Heart-Shaped Box

by Joe Hill

published

April 1st 2008 (first published 2007) by HarperTorch

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binding

Mass Market Paperback, 320 pages

literary awards

ALA Reading List - Best Horror 2008; Nominated for the British Fantasy Award for Best Novel (2008)

isbn

006114794X (isbn13: 9780061147944)

description

Do you sleep with the light on? Are you in the habit of checking your doors and windows before you go to bed? Maybe even checking under your be...more

[close] Do you sleep with the light on? Are you in the habit of checking your doors and windows before you go to bed? Maybe even checking under your bed? If you are about to crack open Joe Hill's chilling thriller Heart-Shaped Box, you might want to rethink your nighttime habits--Hill's story about an aging rock star (with a penchant for macabre artifacts) who buys a haunted suit online will scare you silly. But don't take our word for it. We asked bestselling authors (and masters of dark terror tales themselves) Scott Smith, and Harlan Coben to read Heart-Shaped Box and give us their take. Check out their reviews below, and you might want to pick up a nightlight while you're at it. --Daphne Durham
<table width="100%" align=center cellpadding="6" cellspacing="10"> <tr> <td width="50%" valign="top"> Guest Reviewer: Scott Smith

In 1993, Scott Smith wowed readers with his stunning debut thriller, A Simple Plan. Thirteen years later, he spooked us again with The Ruins, a horror-thriller about four Americans traveling in Mexico who stumble across a nightmare in the jungle.

The set-up for Joe Hill's novel, Heart-Shaped Box, is appealingly simple. Jude Coyne, an aging rock star, buys himself a dead man's suit. He acquires it online, lured by the promise that the dead man's ghost will be included in his purchase. Jude thinks this is a joke, of course. He also assumes the seller is a stranger. We soon discover that he's wrong on both counts, however, and from this point on the story moves with an exhilarating urgency. Jude wants the ghost gone; the ghost wants Jude dead. We watch, chapter-by-chapter, as they battle for survival. "Watch" is the appropriate word, too, because this is an extremely visual book. Hill's prose is lean and precise, and he renders Jude's world with impressive confidence. It feels solid, every detail both correct and fresh. And this physicality provides a firm platform for the book's otherworldly happenings, which seem all the more frightening for being so securely grounded.

Hill has a flawless sense of pacing. His narrative never flags, nor does it ever move so quickly as to outrun itself. And one can sense his literary ambition pushing at the margins of the genre. There are times when his writing, for all its spare efficiency, seems to jump away from him, stopping one small step short of poetry. An e-mail to Jude from the ghost (trust me, it's not as absurd as it sounds) could even pass for something ee cummings might've written, in an especially morbid mood. And toward the end of the book, when Hill describes a trip down death's "night road" in a '65 Mustang, the passage has a startlingly lyrical beauty.

The story's horror ultimately has as much to do with Jude Coyne's past--his mistakes, abandonments and betrayals--as with anything supernatural. Jude has caused a lot of pain over the years, moving through life with a carelessness that verges on the callous. His battle with the ghost brings this behavior into sharp relief, forcing him to reflect upon his own capacity for cruelty. This dawning self-awareness leavens the book's bleakness and gore (and it is delightfully gory in places) with an unexpected sweetness. Despite our initial impression, Jude is gradually revealed--both to himself and the reader--as an essentially decent, even kind man. It's this kindness, this fledgling ability to love and be loved, that will ultimately be of crucial consequence in his death struggle with the ghost. And it's what makes Hill's debut not only well-written and terrifying, but also--as it draws to its close--surprisingly moving. So go ahead, take a chance, and open his Heart-Shaped Box. I think you'll be happy you did. --Scott Smith

</td> <td width="50%" valign="top"> Guest Reviewer: Harlan Coben

Harlan Coben is the author of the beloved Myron Bolitar</i> series about a wisecracking sports agent, as well as stunning stand-alone novels like The Innocent and his breakout thriller Tell No One. His new novel The Woods releases on April 17, 2007.

You, dear reader, are obviously somewhat versed in making online purchases, so today, immediately after you click on the yellow "Add to Shopping Cart" on the top right hand corner of this page, why not do an online search and buy something totally unique?

Like, say, a vengeful ghost.

That is what rock-star Judas Coyne does, thinking it will be a laugh, fun for his "sick-o" collection of such things. It seems a random buy, but Judas soon learns that it is anything but. This particular ghost is one Craddock McDermott, step-father to recent suicide victim and boy, is he cranky. He demands revenge for his step-daughter's death, which he blames on Judas's shabby treatment of her.

Or is he after something else?

There are Amazon readers who will give you a better plot summary. Don't read them too closely because Joe Hill provides plenty of fun surprises. Heart-Shaped Box is a true spine-tingler. I don't use that hyphenated word much anymore. We have seen and read it all, haven't we? But right away, in the first chapter, there was a subtle line that made the hairs on the back of my neck go up in a way I haven't experienced since I first discovered great horror as a teenager.

Hill writes with a sure hand. The prose is compelling. Like most memorable tales of horror, this book is more about redemption than scary moments--though Heart-Shaped Box has plenty of scares. They are visceral, shocking and very well done. The characters are flawed and real. The father-son relationship adds texture and surprising poignancy.

So here's the thing. My guess is, you won't find a ghost to buy online, but if you read the Heart-Shaped Box, you will be getting something that will haunt you and startle you and stay with you and yes, visit you in your dreams.

