx' children menace her and cause her efforts to fail. Manx escapes in the Wraith through the Shorter Way Bridge, but is killed when the Bridge implodes.

Vic dies shortly after she and Wayne return to reality. Later that year, Lou has lost a lot of weight and has begun a relationship with Tabitha. Wayne has nightmares about Christmasland and its inhabitants, in which he becomes one of Manx' children and participates in gruesome games. He feels that he is losing his humanity for real and is being transformed into one of Manx's creatures. Lou takes Tabitha and Wayne to the ruins of Manx's house. He smashes ornaments that are hanging around the property. As each ornament is destroyed, a child that Manx had kidnapped appears, restored to human form. Lou finds the ornament that represents Wayne and destroys it.

In an epilogue, the ornaments representing Manx's "True Children" (those who were transformed the longest) escape destruction and their monstrous analogues return from Christmasland in their demonic forms.

Reception

Critical reception has been mostly positive,^[8] with the Library Journal praising NOS4A2 as "fascinating and utterly engaging".^[9] USA Today also gave a positive review and commented that the book "[reimagined] the vampire epic".^[10] The AVClub, Library Journal and Time magazine also named NOS4A2 as one of the ten best books of 2013.^{[11] [12] [13]}

Connections

The novel includes several references to Joe Hill's other works. Charles Manx, discussing the concept of "inscapes" and secret places, refers to the Treehouse of the Mind (from Horns) and Craddock McDermott (from Heart-Shaped Box). Later in the novel, the FBI tries to use a cell phone map to track Wayne's cell phone; the map includes the town of Lovecraft, Massachusetts, from Locke & Key. According to Hill, the novel also includes references to two novels, Orphanhenge and The Crooked Alley, that he may publish in the future.^[14]

Hill also included several references to the works of his father, Stephen King. Manx refers to the gates to Mid-World and Shawshank Prison, and says that the True Knot follow nearly the same profession as he does. The phone map also shows Derry, Maine, and a place called "Pennywise's Circus". Hill describes Vic's return from Christmasland as returning "to the clearing at the end of the path", a reference to the Dark Tower books. In an interview, Hill says that these references were not meant to tie his works to King's shared world. He claims he was "just fooling around".^[14]

Supporting character The Gas Mask Man says, "My life for you," in a desperate show of devotion to Manx, a clear reference to the same line spoken by the Trashcan Man to Randall Flagg of King's The Stand. Similarities between the two characters include their blind devotion to their respective masters as well as their limited mental faculties and mannerisms.

References