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My Father's Mask
This short story was originally published in Joe Hill's collection 20TH CENTURY GHOSTS.
ebook
First published October 16, 2007
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About the author
Joe Hill
508 books29.8k followersJoe Hill's debut, Heart-Shaped Box, won the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. His second, Horns, was made into a film freakfest starring Daniel Radcliffe. His other novels include NOS4A2, and his #1 New York Times Best-Seller, The Fireman... which was also the winner of a 2016 Goodreads Choice Award for Best Horror Novel.
He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.
He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.
He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.
He writes short stories too. Some of them were gathered together in his prize-winning collection, 20th Century Ghosts.
He won the Eisner Award for Best Writer for his long running comic book series, Locke & Key, co-created with illustrator and art wizard Gabriel Rodriguez.
He lives in New Hampshire with a corgi named McMurtry after a certain beloved writer of cowboy tales. His next book, Strange Weather, a collection of novellas, storms into bookstores in October of 2017.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews
May 20, 2019
What's there to get? The story's essence is surreal and dream-like. It's an experience. It's not supposed to make sense right away. Treat it like a little game the author is playing with us.
My Father's Mask has a lot of room for interpretation. The games and all the things the parents say, the masks and the playing card people, the child on the bike, the children in the woods, the boy's love interest, the ending with the father and the appraiser.
So let's play the game. Spoilers ahead.
My interpretation of the story goes as follows. If you want conclusions only, read the last two paragraphs of this review.
In the beginning the mum tells the boy that they ran out of money. I don't think that was a joke. Her demeanor changed and the father had to loosen it up. She did the ziplock gesture there, which is referenced later.
But why did they run out of money? Theory: After the grandpa died, he stopped funneling money to them. The estate is tied up. The father only works part-time and the mum not at all. They are in debt, still having a very extravagant lifestyle exemplified by a love of decorating and golf. They have to get money somehow.
The boy can't stay with his friends because the playing-card people would get him. What does this mean? Theory: Maybe the parents are worried he'll be kidnapped.
Still on the road, they are suddenly tailed by a Jaguar. It pulls into a diner parking lot after a while. This scene is only relevant, because we see a Jaguar again later, at the end of the story.
Then we get to the masks and mirrors. The mirrors are covered to warn against vanity. I have no definite interpretation here, so I'll leave that to you. There might be some depth to the Jewish tradition, but I don't know enough about Judaism to apply it to the story.
Next, the protagonist sees the boy in the white nightgown in the night. Two clues: The bicycle is antique and the boy wears a nightgown. I initially thought it would be the grandfather, but the father seems to have red hair, and the bicycle boy has blond hair. Not a good match. However, as we will see later, the appraiser has yellow hair.
When the father talks to our protagonist, he wants to tell him something. "Jack, listen, I don't want you to forget about–" This and how he leaves a "ghost hand imprint" on the window sounds awfully like he wanted to say goodbye to his son.
Next, let's talk about the children in the forest. I'm pretty sure they're the protagonist's mum and dad. The girl always makes up games, the boy says. They are sixteen — and the mum told our protagonist earlier that they snuck into the forest as teens. And of course, our protagonist says that he knew her already even before she laughed. His mother's laugh is described as special multiple times. It's a pretty clear case.
One of the things the girl said struck me, even if it was an offhand remark, out of context. "Your parents can't feed you anymore, so they send you off to get lost in the woods." This might be another hint that his parents are broke and need to make some money ASAP.
When our protagonist leaves the forest, we're already at the last scene. He immediately sees the jaguar, but doesn't describe its exterior color, which was previously silver. It makes sense, though, that it would be the same car. So whoever followed them the night before is now at the house.
Inside, he sees his dad with organs dotted as if they had been marked up by a surgeon.
The appraiser has wavy, yellow hair. Earlier, the mother told our protagonist that the playing-card people had already seen her. The boy on the old bicycle also has blond hair. Coincidence?
