A New York Times BestsellerThirteen relentless tales of supernatural suspense, including “In the Tall Grass,” one of two stories cowritten 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 … 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”—now an episode on Shudder TV’s Creepshow—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 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,” cowritten with Stephen King.
Replete with shocking chillers, including two previously unpublished stories written expressly for this volume (“Mums” and “Late Returns”) and another appearing in print for the first time (“Dark Carousel”), Full Throttle is a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.
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I have been a fan of Joe Hill since I read Horns. This book was a fabulous romp through some great short stories.
“Full Throttle by Joe Hill collects thirteen short stories, and it is wonderful. One of the stories, “In the Tall Grass,” is so good it was made into a Netflix film (and the adaptation is quite interesting as well.) One of the stories is told in an exchange of tweets. In these stories, readers ride on a Dark Carousel, worry about threatening Thumbprints, encounter British wolves and visit a strange pub, discover a lake monster, flee a grieving father, board a doomed flight, and plant mums, among other things. I simply adored “Late Returns.” Some of the stories are grisly, some amusing, and some downright frightening, but there’s really not a bad one in the bunch. Through his tales, Joe Hill explores some weighty themes, such as parental responsibility, PTSD, and mental illness. Certainly the stories are interesting and well-crafted, and Joe Hill introduces the collection with some interesting insights into his inspirations, among them Ray Bradbury, Neil Gaiman, C.S. Lewis, and of course, his father, Stephen King, with whom he collaborated on a couple of the stories. Some were previously published, but there’s enough new material to keep a fan of the genre and of the short story suitably entertained.
I’ve worshipped Stephen King pretty much my entire life, so just keep that in mind when I say this: Joe Hill is a better writer than his father. And nowhere is his skill on better display than with his short fiction. This collection, in particular, shows an incredible range of storytelling ability, edge-of-your-set tension, and an imagination that knows no bounds.
Overall I enjoyed this book of shorts from Joe Hill! My favorites were Late Returns-people from the past show up to return overdue books. They then die shortly after. I think about when I die all the good books I will miss and not be able to read. I wish I could hang on past my “return-by date”! Another favorite You Are Released-plane loaded with passengers flies across the US, ICBMs are released and thus the beginning of the end begins! The plane turns north, hoping for the best!
First, a word of warning. Readers going into Full Throttle expecting a collection of balls to the wall horror stories in the vein of Joe Hill’s sublime NOS4A2 may be disappointed, and perhaps even bored. While Full Throttle does have a couple good scares among its thirteen stories, it is, for the most part, surprisingly gentle. Rather than packing in an assortment of blood and guts goodies strong enough to make papa King proud, the majority of the pieces here are softer, quieter explorations of characters and moods, with several of the stories having been written as odes to Ray Bradbury for various anthologies, with dashes of C.S. Lewis, and a couple of experimental shorts. Those looking for some vicious thrills, though, will likely be pleased with a couple of Hill’s stories, including two collaborations with his father, Stephen King, but those seem to be the exception rather than the rule here.
In his introduction, Hill writes about his various influences, including those of his highly regarded author parents, Tabitha and Stephen King. While Hill writes that “Dark Carousel” is “probably the most shamelessly Stephen King thing I’ve ever put down on paper,” one can still feel the influence of his father throughout the book, particularly in other stories like “Late Returns,” a decidedly non-horrific ghost story that is positively rich in characters, concept, and, most of all, heart. I couldn’t help but wonder just how much of Hill’s creativity is genetic, how much of it is pure nature rather than nurture. Obviously, having Tabitha and Stephen as parents, there’s plenty of their shared DNA baked right into Joe, and being raised and read stories by them, it’s certainly a given that their fingerprints would ease into Hill’s writing. Maybe it’s equal measures of genes and influences, perhaps it’s more one than the other, but whichever you shake it Hill is clearly the sum of all these various parts. You can feel the various influences he discusses in his stories, like spending time on the set of, and acting in, Creepshow and watching laserdisc movies with dad and playing out fantasy sequences on the road, like Spielberg’s Duel.