Sleep well, dear reader. <i>--Harlan Coben

</td> </tr> </table> <p clear="all"> [close]

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Chris rated it:

(review of isbn 0061147931)

07/27/08

Read in June, 2008

recommended to Chris by: jess

This is the only book I’ve ever seen my girlfriend even begin reading, which is probably nothing she needs broadcasted to the world. I forget how she exactly stumbled across it, but the concept of a dude foolishly buying a ghost over the internet seemingly piqued her interest. She anxiously waited for it to arrive; I was eager too, stoked I might actually catch her reading something other than “Star” magazine.

About a year later, she still hadn’t read it, so I decided to. This wo...more This is the only book I’ve ever seen my girlfriend even begin reading, which is probably nothing she needs broadcasted to the world. I forget how she exactly stumbled across it, but the concept of a dude foolishly buying a ghost over the internet seemingly piqued her interest. She anxiously waited for it to arrive; I was eager too, stoked I might actually catch her reading something other than “Star” magazine.

About a year later, she still hadn’t read it, so I decided to. This works out for both of us, I got to read “Heart-Shaped Box”, and while she scrutinizes my internet activity, maybe she’ll pause to check out this review and find out what the book is about.

Judas Coyne is a hero for this new millennium, a self-indulgent rockstar past his prime with a history of personal issues and full of crass sarcasm and a penchant for the finer things in life: privacy, hot goth chicks half his age with countless tattoos and piercings, and grim artifacts of antiquity like severed skulls and torture devices. When his personal assistant, Danny, comes across an internet offer to purchase a dead man’s suit (and supposedly the dude’s ghost along with it), Coyne can’t possibly pass this up. He buys the suit, and sure enough, the ghost does indeed tag along. It turns out that the offer wasn’t exactly what it initially seemed, that this ghost has a more personal connection to him and a hell of a grudge.

Overall, the book was pretty enjoyable, and I’d be interested to see what else author Joe Hill might do next. The characters were likable enough, the story wasn’t great but did a good job entertaining, and his humor is pretty good throughout (my favorite example was when he’s consulting a ouija board and explains that he feels stupid, but once in a music video he “had run in mock horror through a field of clover, chased by a dwarf in a dirty leprechaun suit and carrying a chainsaw” so acting like a fool isn't exactly new to him). Hill does seem influenced by Stephen King, the most obvious nod of the hat being the crossbreeding of the horror genre and rock and roll, with the title taken from a Nirvana tune, and chapters named after songs by Pearl Jam, Nine Inch Nails, and Led Zeppelin. I’d think that fans of Stephen King who are on the verge of soiling themselves in anticipation of his next book can probably use “Heart-Shaped Box” to get them back to a state of regularity.

UPDATE: I've just learned something interesting thanks to a comment by GoodReads member ShellBell (who apparently has her fingers firmly on the pulse of the publishing world), in which she inquired whether Joe Hill is living up to his old man's reputation. His dad? I pondered the surname, and finally thought, Jesus, don't tell me Benny Hill actually had kids that lived. To confirm this sad truth, I hit up Wikipedia, only to discover that Joe Hill is Stephen King's kid! Well, I'll be damned, no wonder I thought this guy was King-influenced; the influence is more than skin deep, it's confirmed as genetic. I almost have to believe that Joe wrote this story to speculate as to what Larry Underwood (of dad's opus The Stand) would be doing in the present day had the Superflu not come about.

It's funny, nowhere on the book jacket is there any sort of notice that Hill is the living proof that King is capable of reproduction. According to the Wiki-article, Hill decided not to broadcast the connection to see if he could stand on his own merits without the comforting crutch of Big Steve's legacy, much like King's own foray into The Bachman Experiment. At this point, I'm thinking that Hill has officially proven he’s not really capable of much more than regurgitating his old man’s style, even down to the selection of marketing gimmicks.

Granted, I won’t deny that it’s somewhat nice to see that the guy is trying to discover if he’d be worth a damn without riding dad’s coattails, but then I consider that the only reason the public is even getting a sample of his work is because he’s King’s son (and the publisher undoubtedly knows that if sales are slow they can always slip the word to the press and watch it fly off the shelves like penicillin after a sorority party). This makes any sort of resulting ‘cred’ pretty flimsy; to take a chance to stand on your own with the possibility of failure is honorable, I don’t give it much respect when that potential fall is buffeted by a large, golden parachute. Only someone akin to the heir to the King throne can even consider snobbishly refusing a guaranteed success by distancing themselves from Stephen King. The rest of us need the money: I’m sure if most of us had the chance to be published, but we’d have to keep up the façade of being related to Stephen King for a year, we’d immediately be requesting a floorplan of King’s house to make to bullshit we were going to spew sound more convincing.
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Jason rated it:

(review of isbn 0061147931)

05/08/08

Read in May, 2008

(Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

Regular readers know that one of the subjects I'm often talking about here at CCLaP is that of so-called "genre fiction" versus "mainstream literature," and especially of the natural danger of the former; that many genre novels are as popular as they are simply because they de...more (Reprinted from the Chicago Center for Literature and Photography [cclapcenter.com:]. I am the original author of this essay, as well as the owner of CCLaP; it is not being reprinted here illegally.)