When the mum asks whether the appraiser sees anything she likes, her gaze drifts to the father's shoulders. In the end, the last shot with her and the father is when she "has her mouth on his," which I interpreted as a gesture of further dominance.
We see the bicycle boy skin a rabbit, its stomach open. He has pink teeth from blood. I think this is a metaphor for the father, the rabbit, being skinned and harvested by the playing-card people.
So I have two theories:
(1) The appraiser is an organ dealer who's meeting the parents at a remote location to deal with them. The father willingly sacrifices himself for his wife and son, which is why he is so solemn the whole time. The bicycle boy, the children in the forest, the playing-card people, etc. are made up by the boy and his mother to cope with the psychological distress.
(2) The story describes a family feud going back to the times when children rode Charlie Chaplin style bicycles. The playing-card people and the mask people are engaged in a battle of dominance and deception. While Upton had managed to keep the balance, or even win, he was finally killed by the other party. The mask people lost their grip and finally the playing-card people are making them pay the price. Their first move is gutting the father like a common rabbit.
I think there's a lot to this story. I personally prefer the second interpretation. To anyone who didn't get it AND gave it one star, I want to say: This story is not your mistress. She is not obliged to make sense to you, especially after only reading it once. I think Joe Hill built a very imaginative world here and hid it behind the eyes of a 13 year old, a point of view which he is very partial to. He hit it out of the park, honestly. The fact that it's so obscure makes it just infinitely more rewarding to come up with one's own interpretation.
Thanks for reading. :)
My Father's Mask has a lot of room for interpretation. The games and all the things the parents say, the masks and the playing card people, the child on the bike, the children in the woods, the boy's love interest, the ending with the father and the appraiser.
So let's play the game. Spoilers ahead.
My interpretation of the story goes as follows. If you want conclusions only, read the last two paragraphs of this review.
In the beginning the mum tells the boy that they ran out of money. I don't think that was a joke. Her demeanor changed and the father had to loosen it up. She did the ziplock gesture there, which is referenced later.
But why did they run out of money? Theory: After the grandpa died, he stopped funneling money to them. The estate is tied up. The father only works part-time and the mum not at all. They are in debt, still having a very extravagant lifestyle exemplified by a love of decorating and golf. They have to get money somehow.
The boy can't stay with his friends because the playing-card people would get him. What does this mean? Theory: Maybe the parents are worried he'll be kidnapped.
Still on the road, they are suddenly tailed by a Jaguar. It pulls into a diner parking lot after a while. This scene is only relevant, because we see a Jaguar again later, at the end of the story.
Then we get to the masks and mirrors. The mirrors are covered to warn against vanity. I have no definite interpretation here, so I'll leave that to you. There might be some depth to the Jewish tradition, but I don't know enough about Judaism to apply it to the story.
Next, the protagonist sees the boy in the white nightgown in the night. Two clues: The bicycle is antique and the boy wears a nightgown. I initially thought it would be the grandfather, but the father seems to have red hair, and the bicycle boy has blond hair. Not a good match. However, as we will see later, the appraiser has yellow hair.
When the father talks to our protagonist, he wants to tell him something. "Jack, listen, I don't want you to forget about–" This and how he leaves a "ghost hand imprint" on the window sounds awfully like he wanted to say goodbye to his son.
Next, let's talk about the children in the forest. I'm pretty sure they're the protagonist's mum and dad. The girl always makes up games, the boy says. They are sixteen — and the mum told our protagonist earlier that they snuck into the forest as teens. And of course, our protagonist says that he knew her already even before she laughed. His mother's laugh is described as special multiple times. It's a pretty clear case.
One of the things the girl said struck me, even if it was an offhand remark, out of context. "Your parents can't feed you anymore, so they send you off to get lost in the woods." This might be another hint that his parents are broke and need to make some money ASAP.
When our protagonist leaves the forest, we're already at the last scene. He immediately sees the jaguar, but doesn't describe its exterior color, which was previously silver. It makes sense, though, that it would be the same car. So whoever followed them the night before is now at the house.
Inside, he sees his dad with organs dotted as if they had been marked up by a surgeon.
