King Sorrow: the epic new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author

· Hachette UK
25 reviews
Ebook
896
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

SOME PROMISES SHOULD NEVER BE MADE...

***A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK***
'A tour de force...huge, sprawling - and absolutely fantastic' THE GUARDIAN
'Joe Hill gloriously resurrects the doorstop horror blockbuster' ALAN MOORE

'A soaring epic' PAUL TREMBLAY
'Epic, exhilarating and haunting...perfection from start to finish' DAILY EXPRESS
'A commanding, captivating read' FINANCIAL TIMES
'Epic...a rich response to the horrors and hopes of living today' DAILY MAIL

Bookish dreamer Arthur Oakes is a student at Rackham College, Maine, renowned for its frosty winters and beautiful buildings.

But his idyll - and burgeoning romance with Gwen Underfoot - is shattered when local drug dealers force him into a terrible crime: stealing rare and valuable books from the exceptional college library.

Trapped and desperate, Arthur turns to his closest friends for help: the wealthy, irrepressible Colin Wren; brave, beautiful Allison Shiner; the battling twins Donna and Donovan McBride; and brainy, bold Gwen. Together they dream up an impossible, fantastical scheme that they scarcely imagine will work: to summon the fabled dragon King Sorrow to kill those tormenting Arthur.

But the six stumble backwards into a deadly bargain - they soon learn they must choose a new sacrifice for King Sorrow each year or one of them will become his next victim. Unleashing consequences they can neither predict nor control, this promise will, over the course of four decades, shape and endanger their lives in ways they could never expect.

'A brilliantly Faustian fable with a heart as huge as a dragon's' RUTH WARE
'A wild, genre-defying journey, packed with all sorts of unexpected twists' DAILY MIRROR
'A glorious, wild ride' NEW YORK TIMES
'Epic! Hill's best and most ambitious work to date' LINWOOD BARCLAY

'A monster of a book...a vast, brimstoned, relentless zinger' NICK HARKAWAY

SOME PROMISES SHOULD NEVER BE MADE... ***A BBC RADIO 2 BOOK CLUB PICK*** 'A tour de force...huge, sprawling - and absolutely fantastic' THE GUARDIAN 'Joe Hill gloriously resurrects the doorstop horror blockbuster' ALAN MOORE 'A soaring epic' PAUL TREMBLAY 'Epic, exhilarating and haunting...perfec...

Discover more

Ratings and reviews

25 reviews
Paul Large
December 26, 2025
It's a novella parading as some sort of War and Peace epic. If after 700 pages you still don't care about the characters or story, it's time to stop - which is what I did.
Did you find this helpful?
Neville Townsend
October 21, 2025
Wow what a read I could not put it down. The story of a group of friends that span over a long time. Arthur is bullied into stealing valuable rare books, his friends then summon up King Sorrow a dragon, they have to nominate one person to die every year or one of the group will die. The characters are what drives this book along. The plotting and pace are excellent. I have read all Joe's books and this is the best yet. Thanks to Headline and Netgalley for this review copy.
Did you find this helpful?
Chris
September 30, 2026
Not the best, I noticed a few spelling errors and the storyline and character names are awful
Did you find this helpful?

About the author

Joe Hill is the number one New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Fireman, NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box; Strange Weather, a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections Full Throttle and 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Award-winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, Locke & Key. Much of his work has been adapted for film and television, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), In the Tall Grass (Netflix), and The Black Phone (Blumhouse).
Joe Hill is the number one New York Times bestselling author of the novels The Fireman, NOS4A2, Horns, and Heart-Shaped Box; Strange Weather, a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections Full Throttle and 20th Century Ghosts. He is also the Eisner Award-winning writer of a seven-...

Rate this ebook

Tell us what you think.

Reading information

Smartphones and tablets
Install the Google Play Books app for Android and iPad/iPhone. It syncs automatically with your account and allows you to read online or offline wherever you are.
Laptops and computers
You can listen to audiobooks purchased on Google Play using your computer's web browser.
eReaders and other devices
To read on e-ink devices like Kobo eReaders, you'll need to download a file and transfer it to your device. Follow the detailed Help Center instructions to transfer the files to supported eReaders.