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Sep 11, 2008

La Petite Américaine rated it:

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. " More...

15 comments like (23 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Sammy rated it:

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 le More...

1 comment like (14 people liked it)

Jun 17, 2010

Hannah rated it:

The scariest thing about Joe Hill's debut book, Heart Shaped Box, isn't the actual story, but what lies between the front cover and the inside title page of the Harper paperback version. In it, over 18 reputable newspapers and acclaimed writers attempt to prop up little ~~Stevie King, Jr's~~ Joe Hill's novel with some seriously excellent reviews. Scary because all these awesome reviews lead you, the reader, to expect that Heart Shaped Box is the next BIG thing in horror.

Only it's not. More...

4 comments like (13 people liked it)

Nov 10, 2011

Sesana rated it:

It's pretty much common knowledge now that Joe Hill is Joseph King, son of Stephen King. I haven't read King in probably more than a decade, but from my memory, Hill has a similar style, all sex, drugs, rock 'n' roll, and gross stuff. Ok, maybe not so much with the drugs, though there are some really trippy sections.

Jude (a sort of all-purpose metal god of yore) buys the suit of a dead man from an online auction because the seller claims it will come with a ghost. He gets far more th More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Oct 18, 2008

Jon rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

May 08, 2008

Jason rated it:

(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 More...

4 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Trin rated it:

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 m More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jul 30, 2011

Lou rated it:

Good page turner. Well written debut he knows how to spin a twist in a Tale of loss and redemption. Skillful character development you can't help not care for the women invloved in the story. He's one author to look out for.
Book trailer and inetrview @ my webpage http://more2read.com/?review=heart-shape...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 06, 2012

Stephen rated it:

3.5 stars. A very good debut novel that kept me interested from start to finish. Not particularly scary, but a really good read.

Winner: Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel (2008)
Winner: Locus Award for Best First Novel (2008)
Nominee: British Fantasy Award for Best Novel (2008)

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

JG (The Introverted Reader) rated it:

Rocker Judas Coyne thought it was a joke when he bought a ghost off the internet. Still, he's a collector of the arcane, so what could it hurt? An old man is haunting his daughter and granddaughter, so Judas might be helping them, but even if it's a joke, Judas can easily afford it. But the price is higher than he thought.

What a creepy, twisted ghost story! It was perfect for Halloween!

Judas and Georgia, the latest in his string of much-younger lovers, really don't kn More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2008

Meagan rated it:

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 ki More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

May 03, 2008

Holly rated it:

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 More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 01, 2008

Robert rated it:

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 More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 26, 2008

Henrik rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

6 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 12, 2008

Brooke rated it:

Heart-Shaped Box a good, solid 3 stars. It's nothing I would reread, but I enjoyed the time I spent with it. It moved along quickly and had some seriously creepy imagery that I'd love to see onscreen in the future.

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jul 26, 2011

K.Z. rated it:

An unfortunate example of why the horror genre is in desperate need of another Shirley Jackson.

Less is more. A deft touch trumps ham-handedness.

I was absorbed -- at first -- in spite of the asshole "hero." However, what I thought would be a richly imagined and nuanced spookfest quickly degenerated into a derivative gorefest with wholly unsympathetic, undeveloped protagonists. (Going into excruciating, repetitive detail about characters' pasts and larding those More...

4 comments like (3 people liked it)

Oct 13, 2011

Mike (the Paladin) rated it:

Another debate on star number...3.8, 3.9? Still for a contemporary ghost story I really enjoyed this one. There were some predictable moments, though to list them would constitute a spoiler.

Just think before you...oops, almost let that slip.

bwaa-ha-ha-ha-ha

I am not primarily a fan of ghost stories, but I liked this one...it surprised me a bit.

<spoiler> There are as I said predictable parts to this novel, but they don't ruin it. I was beating More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2009

Becky rated it:

I've been a Stephen King fan for more than half my life. I remember reading his books at a time when other kids my age were reading "Babysitter's Club" books or "Sweet Valley" books.

I've always loved Stephen King. I wasn't sure that I would love his son, so I put off reading this book for a while after obtaining it. It may be a little neurotic, but I thought that if I didn't like Joe Hill's writing, that it would lessen my love for Stephen King's writing.
More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Sep 05, 2008

Sandi rated it:

I’m not very familiar with the horror genre. Other than the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” series, I don’t like vampire stories. I don’t care for monsters, werewolves, demons or other such horror fare. I do love a good ghost story though and “Heart-Shaped Box” by Joe Hill is an excellent ghost story. It’s also a very good story about a man coming to terms with his past and growing up at the age of 52.

As ridiculous as it sounds, “Heart-Shaped Box” is a very believable story. The ch More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 27, 2008

Chris rated it:

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...

2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 21, 2008

Christine rated it:

I found this book in a "best books of the year" list in the New York Times. The premise of the book was interesting...a semi-washed up death metal star buys a ghost on eBay. There were some lovely evocative language moments, but I thought the characters' backstories were disappointingly predictable and the transitions between reality and fantasy a bit awkward. Nevertheless, it was interesting to read, from a "how to write a book that will end up favorably reviewed by the NY Times" More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 16, 2010

Alex rated it:

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 tr More...