The appraiser has wavy, yellow hair. Earlier, the mother told our protagonist that the playing-card people had already seen her. The boy on the old bicycle also has blond hair. Coincidence?
When the mum asks whether the appraiser sees anything she likes, her gaze drifts to the father's shoulders. In the end, the last shot with her and the father is when she "has her mouth on his," which I interpreted as a gesture of further dominance.
We see the bicycle boy skin a rabbit, its stomach open. He has pink teeth from blood. I think this is a metaphor for the father, the rabbit, being skinned and harvested by the playing-card people.
So I have two theories:
(1) The appraiser is an organ dealer who's meeting the parents at a remote location to deal with them. The father willingly sacrifices himself for his wife and son, which is why he is so solemn the whole time. The bicycle boy, the children in the forest, the playing-card people, etc. are made up by the boy and his mother to cope with the psychological distress.
(2) The story describes a family feud going back to the times when children rode Charlie Chaplin style bicycles. The playing-card people and the mask people are engaged in a battle of dominance and deception. While Upton had managed to keep the balance, or even win, he was finally killed by the other party. The mask people lost their grip and finally the playing-card people are making them pay the price. Their first move is gutting the father like a common rabbit.
I think there's a lot to this story. I personally prefer the second interpretation. To anyone who didn't get it AND gave it one star, I want to say: This story is not your mistress. She is not obliged to make sense to you, especially after only reading it once. I think Joe Hill built a very imaginative world here and hid it behind the eyes of a 13 year old, a point of view which he is very partial to. He hit it out of the park, honestly. The fact that it's so obscure makes it just infinitely more rewarding to come up with one's own interpretation.
Thanks for reading. :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 22, 2015
That was creepy and weird. It had sort of an Alice in wonderland feel to it.
I'm not 100% sure I fully understood everything being honest. Was it pretend? Was it a dream? Or did it all actually happen?
I guess those questions mean that the story was a success because it got me wondering.
Almost a dark fairy tale, a modern day Grimm. Worth a read.
All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk
I'm not 100% sure I fully understood everything being honest. Was it pretend? Was it a dream? Or did it all actually happen?
I guess those questions mean that the story was a success because it got me wondering.
Almost a dark fairy tale, a modern day Grimm. Worth a read.
All reviews can be found at http://lennonslair.blogspot.co.uk
March 22, 2025
rating- 3.25
creepy and engaging short story by joe hill. It was atmospheric even though slightly confusing with a
surreal end.
enjoyed it even if i didn't fully get it .
creepy and engaging short story by joe hill. It was atmospheric even though slightly confusing with a
surreal end.
enjoyed it even if i didn't fully get it .
September 27, 2014
Joe Hill once again hits it out of the park! In my humble opinion this was definitely the creepiest Joe Hill story I have ever read. There were some scary moments in the fan favorite Heart-Shaped Box but I think the surrealism in My Father's Mask made it my new favorite. Most of the time this story felt like a bizarre nightmare that you are desperate to wake up from. While some parts of it were a little confusing, it didn't take away from the creeping dread you felt for the main character. If you enjoy the creepy surrealism in David Lynch movies. (Like Twin Peaks.) then this is a book you must read.
This story came as a big surprise to me, because I just simply wasn't expecting it. Whenever Joe Hill's books are mentioned you always hear about the big three. (Horns, Heart Shaped Box, and NOS4A2.) However this one is really a buried gem along with Pop Art and Voluntary Committal. All three of these stories are worth reading and deserve more attention because they are very unique.
This book is included in the 20th Century Ghosts collection. I am reviewing all of these stories separately because each of them are worth talking about. As you can probably tell I am a huge Joe Hill fan and I think all of his books are worth checking out. If you are looking for a original horror story to read this October, then you really can't go wrong with this short story.
I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars!!
This story came as a big surprise to me, because I just simply wasn't expecting it. Whenever Joe Hill's books are mentioned you always hear about the big three. (Horns, Heart Shaped Box, and NOS4A2.) However this one is really a buried gem along with Pop Art and Voluntary Committal. All three of these stories are worth reading and deserve more attention because they are very unique.