Regular readers know that one of the subjects I'm often talking about here at CCLaP is that of so-called "genre fiction" versus "mainstream literature," and especially of the natural danger of the former; that many genre novels are as popular as they are simply because they deliver that genre's fetishistic details in spades, not necessarily because they're good at the building blocks behind all good literature (or in other words, character and plot and style, the same criteria off which CCLaP's reviews are based). So why bother reading genre pieces when you're not a natural fan of that genre? Well, because every so often, a genre novel will come out that is good at the literary ABCs, that does appeal to audience members besides those who naturally love that genre to begin with, and as a result become much more exciting and worthwhile projects than simple mainstream literature; to cite a good recent example, think of Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer-winning The Road, how on the surface it seems like any other post-apocalyptic science-fiction thriller but in reality actually tells a much deeper and more profound message than most other books of that genre.

That's what led me, frankly, to reading 2007's Heart-Shaped Box this week, the surprisingly popular debut novel by Joe Hill; because it's a genre novel itself, to tell you the truth, a genre I don't usually care for that much (horror, to be specific), but one that's been getting a lot of attention in the last year from places other than the horror community, a small-press novel that has nonetheless landed in the top 10 of the New York Times bestseller list and with a big-budget Hollywood adaptation by Neil Jordan coming out later this year. Ah, but then I actually read it, and am now even more confused than I was before; because to be perfectly frank, Heart-Shaped Box is an okay novel but certainly nothing better than most other horror books, or at least from the viewpoint of this non-fan who tends to lump all their storylines together. Because really, if you want to think of genre novels in a standardized, almost scientific way, you can really think of them like this -- that all genre novels basically start with a semi-hacky plotline full of easily-guessed cliches (which is why they're known as genre novels in the first place), and how good or bad that novel turns out to be hinges on where that author goes with that semi-hacky plotline, either upwards into unexpected territory or downwards to wallow in its hacky, cliched mess.

And that's the biggest problem with Heart-Shaped Box; unlike the best genre work out there, the stuff that legitimately breaks through to a general mainstream audience, here Hill chooses to wallow in the most predictable cliches available whenever given the choice, whenever given the chance to otherwise elevate his material into something truly unique. Because I mean, seriously, just how many more horror projects do we need that feature as its main villain a creepy horse-faced old man in an antique black suit and fedora hat who talks with a threatening southern drawl? Or dogs that can somehow preternaturally sense the looming evil around them long before the humans do? Or sassy grandmas who accidentally provide the key to the story's entire resolution, through their folksy sayin's spouted around their homey kitchen during a down moment in the plot? These are all bad cliches of the horror genre, the things that make me as a non-fan flee from most hackneyed books within that genre; the entire reason I picked up Heart-Shaped Box was because I thought it was going to be better than that, given the fanatical grassroots popularity the book has inspired since first coming out.

Unfortunately the book is not that; it's a decent horror story, don't get me wrong, but ultimately nothing better or even different than a typical Stephen King novel circa 1982 or so, all haunted cars and cheesy inner dialogue and badly dated rock lyrics and the whole bit. (And speaking of which, by the way, can I just get this off my chest, please? What self-respecting death-metal veteran would ever possibly consider Counting Crows and Coldplay among his favorite bands? Cheese And Rice, Joe Hill, pick a music style and stick with it already, or don't bother making your main character a grizzled death-metal veteran to begin with.) If you're already a fan of horror novels, by all means go ahead and pick it up if you haven't already; if you're like me, though, and tend to only tackle a handful of such projects per year, Heart-Shaped Box unfortunately should not be one of them.

Out of 10: 6.8, or 7.8 for horror fans ...less

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Juushika rated it:

(review of isbn 0061147931)

09/20/08

bookshelves: borrowed

Read in March, 2008

Jude Coyne, an aging rock star with a penchant for macabre artifacts, purchases a ghost online—but when the dead man's suit and spirit arrives, Jude learns that the ghost is far from harmless, as he was lead to believe. Instead, the ghost intends to lead Jude to his death, terrorizing Jude and his girlfriend Georgia and forcing them to journey back to Jude's roots in the American South. Despite Hill's simple yet ingenious plot and skillful pacing, Heart-Shaped Box is in all ways unre...more Jude Coyne, an aging rock star with a penchant for macabre artifacts, purchases a ghost online—but when the dead man's suit and spirit arrives, Jude learns that the ghost is far from harmless, as he was lead to believe. Instead, the ghost intends to lead Jude to his death, terrorizing Jude and his girlfriend Georgia and forcing them to journey back to Jude's roots in the American South. Despite Hill's simple yet ingenious plot and skillful pacing, Heart-Shaped Box is in all ways unremarkable: characters are not memorable (and Jude's girlfriends are even interchangeable), there is no resolution to Jude's backstory, and although the plot is both tense and dense, nothing exists outside of it—the reader is left with nothing meaningful or memorable. I found the horror elements ineffective and was ultimately disappointed in the book; In good conscious I can't recommend it, but readers who find these elements frightening may enjoy the book much more and may want to pick it up.

I found it excruciatingly difficult to write this review—not because the book was too good for words, or because it was too bad to waste my time on, but because I found Heart-Shaped Box is mediocre and unmemorable on all accounts. I appreciate the skill that went into plotting and writing the book, to be sure. The concept is ingenious in its simplicity, and the story has a dense and careful plot. Hill's chapters are short and the tight plot varies ongoing action and backstory at a rate that keeps the reader interested in both. His writing style is far from exceptional, but it is visually-oriented (almost more film than novel) and succinct, putting emphasis on the content of the writing and not the writing itself. All of these aspects are competent and make for a decent story—et for all of them, something about the book is lacking. Jude is styled as an antihero with a dark past—yet he is almost comically "hardcore" and while the reader does receive his backstory, Jude never comes to terms with his own history. He is not the only simplistic character: his girlfriends are so weakly characterized that as the plot progresses, they actually combine into a single entity with interchangeable names—an intentional plot device, granted, it still makes for worrying commentary on characterization.

