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VEN A CHRISTMASLAND¿Qué darías por una entrada válida para toda la vida a un lugar donde cada mañana es Navidad y la infelicidad va contra la ley?¡No renuncies a lo maravillosos! ¡No renuncies a tus sueños!¡Buscamos personas ambiciosas a las que les gusten mucho los niños y sin miedo a la aventura!Victoria McQueen tiene un
The book takes place over several decades, and opens in a hospital in 2008. Charles Manx, a convicted child abductor, briefly wakes from a coma to threaten a nurse. Her coworkers don't believe her claim, because he exhibits only limited brain function.
The book flashes back to 1986. Vic McQueen discovers that she can find things by riding her bicycle through the Shorter Way Bridge. The Bridge always takes her to the location of whatever she is seeking. Traveling this way takes a mental and physical toll on her. She has to lie about how she finds things, because the truth would not be believed. On one such trip, she travels to an Iowa library where she meets Maggie, a librarian that can use Scrabble tiles to determine the location of missing items or information. Similar to using the Bridge, this divination process takes a large toll on Maggie, causing a severe stutter. She warns Vic against Manx, whom she calls "the Wraith" because she is unable to divine his real name. Vic travels home, but loses her bike and develops a terrible fever. Manx enlists chemical plant worker Bing to acquire a gingerbread-flavored sevoflurane that the factory produces. Bing believes that Manx is taking the children to a place called "Christmasland" where nothing bad happens, and he willingly uses the sevoflurane to capture children for Manx.
Years later, Vic uses the Shorter Way after she has a fight with her mother. She asks her absent father if she can stay with him, but he rebuffs her. Vic uses the Bridge to travel to Manx's house, thinking that her abduction will hurt her mother. Once there she experiences bizarre events, such as a child with rows of sharp brown teeth and cold mist coming from his nose when it is not cold outside. Vic barely escapes from Manx after his house catches on fire. She runs into Lou Carmody, who takes her to a gas station to call the police. Manx arrives at the same station to purchase gas, and is captured by the police after he sets fire to one of the officers.
The story returns to 2008. Vic begins a relationship with Lou and gives birth to a son, Wayne. Unhappy and scarred by the past, she restores motorcycles and develops a successful series of children's books. She is tormented by phone calls from children who chastise her for role in Manx' arrest. Her torment destroys her relationship with Lou, but they part amicably. She eventually recovers. Maggie appears on her doorstep and confronts her with the uncomfortable fact that Manx is still at large. Vic denies that he really exists, accuses Maggie of lying and sends her away.
Manx reunites with Bing. They kill Vic's neighbors and move into their house. They watch from a distance as Vic and Wayne repair an old motorcycle. When Vic takes the motorcycle for a test drive, Manx and Bing kidnap Wayne and severely beat Vic. Wayne is able to call Lou to alert him to the kidnapping. Vic calls the police to report the abduction. The police refuse to believe her, claiming that Manx died in the hospital. FBI psychologist Tabitha Hutter is assigned to Vic. Despite a cell phone trace that reveals Wayne's location, Hutter doesn't believe Vic's story.
Vic escapes protective custody and uses the Shorter Way to find Wayne. She arrives at Bing's house. Bing attacks Vic, but she kills him in self-defense. She tells Lou that she intends to pursue Manx, then takes the Shorter Way to Maggie's library. The two women search for answers using Maggie's Scrabble tiles. Vic discovers that the way to destroy Manx is to destroy his 1938 Rolls-Royce Wraith. Maggie is killed when Manx arrives at the library while Vic is sleeping. Narrowly avoiding capture by local police, Vic goes to her father's house. Reconnecting with her estranged father, she takes some of the explosives that he uses in his demolition work. Vic returns to Lou with the explosives. Hutter and the police arrive, believing Vic responsible for the deaths of Bing and Maggie. Vic and Lou escape, arriving at Manx's home. Vic leaves Lou behind and travels via the Shorter Way to Christmasland. She attempts to destroy the Wraith, but Manx' children menace her and cause her efforts to fail. Manx escapes in the Wraith through the Shorter Way Bridge, but is killed when the Bridge implodes.
Vic dies shortly after she and Wayne return to reality. Later that year, Lou has lost a lot of weight and has begun a relationship with Tabitha. Wayne has nightmares about Christmasland and its inhabitants, in which he becomes one of Manx' children and participates in gruesome games. He feels that he is losing his humanity for real and is being transformed into one of Manx's creatures. Lou takes Tabitha and Wayne to the ruins of Manx's house. He smashes ornaments that are hanging around the property. As each ornament is destroyed, a child that Manx had kidnapped appears, restored to human form. Lou finds the ornament that represents Wayne and destroys it.
In an epilogue, the ornaments representing Manx's "True Children" (those who were transformed the longest) escape destruction and their monstrous analogues return from Christmasland in their demonic forms.
Français
Horreur et fantastique sont des mots presque trop simples tant l'univers de Joe Hill nous plonge dans un maelström de sensations envoûtantes. « L'innocence » de ses personnages confrontée à des situations profondément dérangeantes crée un climat qui vous hante longtemps après la lecture.
Il suffit que Victoria monte sur son vélo et passe sur le vieux pont derrière chez elle pour ressortir là où elle le souhaite. Elle sait que personne ne la croira. Elle-même n'est pas vraiment sûre de comprendre ce qui lui arrive.
Charles possède lui aussi un don particulier. Il aime emmener des enfants dans sa Rolls-Royce de 1938. Un véhicule immatriculé NOSFERA2. Grâce à cette voiture, Charles et ses innocentes victimes échappent à la réalité et parcourent les routes cachées qui mènent à un étonnant parc d'attractions appelé Christmasland, où l'on fête Noël tous les jours ; la tristesse hors la loi mais à quel prix...
Victoria et Charles vont finir par se confronter. Les mondes dans lesquels ils s'affrontent sont peuplés d'images qui semblent sortir de nos plus terribles cauchemars.