This book is included in the 20th Century Ghosts collection. I am reviewing all of these stories separately because each of them are worth talking about. As you can probably tell I am a huge Joe Hill fan and I think all of his books are worth checking out. If you are looking for a original horror story to read this October, then you really can't go wrong with this short story.
I give this one a 5 out of 5 stars!!
April 23, 2012
A fantastic read. Profoundly frightening. It's okay that I didn't really "get it" because it was such a vivid and surreal experience. Like one of my nightmares on paper. There are such piercing images that there were moments when I felt as though the story were looking back at me. After reading I feared looking out windows or into mirrors. The sounds of the night drove me mad. This story found it's way into me.
November 7, 2011
A good, short creepfest. I don't know what the hell was going on, but it gave me a mean case of the heeby-jeebies. Eeep!
October 22, 2023
The best story I’ve read in years. Joe Hill manages a metaphorical story that speaks to personal history, growing up, how we edit our own memories, emerging sexuality and the idea that you can never really know anyone, even those closest to us— We work together, but we live alone. The forest scene oozes Shakespearean fairies and the son’s relationship with his mother has obvious Oedipal overtones. I’m not sure it’s meant to “make sense” in a linear narrative sort of way and I’m fine with that. Bravo!
April 3, 2019
An uncomfortably surreal tale that unfolds like a vivid yet nonsensical nightmare. The imagery was creepy as hell and it seemed to be leading to something profound, but like most other stories in 20th Century Ghosts it fell flat with an abrupt ending that didn’t make much sense. I feel like the idea would’ve worked better as a full-length novel with a bigger scope of mystery.
July 19, 2013
This story made no sense to me at all....
September 30, 2013
More Joe Hill awesomeness. He's the new black when it comes to horror. I have not been disappointed yet with anything he's written so far. He could make cereal box labels interesting and creepy.
March 8, 2012
Creepy, but the story really didn't develop for me.
October 5, 2014
Reminded me of Alice in Wonderland for adults. I liked it!
October 11, 2020
Read as part of the collection 20th Century Ghosts.
February 14, 2013
A couple of years ago I read Heart-Shaped Box. I loved it. It came up in conversation the other day and I started suggesting it to people. I told my mother, who likes paranormal and strange books. I told my fiance, who reads like a man. I knew that both of them would love the book. Then my fiance downloaded this short, kind of like a taste of Hill before actually reading Hill. When I got home from work one night, he handed me his Kindle and said, "I just read this Joe Hill short. It was weird. I don't get it. Read it."
Well, my dear, I don't get it either.
I was good. It was interesting. I just don't really know what happened.
Our main character is a 13 year old boy traveling to a lake cottage with his parents. His mother enjoys playing games. She makes them up and makes the rules. On the drive she tells her son that they are hiding from the Card People and makes a game of him ducking out of sight anytime a car goes by. The cabin they go to is full of masks and his parents both wear them and encourage him to. Then it gets, in my opinion, Oedipal. His father wears a clear mask that distorts his face. His mother tries to get him to wear the mask a couple of times and at the end he willingly puts it on.
I don't know. With a story this short, I don't want to give anything away. I do think it is worth a read though, if you are the type of person who enjoys a good thought provoker.
Well, my dear, I don't get it either.
I was good. It was interesting. I just don't really know what happened.
Our main character is a 13 year old boy traveling to a lake cottage with his parents. His mother enjoys playing games. She makes them up and makes the rules. On the drive she tells her son that they are hiding from the Card People and makes a game of him ducking out of sight anytime a car goes by. The cabin they go to is full of masks and his parents both wear them and encourage him to. Then it gets, in my opinion, Oedipal. His father wears a clear mask that distorts his face. His mother tries to get him to wear the mask a couple of times and at the end he willingly puts it on.
I don't know. With a story this short, I don't want to give anything away. I do think it is worth a read though, if you are the type of person who enjoys a good thought provoker.