When he was invited to contribute to an anthology paying respects to the works of Richard Matheson, it’s only natural that Hill would return to those fond childhood memories and tackle a recreation of Duel, co-writing with his father, for the story “Throttle.” As in Matheson’s original, an oil tanker truck is the central antagonist, but this time it’s gunning for a biker gang, and the bloodlust is high here. “Throttle” is a pretty straight-forward story, and a clear ode to its source material, more thriller than horror, with dashes of revenge and a nifty father-son dynamic.
Those who want their horror bloody will be pleased with “Dark Carousel,” this collection’s second entry. Originally produced as a vinyl record audiobook, I was delighted to see this make it into print. I’d heard good things about the original recording, but since I don’t have a record player, I had to pass on the audio version. This printed edition, though, is one of the easy highlights of Full Throttle for me, and as Hill states, it’s definitely his most Stephen King-like story. This sucker is most definitely the product of King’s child! This one has an excellent throwback horror feel to it, and strikes a mood reminiscent of a great slasher flick, only without the slasher (don’t worry, you’ll find out). A night out at the local carnival at the pier for a group of teens goes completely sideways after they lose some money, and the result, for us, is one damn good horror story.
“Wolverton Station” is a horror by way of metaphor, a dog eat dog sort of narrative in which a rich American aboard a London train finds himself in some unexpected company. It took a bit for this one to click with me, but I ended up enjoying it, particularly the ending. “By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain” is an ode to Ray Bradbury’s “The Foghorn,” and involves a group of children finding a dead lake monster. This one’s being adapted for Shudder’s just-released Creepshow series, and I’m curious to see what they do with it. Frankly, it’s not the story I would have picked for a Creepshow adaptation (that honor would have gone to “Dark Carousel,” one hundred percent), but I’m open to being proven wrong here. This one’s got a particular bit of whimsy to it, guided largely by the overactive imagination of children. And hot damn, Hill absolutely positively knows how to write children, and it makes for a fun story, which makes the small doses of tragedy woven throughout all the more impactful.
Also inspired by Bradbury, particularly his time travel story “The Sound of Thunder,” is “Faun,” which sees a group of hunters passing through a small doorway and into a land of fantasy, where they can hunt and murder fairy tale creatures. This one’s definitely a morality play, and I can’t particularly say I disagree with the message, even if I would have liked more action and some lingering on the much-justified violence that inevitably plays out. This isn’t a bad story overall, but it’s also not really a very exciting one either. I kept waiting and hoping for these big game hunters to get their just desserts, but by the time that happens its execution is practically a blink and you’ll miss it event.
“Late Returns.” Holy hell, you guys. This story right here is worth the price of admission alone. While there are most certainly a couple other stories I would include in this category, this one in particular is absolutely marvelous. And there’s nary a single bit of horror about it! This is a magnificently gentle story about books and ghosts and the needs of a reader to find one last good story before they die. Goddamn, I loved this one! Although Hill says “Dark Carousel” is his most King-like story, I actually think this one helps show just how truly Joe is his father’s son and just how much of that writerly DNA lives on in Hill. This story taps into the tragedies and sweetness of life, and it’s a really precious, and moving, story. Easily one of my favorites here, this is a story about book lovers for book lovers. Dig it.
“All I Care About Is You” is another piece that shows off Hill’s knack for characterization, and it’s a light sci-fi story no less, about a teenage girl and the rent-a-friend robot she buys for an hour. It’s a decent enough story with a powerful ending, but it didn’t grab me the way “Late Returns” did. “Thumbprint,” however, was a great little thriller! Mal is former military, and her time in Iraq saw her torture a number of captives, including those at Abu Ghraib. Now discharged and back at home, somebody is following her and leaving blank envelopes with a sheet of paper inside, each containing only a single thumbprint. Mal’s a pretty awful human, but the story is damn good.
“The Devil on the Staircase” is the first of two experimental stories that sees Hill playing with the formatting for his delivery. Inspired by the steep staircases of the Amalfi coast, this one involves a jealous man’s oh so brief descent into hell. Visually, it’s typeset so that each paragraph resembles the ascent and descent of a staircase. It’s a neat gimmick, but ultimately one that this did nothing to improve the story for me. Better is “Twittering from the Circus of the Dead,” which unravels like a prolonged Twitter thread. While I found it to be more interesting than “Staircase” in terms of story, it runs on a few tweets too long for me and the payoff regarding the circus was a bit too lazy and cliche for me.
