Book Review: FULL THROTTLE by Joe Hill

FULL THROTTLE by Joe Hill ( William Morrow, October 2019)  Hardcover, 480 pages.  ISBN  #0062200674 / 978006220679  

Summary on the Goodreads website  . . . . .

In this masterful collection of short fiction, Joe Hill dissects timeless human struggles in thirteen relentless tales of supernatural suspense, including “In The Tall Grass,” one of two stories co-written with Stephen King, and the basis for the terrifying feature film from Netflix.

A little door that opens to a world of fairy tale wonders becomes the blood-drenched stomping ground for a gang of hunters in “Faun.” A grief-stricken librarian climbs behind the wheel of an antique Bookmobile to deliver fresh reads to the dead in “Late Returns.” In “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain,” two young friends stumble on the corpse of a plesiosaur at the water’s edge, a discovery that forces them to confront the inescapable truth of their own mortality . . . and other horrors that lurk in the water’s shivery depths. And tension shimmers in the sweltering heat of the Nevada desert as a faceless trucker finds himself caught in a sinister dance with a tribe of motorcycle outlaws in “Throttle,” co-written with Stephen King.

Featuring two previously unpublished stories, and a brace of shocking chillers, Full Throttle is a darkly imagined odyssey through the complexities of the human psyche. Hypnotic and disquieting, it mines our tormented secrets, hidden vulnerabilities, and basest fears, and demonstrates this exceptional talent at his very best.  

 My four-star review on the Goodreads website . . . . .

     Joe Hill follows up the great STRANGE WEATHER with an even larger collection of short stories both old and new. There are four 5-Star stories here, and I ranked two as 4-Star and two as 3.5-Star. That says 8 of 13 stories are above average, making this an exceptional collection. Only three stories were clunkers. My favorite and a must-read is "Late Returns”, which you can only read here - - so I guess I'm highly recommending this collection. 

     Even the 16-page introduction is compelling reading, a revealing look at Hill's influences, interests, and the influence of his famous parents - - all told in a confidential, kitchen table conversational style. It's extremely difficult not to like this creative author. 

     The collection opens up with a doorbuster, "Throttle" written in collaboration with dad Stephen King as part of a tribute published in HE IS LEGEND: AN ANTHOLOGY CELEBRATING RICHARD MATHESON. King and Hill pay homage to "Duel", Matheson's famous story about a lone driver being pursed by a mad trucker. In "Throttle" they increase the odds by pitting a motorcycle gang against a tanker truck with devilish results. Five Stars.

     "Dark Carousel" is a shivery bit of boardwalk/carnival nostalgia with some unsettling results for a quartet of teenagers celebrating their final days of freedom before getting more serious about life, etc. Next time I see an old-fashioned merry-go-round/carousel I'll be taking a closer and careful look at the features of those horses and other animals. Four Stars.

     "Wolverton Station" -- is based on a single scene that Hill imagined and doesn't go much further than that. This is a perfect example of how Hill is similar to his famous father in that both can make the simplest things seem interesting. In this case, it's the main character/victim in "Wolverton Station" and how Hill reveals his backstory, thoughts, fears, and actions that make this work. A sheep in wolf's clothing? Think again. Three and 1/2 Stars.

     "By The Silver Water Of Lake Champlain" was included in an anthology celebrating Ray Bradbury. Hill was inspired by Bradbury's "The Foghorn" and early childhood fascination with the Loch Ness monster. For 99% of the story, Hill nails the tone and flavor of his story in admirable Bradburyesque fashion. Even the setting feels like returning to Bradbury's small town atmosphere / more innocent times, although Hill never really states a specific period of time in the story but hints at it here and there. A dinosaur washes up on the lake beach and is discovered by a group of children who dream of becoming famous for its discovery. I wasn't disappointed so much by the ending as by the way that Hill dropped a dark element into the story on the final page. For me, that broke through the Bradbury magic. Three Stars.

     Now this is more like it! "Faun" is the kind of Hill story I love best, where he lets his imagination run wild. A group of super-rich big game hunters learn of an unusual hunting experience at a steep price - - step through a portal into another world and hunt mythical creatures. There's a cool twist that makes this even more enjoyable. For those who want to dig deeper and look for allegory, "Faun" can be seen as a commentary on the cruelty of the privileged and entitled, the nobility of animals, and the meaning of life. Five Stars.

     Wow! An impressive piece of writing. "Late Returns" may be the most powerful story in the collection. In the Story Notes Hill comments on each piece. All he says about this one is "I hate the idea of dying when I'm only halfway through a book." From that germ of an idea he writes "Late Returns", a heart-warming tale about death, suicide, sacrifice, isolation and the power of books that brought me to tears. The concept is simple, and Hill takes it in an entirely unexpected direction: a time-traveling Book Mobile where the deceased can bring back the books they were reading at the time of death. Amazing. Five Stars. And the only place you can read it is here - - an original story to this collection.

     The tech of an unspecified future as depicted by Hill is fascinating in "All I Care About Is You". I found it difficult to empathize with the main character, a spoiled entitled teenage girl who feels sorry for herself when her family runs into some unexpected expenses and she can't get everything she wanted for her sixteenth birthday. The teenagers depicted throughout this story act like stereotypical Me Generation teens. The story is a bit cynical and I felt it was moving in a better direction when Iris strikes up a friendship of sorts with a vending machine servo-robot. Had the surprisingly understanding robot left Iris with a valuable lesson in life I'd feel better about this story.  Alas, it does not end in positive fashion. Three Stars.

     "Thumbprints" just didn't work for me. A female war vet returns home forever changed. She may not have been a great person before, but there's not much to like or sympathize with. There is only a minor horror element involving an unseen stalker. I thought the comic book adaptation was a better story than this. Two Stars.

     "The Devil On The Staircase" is Hill playing around with structure and experimenting. There is a lot of white on every page, and the lines of the paragraphs (sometimes just a single sentence) are positioned like descending or ascending steps. The story is a simple retelling of a fictional fable that could pass as straight out of Aesop or 1001 Arabian Nights, but not as interesting. Two Stars.

    Hill must have thought it was a great experiment to write an entire story as a sequence of Twitter posts by a bored and cynical teenage girl feuding with her parents (mother, especially) and younger brother during a vacation trip. The horror element is a silly circus with zombies filling in for lions and tigers and bears. It is the least interesting story in the book. I expect more from Hill. One Star.

     "Mums" the other original story in this collection, struck me as very sad from beginning to end. I felt so bad for Jack. The story raises the question - - - is mental unbalance caused or enhanced by troubling living conditions and family relationships? That is left for the reader to answer. I believe YES, although Jack and his mother exhibit some symptoms that I don't think were entirely related to the Separatist group whose ideals they rejected. Five Stars.

     "In The Tall Grass" is another collaboration between Hill and his famous dad. It's mysterious, suspenseful and horrifying. I'll need to check out the Netflix movie of this to see if they followed through on the more disturbing elements of the story. Four Stars.

     The collection ends curiously with "You Are Released”, as it's not the strongest story here. Nuclear war breaks out while a commercial airplane is in flight and the events are revealed in short sections with the point of view of passengers and crew. Hill manages to sneak in a bit of political commentary without mentioning names, because it's fiction after all Three & One-Half Stars. One can only hope that some good and well-meaning USA residents who were fooled into voting for the wrong candidate three years ago won't get fooled again. I hope they read this frightening warning.