October 16, 2016
This was a beautifully written short story, sending horror vibes down my spine. The environment was surreal, the nature and the forest almost magical - though they are the only constant thing in this story, and the masks combined with the cards/deck were used really well by Hill to create this unique story. It doesn't really have anything to tell, but it's really nice short horror story. The best from the 20th century ghosts collection.
May 8, 2023
I unfortunately didn’t get much out of this one. I liked the initial premise with the masks left at the cabin and how creepy that felt in a way that appealed to that childhood dread of realizing your parents might not be what you perceive them as, but once the protagonist goes into the woods the whole thing starts to fall apart. The ending wraps around to being quite creepy again, and I wish I could’ve enjoyed the more “Wonderland” parts that this story seems to draw comparisons to.
October 3, 2022
Hard to shake the impression that this is a response to the paranoia and card-game motifs of another book, "Hearts in Atlantis".
It feels a little too on the nose for this one to actually be meant to convey the author's feelings about his own dad - I don't think it's autobiographical. But the magic is strong here.
It feels a little too on the nose for this one to actually be meant to convey the author's feelings about his own dad - I don't think it's autobiographical. But the magic is strong here.
July 11, 2015
Joe Hill captures the sense of confusion I had about the world when I was young. My Father's Mask reminds me that in adulthood nothing has changed. Life is a constant state of unease, mixed with imagination and revelation.
December 16, 2016
Поредното нещо, което е перфектно като замисъл, но ужасно калпаво като изпълнение. Тия залитания по странни сюрреалистични описания и сетинги ми идват малко в повече. Сериозно, братче, това не е "Лабиринт" с музиката на Дейвид Боуи, лека му пръст! Пиши си ужасите и не се прави на интересен, моля...
December 17, 2023
This story I don’t even know how to explain it. It’s like a drug induced fever dream, and I loved it. it has this eerie uneasy feel through the entire thing and it never lets up and it makes you at the end go what did I just read and why do I want to read it again it’s so good.
December 18, 2011
Weird story. Still not sure what it was about, but it scared me anyway. :)
September 27, 2013
Very weird, still not sure I understand it.
January 26, 2016
I can't tell you what I didn't like about this. There isn't any one flaw I can point to. Joe Hill is fantastic, but this story just didn't grab me.
May 24, 2017
Weird but creepy
January 24, 2020
I found it subtlety unnerving, sometimes that is the best sort of scare. Would love to see a short made of this.
September 30, 2022
I’d really love to sit down and talk about this story with people that are smarter than me.
June 21, 2023
Probably the creepiest Hill story I've read so far.
April 14, 2025
Okay, Joe, you lost me. This was SO abstract, probably more abstract than "Pop Art," and I felt more confused than not reading it. Toward the end though, I find myself thinking that this is perhaps the age of theme of "we all become our parents one day," especially in how the protagonist puts his father's mask on and then his own face becomes blank underneath. It's like the transition from teen to adult, he loses himself. I wish there was more elaboration on the realtor situation at the house--was she killed/absorbed by the house? Why is the mother acting like they are now on the run and making up a story about what happened to her husband? I was left with a lot of questions, but I think that some of the questions add to the creepiness. I think that some of these masks must look like The Strangers or Jordan Peele's Us.
June 6, 2025
The story started intriguing with a boy moving to a cabin in the woods together with his parents. Soon the tale becomes a bit confusing about masks, play card people, a game of cards, a boy on an old fashioned bicycle... don't get me wrong interesting elements and motifs every single one of them. But in this story somehow it doesn't fit completely together. A relatively fast paced read but the outcome isn't too satisfying for my liking. It doesn't sound right in a way. Overall it was okay!
July 5, 2025
This Short story My Father's Mask has a fantasy Alice in wonderland feel. It is creepy, engaging and weird. It's okay that I didn't full get its a surreal experience. Joe Hill once again knows how to creep you out in just a few pages. Like his father Stephen King he packs a punch in his short fiction.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 48 reviews