I pretty well enjoyed “Mums,” a story of a boy trapped with his militia nutjob daddy after his mother dies. There’s a neat supernatural element here that pairs well with the following story, “In the Tall Grass.” Hill plays around with the old “is it real or just in the kids head?” trope, but it works pretty well with whichever way you go, and it delivers a few neat scenes and concepts over the course of its page count.
“In the Tall Grass” is just absolutely brutal. Readers looking for some hardcore horror, this is the one for you, man. A couple hear the cries of a boy asking for help and, thinking he’s lost in the tall grass, step into the field. What’s so scary about grass, you might wonder. Well, in this particular field, lots. Things get incredibly fucked up fast. King co-wrote this one, and it’s got some real jagged teeth on it, and both writers let themselves completely off the chain for this outing. It’s positively savage and dark as pitch.
“You Are Released” closes out Full Throttle, and follows a group of travelers aboard a flight to Baltimore when a war breaks out and missiles start flying. Hill, again, shows off his knack for characterization and brings in some great shades of humanity amongst the various POV characters, as well dashes of conflict and reconciliation. Like several others stories here, it’s packed with plenty of social commentary, particularly as the world’s worst, and easily imaginable, fears regarding the Trump presidency play out on the land and air outside this story’s Boeing 777. It’s a neat little bottle episode in its own right, a timely bit of thriller paranoia coupled with possibly too-real life horrors, and a solid end to this collection.
As somebody who was a bit disappointed in Hill’s last release, Strange Weather, a collection of four novellas, I’m happy to report that I was largely satisfied by Full Throttle. While some of these stories feel a bit bloated, “Faun” especially, and “The Devil on the Staircase” feels a hell of a lot longer than it actually is, I enjoyed most of these thirteen stories. Others, like “Late Returns,” “In the Tall Grass,” “Dark Carousel,” “Mums,” “You Are Released,” and “Thumbprint,” highlight Hill at his best for me. These stories just groove along nicely, and I think “Late Returns” will be sticking with me for a good long while.
This was my first time to read any of Joe Hill’s stuff, and I bought this book months ago in hard cover. I’ve been reading a story here and a story there for a while and I just finished the final one last evening when I couldn’t sleep. Any time you read a collection like this, there are going to be home runs as well as swings and misses, but by and large the average story here is entertaining. My favorite was “You are released” which I thought was mind-blowing good. Still, “Twittering from the circus of the dead”, “In the tall grass”, and “Thumbprint” were all very strong. In fact, now as I look back through the contents, the only ones that lost me were “The Devil on the Staircase” and “Wolverton Station”, the former for its structure, and the latter because, well, I just never really got there. So I loved or really liked 11 out of 13. Well worth the money for that ratio
Joe is following in his fathers footsteps.
I “discovered” Joe Hill somewhere back around 20th Century Ghosts or Heart-Shaped Box. I don’t recall which I read first but I think I read them pretty close together. I’ve eagerly snatched up his new books as they’re published ever since, which isn’t something I do with most authors. I’m a library girl and have been all my life; I’m generally happy to wait until I stumble on a book in the stacks, either virtual or physical. But I’m always eager to see where Joe Hill is going to take his readers in his latest book and so I get my name on his hold list ASAP. I even requested copies of his Locke & Key graphic novels from across the state when I realized my local system didn’t have the entire series. I can’t say I’ve loved everything he’s written (I’m looking at you, The Fireman), but by and large I enjoy myself thoroughly when I’m lost in a new Hill read and find myself impatiently awaiting the next.
Full Throttle did not disappoint.
Any collection is going to have stories that appeal to specific readers more than others but this was remarkably consistent. There’s a lot of creativity here, a heckuva of lot of good writing, and some genuinely disturbing stories. The entries that appealed less to me were still strong but they were either too disturbing for my taste or I just didn’t like a character who was written to be unlikeable. What can I say? I’m largely a character-driven reader.
