Horns by Joe Hill

A year ago, Ignatius Perrish, Ig, had a perfect life.  His long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Merrin, was moving along well, and they were talking marriage and kids.  He had just landed a job in London and after six months apart, Merrin would be moving there and they would live a successful life.  He has great friends who are becoming successful in their chosen fields, and a supportive loving family.  What could go wrong?

Unfortunately, everything.  After a stupid bar fight, Ig leaves Merrin and drives off drunk to sleep it off.  He heads for the airport, only to be arrested in line, discovering that Merrin has been raped and violently killed.  While there isn't enough evidence to take him to trial, he remains a 'person of interest'.   Everyone in town is sure he committed the murder and he is shunned and reviled daily.

On the day after the anniversary of Merrin's death, Ig wakes up to find something has occurred.  Something else horrible.  During the night, he has sprouted horns; yes, horns.  As he tries to make sense of this, he comes to realise that the horns give him the ability to read people's secret thoughts, and their most despicable desires.  Shocked by what lies in the heart of everyone he meets, it still gives him the ability to solve the mystery of what really happened that night it all went wrong.

This book is recommended for readers who love thrillers and horror.  Once started, it is almost impossible to put this one down.  The reader is drawn along, repulsed by what Ig discovers but unable to stop reading about his journey.  The ending is cathartic and by then the reader is totally engrossed in Ig's story.  Hill intersperses horror with interesting backstory, taking the reader back through Ig and Merrin's childhood and teen years, building the suspense of watching these perfect lives fall apart.  This is Hill's second novel and readers will be ready for his third.