However, the most disappointing part about the book is that nothing exists outside of it—when the book ends (in a series of too-perfect epilogues) the reader is left with nothing to take away, nothing meaningful outside of the plot. And while I hardly expect a horror book to contain the same depth as I would some other novels, I wish that the book offered something more than its plot. Perhaps I would have found the plot more meaningful in its own right if I had found the horror elements scary, but they were for me ineffective. Whether or not the book is frightening will probably depend on the reader—the horror elements are there, and with Hill's pacing there is adequate buildup and his visual writing style they are rendered in film-like detail. However, they simply didn't appeal to me, and in fact became repetitive—once the horror begins, it continues with almost to break up until the book's climax, all variations on the same theme peppered with moments of gruesome violence. Readers who find the book's horror more effective will no doubt enjoy the book more than I did, and a satisfying scare may tip the otherwise equal balance and make this a successful book.

Hill is a competent writer, and has conceived and plotted a competent book. There are weaknesses: poor characterizations, elements which go unaddressed. But since the horror elements did not interest or scare me, and since there is no greater meaning to the story, Heart-Shaped Box left me empty and disappointed. The book is easy enough to read—with such short chapters and constant movement in the plot, the pages go by swiftly. But once you get to the end, there's nothing there: Jude confronts nothing, all the right characters succeed and/or live, all the right characters fail and/or die (again), the plot wraps up to the expected pat conclusion, and the book ends—without leaving anything behind for the reader, any concepts to mull over, any meaning to take away. And since the book failed to scare or thrill me, and had nothing more meaningful to offer, I came away feeling as though I had wasted my time in reading it. Another reader may find this book scary, they may be able to enjoy it for the thrill ride it intends to be, and that may be enough. But I didn't care for it, and I can't in good conscious recommend it....less

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Holly rated it:

(review of isbn 0061147931)

05/03/08

Read in May, 2008

I had never heard of Joe Hill, the offspring of Stephen King who wrote this novel under a pen name because he did not want to gain attention to his work for the sole reason that he is Stephen King’s son, until my grandmother, a Stephen King fanatic, told me a little about the book when she was a quarter of the way through it. After she had finished she lent me the book and I wearily took it and began my journey into the life of Judas Coyne, an ex-rocker with a wicked taste for paranormal item...more I had never heard of Joe Hill, the offspring of Stephen King who wrote this novel under a pen name because he did not want to gain attention to his work for the sole reason that he is Stephen King’s son, until my grandmother, a Stephen King fanatic, told me a little about the book when she was a quarter of the way through it. After she had finished she lent me the book and I wearily took it and began my journey into the life of Judas Coyne, an ex-rocker with a wicked taste for paranormal items and much younger women.

Heart-Shaped Box opens with a run of the mill, usual day of a retired rock star, Judas Coyne, his clerk and annoying friend by business-association and his goth fan-girl girlfriend whom he refers to as Georgia, that being the state in which he picked her up in while on tour with his band. The only thing remotely intriguing about this washed up rocker living in a desolate section of the United States in a farm house is his collection of occult and otherwise eerie knick knacks that fans had sent him over the years.

Judas’ attraction to so-called haunted objects has over the years evolved into an entire room full of random junk that most likely isn’t worth keeping around, but who he had built himself into being over the years on the road with his band is a man in which the goth lifestyle flocked to–And it had obviously stuck with him years after the other members of his band died off and disappeared. When his clerk sees a haunted suit online, Judas doesn’t think twice before telling him to get it. Days later, the suit arrives in a heart-shaped box and the horror, ghost-chasing story unravels.

Heart-Shaped Box is not the great horror story in which people have been claiming; it is however, a horror story that is about the same caliber of a Stephen King novel–And not his early work, which was what had built King to be known as a great horror story teller. This novel, while interesting and captivating at first, begins to drag on by the time you reach the middle of the story. While Hill is describing light, smells, temperature and feelings, you start to think to yourself “Yeah, I get it, now on with it!” This feeling is nothing short of what is felt while reading a recently published King novel.

Hill’s attention to detail is either an attribute beloved by readers or an attribute that can be seen as nothing but a writer wanting to write a novel instead of a novella. While his detailed explanations and back story of the characters is thorough, I found myself more interested in the story of Coyne’s girlfriend, Georgia; or Marybeth as we later begin to refer to her as, while my interest in the main character simply went stale, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.

While I can respect that Hill used a pen name in order to separate himself from his father and publish his novel by himself, this story runs dry way too early in order to be called a great horror story and it can easily be seen that the majority of Hill’s interest in horror stories and writing them came from his father. This novel reads as if Hill simply read Stephen King’s instructional writing book, On Writing, and decided to try on the novelist’s suit for a while....less

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Josh rated it:

07/14/08

Read in July, 2008

I'm a huge fan of the horror genre. While I tend to stick to the more obscure, barely-published authors or the wonderfully pulpy 80's horror-boom hacks (and I mean that a a loving a compliment) I occasionally like to dip into the more mainstream stuff just to see what other people are going nuts over. This novel had gained some acclaim, so I figured I'd see what the fuss was about.

