Friday Reads & Reviews

It’s Halloween! Well, it’s almost Halloween, anyway! And in that spirit, I’ve been reading a few horror books to get in the spirit. The awesome thing about horror novels is the way a great one will stick with you for a few days after you’ve read it. It’s this interesting, delayed effect where you might not be afraid while you read it, but five, six hours later, in bed, you might find your mind turning back to that story, and that’s when it really sets to work. They creep inside your head and take up residence there, making you question every sound/sight, even if only for a night.

And it’s awesome.

Now, on to the review!

Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill. Whenever possible, I like to start to read an author’s work chronologically. It just works better that way, usually. Authors are constantly improving, even if it’s only in some small way, and it can make going back a difficult or strange experience if you’ve read their latest work already.

Plus, it’s just fun to see the way writing styles evolve over time.

Joe Hill only has two novels out so far (and a book of short stories–and a popular, amazing comic book called Locke and Key), but I did read his second book (Horns) first, and comparing the two novels as I’ve read through Heart-Shaped Box has been interesting. The dialogue is a little stiff and in sections it feels overly explanatory. Some of the prose carries the same burden and tends to tell instead of show, treating us to paragraphs of information that doesn’t really seem to matter. For the most part, these things are loaded into the front of the book, so it’s really just a matter of pushing through the first quarter if it seems a little slow.

While these things can be detrimental, the core of the story in Heart-Shaped Box is a solid, classic ghost story, and it does that very well. The chapters are short and the pacing is quick, so it was a breeze to get through, and the characters were all fairly interesting. In the beginning, Jude’s character perhaps seemed a little at odds with himself between his dialogue and his description in the text, but over I think Hill got a handle on his character over time and Jude did sort of come into himself.

Having read Horns previously, it seems you can sort of tell where Hill is getting a feel for things in Heart-Shaped Box. Some elements are maybe not as elegant as they could be, but there’s a foundation there and it showcases the fact that he really does know his stuff. There’s nothing quite so fitting to the season as a proper ghost story, and when this one gets into its grooves and the inhibitions are dropped, this really is a fantastic modern take on the ghost story.

Overall: All things said, it was an interesting book and it delivered on its premise. The scary parts were scary, the tense parts were tense, and if the other beats didn’t line up as well, perhaps I was just comparing it too harshly to how much I enjoyed Horns.

Learn More: Heart-Shaped Box on Amazon ; Joe Hill’s Webpage

If you liked this book, you might also like: Horns by Joe Hill; Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

And next up we have a review for Chorus of Dust, a novella that I also read this week.

Chorus of Dust is one of those stories that’s just a pleasure to read. As Walters’ debut effort, it sets him up as an author capable of building an atmosphere and tone that runs throughout the story, creating a successful portrait of small town life that tends to be synonymous with horror fiction.

One of the aspects of this novella that I found myself really enjoying was the pacing. Walters manages to give us a languid pace that allows the story to slowly unfold without ever feeling plodding, slow, or boring.

While Adem, the story’s main character, admittedly and rightly gets the bulk of the characterization, it’s done well. There are some characters that I wish had been more fully realized, such as his sister Sam who can feel a little flighty at times and Ray, the author coming out of retirement. Ray certainly had a fair amount of time dedicated to his history and who he was, but it felt difficult to make the connection and his end up the story seemed to just fade away at the end.

That said, Adem is a strong enough character going on an interesting enough journey that it never bothered me too much.

While I never found myself being truly scared during this novel, there was a very present thread of tension and darkness that ran through it.

I think Chorus of Dust is a great start and I’ll be looking forward to whatever Walters puts out next.

Learn More: Chorus of Dust on Amazon ; Justin Paul Waters’ Webpage

Halloween isn’t over yet, and there’s always time to do more reading! Do you guys have any favorite scary books? I’m sure I’ll be wanting to check out at least one more before the end of the month, and I’d love some recommendations. I think my favorite horror novel ever has to be House of Leaves–that one has stuck with me for a long, long time.

Also, you can follow me on GoodReads if you like these book reviews! I’ll be keeping track over there, too.