HEX
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3.7 • 24 Ratings
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
“This is totally, brilliantly original.” —Stephen King
“HEX is creepy and gripping and original, sure to be one of the top horror novels of 2016.” —George R.R. Martin
The English language debut of the bestselling Dutch novel, Hex, from Thomas Olde Heuvelt--a Hugo and World Fantasy award nominated talent to watch
Whoever is born here, is doomed to stay 'til death. Whoever settles, never leaves.
Welcome to Black Spring, the seemingly picturesque Hudson Valley town haunted by the Black Rock Witch, a seventeenth century woman whose eyes and mouth are sewn shut. Muzzled, she walks the streets and enters homes at will. She stands next to children's bed for nights on end. Everybody knows that her eyes may never be opened or the consequences will be too terrible to bear.
The elders of Black Spring have virtually quarantined the town by using high-tech surveillance to prevent their curse from spreading. Frustrated with being kept in lockdown, the town's teenagers decide to break their strict regulations and go viral with the haunting. But, in so doing, they send the town spiraling into dark, medieval practices of the distant past.
This chilling novel heralds the arrival of an exciting new voice in mainstream horror and dark fantasy.
At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Despite some emotional gut punches, Heuvelt's supernatural thriller fails to fully capitalize on its intriguing premise. The New York town of Black Springs appears perfectly normal to the outside world, but is, in fact, subject to a curse. Katherine van Wyler was sentenced to death for witchcraft in 1664 after resurrecting her dead son. She has haunted Black Springs for centuries, and her whispers create suicidal thoughts in the minds of those who hear them. Leaving the town for more than a short time is not an option for residents, who would be compelled to kill themselves if they did so. The phenomenon even attracted the attention of the federal government, which established the military academy at West Point to help cover it up. Town residents are governed by strict rules imposed by the government, and even their Internet use is monitored and censored. The restrictions chafe the younger generation, whose rebellion threatens the status quo. Heuvelt (The Ink Readers of Doi Saket) develops his characters enough to give their tragic lives resonance, but the story's resolution disappoints.
Customer Reviews
Bleak without purpose, horror without meaning
Hex starts with a compelling premise: a cursed town bound by ancient rules and watched by a silent, ominous figure. But the novel quickly loses control of its tone, pacing, and theme. What could have been a chilling exploration of fear, grief, and moral compromise devolves into relentless despair with no emotional payoff.
The characters are broadly drawn, often reduced to hollow archetypes. The narrative leans on misery as if it were a substitute for depth. Events escalate too quickly, undermining the slow-burn dread the first half tries to establish. And while the novel flirts with weighty ideas — collective guilt, repression, the price of denial — it ultimately has nothing coherent to say about any of them.
There’s no arc, no catharsis, no meaningful insight. Just dissolution for its own sake. Hex is the kind of story that confuses bleakness for bravery and darkness for depth.
If your core message is simply “people are bad,” that’s not horror. That’s laziness.