The Good: Heart-Shaped Box contained a few genuinely creepy moments. The first appearance of Craddock,...more I'm a huge fan of the horror genre. While I tend to stick to the more obscure, barely-published authors or the wonderfully pulpy 80's horror-boom hacks (and I mean that a a loving a compliment) I occasionally like to dip into the more mainstream stuff just to see what other people are going nuts over. This novel had gained some acclaim, so I figured I'd see what the fuss was about.

The Good: Heart-Shaped Box contained a few genuinely creepy moments. The first appearance of Craddock, the phone call from Danny and the first glimpse of the truck all gave me a slight chill. Nothing ground-breaking, but for a first novel, Hill has a pretty good grasp of how to conjure up a good, slow-burn scare.

The Bad: The whole Rock 'N' Roll aspect was unbearably corny. For starters (and I say this as both a nit-picky book nerd and metalhead,) despite what the inner-leaf copy states, Judas Coyne has absolutely nothing to do with death metal. I just needed to get that right out because it irked me to no end. Secondly, every reference to rock in the book felt forced and contrived--an outsider's wild guess on what it's like to be a rock star. Kind of like how punks were always portrayed in 80's movies. As the story puttered along, purring sometimes and puttering at others, almost every rock 'n' roll moment pretty much pulled me out of the narrative. By the Black Crowes reference in the last third, I was almost ready to quit the damned book.

Aside from the rock references, I think the book sort of got away from Hill once Jude left his house and took to the road. The slowly-built tension of the beginning's haunted-house story dissipated as Jude's mustang rolled out of his driveway; the book shifted from the tightly-controlled environment of the Craddock-haunted house to a much more sloppy road story. What's more scary: discovering a spectral old man with black squiggles where eyes should be listening for you in a chair outside your room or riding down the highway rocking out to some ACDC and seeing a ghost truck in your rear-view mirror?

Either way, I won't pan the book because there were a few interesting moments. Since this was Hill's first novel, I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and maybe check back in with him a few books down the line to see where things have gone.

Postscript: After looking at the pages of accolades placed in the beginning of this book, I can't help but wonder exactly why it received so much attention when there are other genre authors out there doing such great things and getting so little credit. I wish I could forward copies of Gary A. Braunbeck's In Silent Graves, Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door, or Tom Piccirilli's A Choir of Ill Children to these gushing reviewers just to let them know what other stuff is out there....less

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Alex rated it:

(review of isbn 0061147931)

03/06/08

bookshelves: books-read-in-2007

Read in March, 2007

THE HEART-SHAPED BOX BY JOE HILL: One thing I admire greatly about Joe Hill King, son of famous bestselling author Stephen King, is that he didn’t get a leg up from his father like our President did. While I’m sure he’s had plenty of help and advice, Joe Hill has earned his own success through his own writing. Having won a Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection with his first book 20th Century Ghosts, he now returns with his first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, which was naturally makin...more THE HEART-SHAPED BOX BY JOE HILL: One thing I admire greatly about Joe Hill King, son of famous bestselling author Stephen King, is that he didn’t get a leg up from his father like our President did. While I’m sure he’s had plenty of help and advice, Joe Hill has earned his own success through his own writing. Having won a Bram Stoker Award for Best Fiction Collection with his first book 20th Century Ghosts, he now returns with his first novel, Heart-Shaped Box, which was naturally making a tremendous amount of buzz before the book even came out. And the congratulatory quote on the back of the book from Neil Gaiman just made it that more popular.

Our main character, Judas Coyne, is a famous guitarist of a band that was once up there with Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, but after the sudden deaths of two band members, the guitarist is now a successful solo artist whose eccentricities range into the banal, naturally. His favorite is to collect items and trinkets of the most unusual – the weirder the better! So when Jude sees a ghost for sale on an auction site, he immediately jumps on it, chooses the buy it now option and soon has the package on its way. The single mother is very happy to get rid of the ghost of her grandfather who has been haunting her and her son for so long, and Jude now has his very own ghost.

The package arrives in a large black heart-shaped box and inside he finds an ancient but impeccable suit. Judas is impressed by it, closes the box and soon forgets about it. Then the haunting begins: strange noises and soon they see the ghost, walking around. Then things take a turn for the worse, as the ghost comes after Judas and his friends.

Sadly, when it is revealed where this ghost has come from the story kind of goes downhill. It turns out the ghost is the deceased grandfather of the sister of a former girlfriend of Jude’s who killed herself after he dumped her. While the supernatural element of the ghost remains, and it is on their tail trying to catch them, the reasoning behind it is weak and destroys the foundation of the plot. Nevertheless there is a darkness and depth within this novel that reveals a talented writer with a bold future ahead of him. Like Carrie, this is not the best first novel, but with the talent in Hill’s genes, we know there will be many more stories for him to tell that will be great and terrifying.

For more reviews, and writings, or to buy yourself a copy, please visit www.alexctelander.com....less

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Trin rated it:

(review of isbn 0061147931)

08/26/07

bookshelves: horror, music

Read in August, 2007

Aging rock star Judas Coyne (surprise twist! not his real name), a collector of strange and macabre items, learns about a ghost up for sale on an "eBay knockoff" and decides he has to have it. The ghost is transported to him via the dead man's suit, wrapped in a heart-shaped box, and almost immediately Jude begins to experience buyer's remorse.

