Book Review: Wraith by Joe Hill


Wraith is actually a prequel to Joe Hill's novel, NOS4A2/NOS4R2, and what a delightfully creepy story! It opens with a little backstory about Charlie Manx, which was just awesome. I totally wanted to know more about the origins of Charlie Manx. It then quickly switches to the main story, involving two prison guards and a group of convicts who are trying to escape. However, their plans quickly go awry and one of the convicts contacts Charlie Manx - someone who is known for helping people disappear. Little do they know they're on their way to Christmasland...


My favourite thing about this graphic novel was, of course, the illustrations. They were mind-blowingly awesome. Often I would just sit and stare in a daze. It was literally like Charles Paul Wilson III crawled into my brain and encapsulated exactly how I imagined Christmasland to be and then put it on the pages. It was beautifully creepy and macabre, and so sinister. I'm in love.

The story itself was fun, with some intriguing characters. I had initially gone into this thinking it was basically an interpretation of the book, so I was a bit disappointed to not encounter Vic McQueen etc, but it was nice to actually experience a different Charlie Manx-centric story. Kinda sad it was so short...I wanted it to go on forever! Overall, a nice quick read (but slowed down by ogling the photos) and I highly recommend it to all Joe Hill fans.

Johann
x

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