That’s a good stopping point, so move on if you’d like, but I always like to include short reviews for each story as well.
“Throttle” (with Stephen King)–I read this years ago in He is Legend: An Anthology Celebrating Richard Matheson. I found it to be the standout story of that collection and it stood up well to a re-read. The suspense was there even though I remembered a lot of details, including the ending.
“Dark Carousel”–Hill says this is the most “shamelessly Stephen King thing I’ve ever put down on paper” and then says it’s “practically a cover of ‘Riding the Bullet’ or ‘The Road Virus Heads North.’ I wouldn’t go that far. I still get worried about The Road Virus every so often when I’m home alone and in the shower, but “Dark Carousel” was creepy enough in that same looking-over-your-shoulder way.
“Wolverton Station” was probably one of my least favorite stories mostly because it was more of a vignette than a story with a strong plot. It is a very visual story though and those images may stick with me for a while.
“By the Silver Water of Lake Champlain” was written for an anthology honoring Ray Bradbury. I haven’t read that much Bradbury (I know! I know! But he’s on a lot of school reading lists and, despite enjoying English classes themselves, I disliked almost everything that teachers made me read. I’m contrary that way. I’ll get around to giving him another try someday), but from what I remember, I see where Hill was coming from here. This is the story that I’ve already re-told my husband as we were hiking by a river and heard something big splashing in the water.
“Faun”–It’s impossible for me not to say this is Narnia gone wrong, and Hill does mention that legendary land in his story notes, but he feels it is influenced more by Lawrence Block, who I’m not familiar with at all. It was a bit of a mind-blower for me (I couldn’t help thinking of Mr. Tumnus) but I liked that.
“Late Returns” was a story with a concept that will appeal to most readers. This is in the vein of the “20th Century Ghost” story.
“All I Care About is You”–I enjoyed this while I was reading it and even chewed over the ending for a bit after finishing it. Yet when I got to the author’s notes on each story at the end, I had to go back to remind myself which one it was. This was probably the weakest entry for me.
“Thumbprint”–Joe Hill understands that sometimes–often–reality is scarier than fiction. This was the one with unlikeable characters doing despicable things. While I can’t say I enjoyed it, that wasn’t the point.
“The Devil on the Staircase” may read better in print than on an ereader. The actual print is apparently laid out in a pattern like a staircase. This was another weak story for me. I enjoyed the imagery and the concept, something about it just didn’t appeal very strongly to me.
“Twittering from the Circus of the Dead” got progressively more and more horrifying. Holy smokes.
I’m going to say that “Mums” is another one of those reality stories that is scary as hell. There are some supernatural elements to it, but this is inspired by today’s lunatic fringe groups.
“In the Tall Grass,” also written with Stephen King, was just plain disturbing. I haven’t watched the Netflix movie yet and after reading this, I honestly don’t know if I will. I can see that it would make a great movie but I’m a great big chicken when it comes to watching horror movies. If the movie follows this story, I wouldn’t sleep for a month after watching it.
“You Are Released” is the last story and the last one that is firmly anchored in today’s world. I found it strangely bittersweet, despite the fact that it made me think about how easily civilization as we know it could collapse.
Excellent book of short stories.
The stories in this book are scary and quirky!!
Joe Hill grabs hold of you from the first page (with the help of his dad, Stephen King, you might have heard of him) and doesn’t let go. Relentless, wide-reaching, and a damn fun ride.
My Thoughts – This book holds dozens of horrific short stories and novellas, which includes a couple lost in a typical field of tall grass, which happens to be extremely non other than. An enchanted journey through the fantastical mind of Joe Hill will guarantee the reader hours of unsettling appalling enjoyment.
Loved it.
As with short stories, some you enjoy some not so much. The same is true in this book. I picked up a couple of Joe Hill books this year to read. Enjoyed them. Didn’t realize until the forward on this book that he was Stephen King’s son!
Absolutely love Joe Hill and Stephen King teaming up 2 amazing authors writing short stories is just what I needed! These authors bring you spine chilling stories that you do not want to put down endings that you won’t expect. definitely book to read with the lights on perfect for the horror and scary Fanatics like I am this is most definitely the book for you!