The beginning of this book—the first hundred pages or so—was truly frightening to me. A secret: vampires, werewolves, mummies, sea monst...more Aging rock star Judas Coyne (surprise twist! not his real name), a collector of strange and macabre items, learns about a ghost up for sale on an "eBay knockoff" and decides he has to have it. The ghost is transported to him via the dead man's suit, wrapped in a heart-shaped box, and almost immediately Jude begins to experience buyer's remorse.

The beginning of this book—the first hundred pages or so—was truly frightening to me. A secret: vampires, werewolves, mummies, sea monsters, demons, zombies, killer clowns—these things don't scare me. Ghosts scare me. They don't even have to do anything: there's just something about them, intangible but there, watching, that scares the crap out of me. So this book freaked me out the most—in that wonderful, shivery, brrr kind of way—when the ghost wasn't doing anything, when it was just sitting in Jude's hallway, its hat in its hand, two mad, black scribbles where its eyes should be.

Then the plot happened. See, there's a reason Jude came to find out about this particular auction; Jude's ex-girlfriend's family is blah blah blah...okay: all of this is actually pretty interesting. The action did lag in the middle, when there were just a lot of instances in a row of the ghost trying to convince Jude and Jude's new girlfriend, Georgia, to kill themselves, but it does pick up again, and the whole book is generally captivating. However, as soon as the plot engages, the book stops being scary. At least to me: once its motivations are explained, the ghost became a creepy dude out for revenge, and a lot of the otherworldliness, the inexplicableness, went away, and with it the scary. There were still things I enjoyed: Jude and Georgia are both interesting, flawed characters, and I liked how their relationship developed; I even liked the slightly unrealistic ending. (It made me happy, okay? I'm a sap; shut up.) But the book lost something for me when it stopped being frightening, and devolved from something creepy and unusual to something much more done, almost an ordinary, average horror/thriller. So it's a good novel, yeah, but not a great one; I really do wish Hill's spark of originality could have burned a little bit longer. Maybe in the next one....less

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Meagan rated it:

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03/26/08

Read in April, 2007

This was like the first "horror" book I've read in like a really long time.

The basic premises is that this semi-ex rock stars likes to collect morbid and weird things. So when he's alerted to a ghost for sale on an ebay ripoff site, Jude snatches up the deal for $1000 no questions asked. What he doesn't expect is, the ghost is real. The ghost doesn't want to disappoint and starts haunting Jude and his gal Georgia, with the intent to not only have them dead but have them kill each ...more This was like the first "horror" book I've read in like a really long time.

The basic premises is that this semi-ex rock stars likes to collect morbid and weird things. So when he's alerted to a ghost for sale on an ebay ripoff site, Jude snatches up the deal for $1000 no questions asked. What he doesn't expect is, the ghost is real. The ghost doesn't want to disappoint and starts haunting Jude and his gal Georgia, with the intent to not only have them dead but have them kill each other.

The first 125 pages were a bit rough. The narrative was acceptable, except once we got past the build up I felt like there was a lot of nothing going on. There was some creepy stuff, but beyond that I was just starting to get really annoyed with Jude. What wasn't he doing ANYTHING??? He explained away most things, but come on! A little more reaction, please.

Roughly around page 130 the book gets suddenly really good. I attribute this to Jude's sudden willingness to fight back. There are a ton of twists and turns and the story behind the ghost and Jude is an emotional one. It's creepy and scary, and boy does this ghost have Nerve, but mostly I was driven on by the story and the way the characters change.

Jude and Georgia are anything but flat characters. It approaches the whole idea of remembering who you are or were in the past and coming to accept that in order to move on and become someone new.

There's a few great moments in the book that have little to do with the main plot or the scare tactic that I will just simply remember. For instance why a loafer is hanging from the review mirror of the old mustang.

Joe Hill (author) gets an A+ for sensory detail, both the pleasant and harshly disturbing.

If you're into disturbing/horror material it's worth the read. There's still a loose sense of I don't really get it all that accompanies ANY thing of this genre, but the book does a really good job tying up loose end and wrapping it up. In fact I particularly liked how the end of the book was handled, in a series of really short chapters.

If you're looking for a creepy novel or something to get you thinking about life and the thereafter then this is a good book. Just heed my warning of the slow beginning.
...less

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La Petite rated it:

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09/11/08

bookshelves: sucked

Has a copy to sell/swap — Read in July, 2008

recommends it for: Book Burners :)

The cover of this book promises that you will be "haunted" and "startled," and that the book will even "visit you in your dreams."

Funny, as I read this "scary" novel, I couldn't help but think back to the time I read The Shining ... it was storming outside, it was 3AM and I was too afraid to put the book down, and I didn't care if I would end up wetting the bed because there was no way in hell I was going to get up and go to the bathroom. "Heart ...more The cover of this book promises that you will be "haunted" and "startled," and that the book will even "visit you in your dreams."

Funny, as I read this "scary" novel, I couldn't help but think back to the time I read The Shining ... it was storming outside, it was 3AM and I was too afraid to put the book down, and I didn't care if I would end up wetting the bed because there was no way in hell I was going to get up and go to the bathroom. "Heart Shaped Box" also made me think back to other King novels that had me ready to piss myself with terror: Cujo, Salem's Lot, The Tommyknockers, etc. I even thought back to Red Dragon by Harris, the book that I couldn't read unless my boyfriend was there. When you're traumatized from what you've read, you know you've found a good horror author.

Right up to the last page of Heart Shaped Box, I kept waiting for something scary, and when that didn't happen, I kept thinking that horror should be left to the masters, that the reviews about this book were false advertizing, and that the only true horror writer is Stephen King.

Then I read that the author is King's son? Wow, if I were King I'd be disappointed in my kid.

Man, this thing reads like something an 8th grader wrote for his creative writing class. First of all, the fact that an ageing rock star buys a ghost on the net isn't even a new idea: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/66...

Given that the story itself isn't even original, what else have we got here? Heh...

It's not scary, it's TOTALLY BORING, it's predictable (oh, let me guess, the depressed ex-stripper/groupie/20-something goth girl who's sleeping with a 50 year-old ex-rock star has a secret about her stepdad ... could it be molestation?? NO! I'M SHOCKED! WHAT A GENIUS PLOT TWIST!), and everything ends all happy, with smiles and rainbows and love and hugs ... and a few Care Bears, I'm sure.

Oh BLAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! I give it one star ... only for mentioning cool people like Nirvana, Ozzy, and Jackson Browne.

This book sucks. ...less

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sage rated it:

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08/20/07

bookshelves: glbt_interest, horror, reviewed, sff

Read in August, 2007

I went into this blind, without any idea what it was about (but Res liked it, so I'd give it a try). I should probably give it more than three stars -- it's far closer to 4, but I'm not sure of that yet. We'll see after the book's had some time to settle into my brain some. (Vague spoilers below.)

Joe Hill writes himself some good character. I loved how clearly everyone was drawn and how so much of who and what everyone was was shown in their words and actions. The skewed POV of t...more I went into this blind, without any idea what it was about (but Res liked it, so I'd give it a try). I should probably give it more than three stars -- it's far closer to 4, but I'm not sure of that yet. We'll see after the book's had some time to settle into my brain some. (Vague spoilers below.)

Joe Hill writes himself some good character. I loved how clearly everyone was drawn and how so much of who and what everyone was was shown in their words and actions. The skewed POV of the narrator was perfect for that and all that was really nicely done.

I loved the hook of buying a ghost and the twist he spun on it. I loved that the ghost story itself was so turned upside-down. It felt fresh, which rocks for a ghost story. *g*

I also enjoyed that much of the first third felt influenced by Mark Danielewski's House of Leaves, which is a terrifying and brilliant novel.

I loved the description of the scenery changing as they reached the Deep South, and I appreciated that the women characters were interesting, strong, and had some depth of character.

There are three gay men/boys and they have a 100% mortality rate. The two main female characters are both technically of the "hooker with a heart of gold" variety, although they're a lot deeper than that makes them sound. There's one black guy (a doctor, with one scene). There's a great supernatural hook and a scary bad guy. There are cool cars and at least one car chase -- so all the usual Hollywood tropes, good and bad, are there. I wonder when the movie's going to come out.

The only thing I hated was how the flashbacks were in italics, but the dialogue within those flashbacks was in plain roman. There was no reason to style it like that and it bugged the hell out of me -- to the point of yanking me out of the story.

My other gripe was with the ending. I bought some of his life after the story's climax, but not all of it. (I know enough about the music industry and the fame machine to make me go 'buh?') Otherwise, the story trailed off into fragments of happily-ever-after, which really (bothered me and) seemed to belong to an entirely different novel. Frustrating.

But overall it was nicely harrowing and about as scary as I can comfortably handle. :D...less

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Sammy rated it:

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06/12/07

bookshelves: the-good

Read in May, 2007

I don't think I quite knew what I was getting into when I picked up this book. I don't know what I thought I was going to read, but it wasn't this. So a warning to you: this book, or at least the beginning of it, is pretty freaky. I'm not a wimp. I grew up on Goosebumps and Scary Stories by Alvan Schwartz, graduating on to Christopher Pike and various R.L. Stine young adult novels. I also love scary movies of all sort, so I'm not one easily freaked out. But this novel was pretty cr...more I don't think I quite knew what I was getting into when I picked up this book. I don't know what I thought I was going to read, but it wasn't this. So a warning to you: this book, or at least the beginning of it, is pretty freaky. I'm not a wimp. I grew up on Goosebumps and Scary Stories by Alvan Schwartz, graduating on to Christopher Pike and various R.L. Stine young adult novels. I also love scary movies of all sort, so I'm not one easily freaked out. But this novel was pretty creepy, or at least the beginning.

Perhaps it's the concept and the description of the ghost that is unnerving. Maybe it's also because I was sort of caught off guard by what I was reading. But whatever it was I was freaked out and loving the book. The whole concept of the novel was unique.

At times I found myself wanting to give Joe Hill a thesaurus and a phrase book, because he kept using the same descriptions over and over again. I think it would have also helped him in making things a little clearer. It seemed he was having a little difficulty fleshing out plot points at moments. I can't really think of any specific examples, but you'll come across them as you read it.

The end seemed really just swept up. Not really making too much sense in relation to the story. It seemed like Hill just wanted to quickly wrap it up, no matter how many questions it either raised or left unanswered.

But besides those minor flaws, I gobbled this book up really fast. I wanted to know everything that was going on. Something kept me riveted throughout the whole story. That's why I'm keeping my rating at a B, despite some of the problems I pointed out. I'm also interested in reading some of Hill's other works. It was his way of telling this ghost story and the type of ghost story it was that made me interested. Overall? Pretty good read. Entertaining. Best part? The dogs, because they weren't just animals in the background, they were actual characters, very entertaining and loving ones.

Want a quick, good, scary story? Here's your next read....less

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Liza rated it:

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05/07/07

bookshelves: done

Read in May, 2007

recommends it for: people who like Stephen King

Okay, so it's been a while since I've read "horror". It usually leaves me feeling a little ... what? Unresolved? Unsatisfied? Somewhat the issue here, too, even though the author DOES actually tie things up pretty nicely. I liked that he went a different way with the ghost thing - usually you have a ghost story, and much of it is the horror that no one believes you. This time, EVERYONE could see/hear/sense the ghost. I think this kinda made it less scary for me though. W...more Okay, so it's been a while since I've read "horror". It usually leaves me feeling a little ... what? Unresolved? Unsatisfied? Somewhat the issue here, too, even though the author DOES actually tie things up pretty nicely. I liked that he went a different way with the ghost thing - usually you have a ghost story, and much of it is the horror that no one believes you. This time, EVERYONE could see/hear/sense the ghost. I think this kinda made it less scary for me though. Why is shared horror not as horrible? Random thought. Moving on...

I think I wanted Jude's father to do something... I mean, it was worked up so much that his father was this nasty, mean, bad guy; when the ghost possessed him, I was sorta hoping the old man would do something, like die in the attempt, at least, to help Jude out. But nah, he just died, and in the end it was "official" on paper that his dad tried to kill Jude and his girlfriend. Wraps it up nice, but leaves me feeling unsatisfied.
And, there was a whole lot of to-do about Jude's beard, and how Anna yanked on it, and told him he should shave so no one would recognize him anymore, etc. and I was really hoping by the end that Jude would shave it off. But he didn't. And I'm not sure if I'm disappointed because the author seemed to be working towards that but let it drop, or if it's because I hate big shaggy beards and I wanna like Jude but I just can't if he's got that stupid beard still?

Final word - it was an entertaining book, and I read it pretty fast (for me). It's a little creepy, but it never did give me the nightmares I was worried about getting. It didn't "hit me" in that psychological spot, you know? It was just too open about everything for it to be very scary at all.

OH, and the black scribbles over the dead people's eyes made me think simultaneously of Neil Gaiman's button-eyed people in Coraline and of the black-scribble-monster in season two ("Fear Her") of Doctor Who, when the kid's drawings come to life. ("I got attacked by a pencil scribble?") Yes folks, it's not hard, but eventually I can bring everything back around to Doctor Who eventually. ^_^...less

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Robert rated it:

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02/01/08

bookshelves: cuy-co-pub-lib, finished

Read in January, 2008

Joe Hill, Heart-Shaped Box (Morrow, 2007)

There are times when you want a book that will challenge you, something immensely difficult but rewarding, something that will make you see the world in a slightly new way when you're finished with it. And then there are times when you just want something that's a damned good read. Heart-Shaped Box certainly qualifies as the latter. It's not deathless literature by any means, but once it gets its hooks into you, it won't let go until the very end.

...more

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Kym rated it:

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05/25/08

bookshelves: horror-scifi-fantasy

Read in March, 2007

The lead singer of Jude's Hammer, aging rocker Judas Coyne, has made a career out of being creepy. His legions of fans are accustomed to listen to Jude's music about shouting at the devil, the darkers side of human nature, and the hatred and anger that come with life as a rock star. Jude has even gone so far as to bring the depravity that is commonplace when he's on stage into his everyday life. He owns real human skulls, John Wayne Gacy art work, and a snuff film that ended his marriage. Yes, J...more The lead singer of Jude's Hammer, aging rocker Judas Coyne, has made a career out of being creepy. His legions of fans are accustomed to listen to Jude's music about shouting at the devil, the darkers side of human nature, and the hatred and anger that come with life as a rock star. Jude has even gone so far as to bring the depravity that is commonplace when he's on stage into his everyday life. He owns real human skulls, John Wayne Gacy art work, and a snuff film that ended his marriage. Yes, Jude has made a business out of being creepy, so it's no surprise that when he's offered the opportunity to buy a ghost, he jumps at it.

What Jude doesn't realize is that when the heart-shaped box containing a dead man's suit--and with it the dead man's ghost--arrives at his house, the creepy facade will become his reality. Soon Jude is being haunted day and night by Craddock McDermott, the stepfather of one of Jude's old girlfriends, who is trained as a hypnotist and has vowed that he will not leave his earth unless Jude is coming with him. With his Goth girlfriend and two dogs at his side, Jude travels across the country to figure out a way to keep the dead man from pulling them down with him into the world of the dead.

Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box is the kind of creepy that gets under your skin and keeps you up at night. It's not gory or overly gross, and the horror scenes aren't overly graphic. Heart-Shaped Box is instead told in such a way that is haunting without being terrifying and I found myself rooting for Jude at every turn hoping he'd find a way to outwit the spirits that were chasing him. My only problem with the novel is that it takes awhile for the story to gain momenum so it might require your patience while you waiting for Jude and his girl to try to figure a way out of this mess. That being said, it is also a ghost story and also requires the ability to suspend disbelief, which might have been what took me awhile to get into it. Still, if you're the type of person who enjoys horror novels and you take the time to get immersed in the story, I guarantee you won't be disappointed....less

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Tripp rated it: