Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill - Restarting May 1st 2017

[Amy]

Aging, self-absorbed rock star Judas Coyne has a thing for the macabre -- his collection includes sketches from infamous serial killer John Wayne Gacy, a trepanned skull from the 16th century, a used hangman's noose, Aleister Crowley's childhood chessboard, etc. -- so when his assistant tells him about a ghost for sale on an online auction site, he immediately puts in a bid and purchases it.

The black, heart-shaped box that Coyne receives in the mail not only contains the suit of a dead man but also his vengeance-obsessed spirit. The ghost, it turns out, is the stepfather of a young groupie who committed suicide after the 54-year-old Coyne callously used her up and threw her away. Now, determined to kill Coyne and anyone who aids him, the merciless ghost of Craddock McDermott begins his assault on the rocker's sanity.

Trisha and I will be reading this today. :)

[Amy]

Up to chapter 9 (view spoiler)[ Judas does seem like a bit of a prick sleeping with girls half his age and treating Danny like crap but what Jessica has done is going a bit far. I suppose I need to know more of what happened to make the girl kill herself but Judas doesn't act like he did anything really bad to her. (hide spoiler)]

I shouldn't have started this at night, I'm freaked out already and I have a feeling it's going to get a lot worse!

[Trisha]

I did this as an audio book, so I'm a little fuzzy on the chapters

but I will definitely comment along with you as you read it! :D


OMG I gave this 5 stars. it's so good!!

[Trisha]

Yeah...but I think(view spoiler)[ Jude really fits into our idea of a "rock star god" right? I mean, he's self centered and he's used to girls just throwing themselves at him....so I think he's living up to the rock star persona well. (hide spoiler)]

Jessica(view spoiler)[ OMG right? Who does that? Who thinks that's okay? (hide spoiler)]

and what(view spoiler)[ do you think of Georgia? Of Craddock? (hide spoiler)]

Florida(view spoiler)[ Yeah, he doesn't sound....guilty, right? And if she went home and committed suicide because he broke up with her....was he supposed to never break up with her? It's fuzzy on the details for now but you'll get more with the story :D (hide spoiler)]

[ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥]

I'd like to join this..

I'm @ chapter 9 (view spoiler)[who buys a dead man's suit???? Judas is creepy.. Maybe he did something to deserve the stepfather haunting him (hide spoiler)]

[ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥]

Chapter 11 (view spoiler)[I didn't think Georgia would have a history with ghost-sighting.. it's sad what happened to her aunt Ruth.. (hide spoiler)]

[ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥]

chapter 13 (view spoiler)[Danny saw a ghost as well? (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 15 (view spoiler)[Georgia burned the suit. I don't know if that's a good idea.. (hide spoiler)]

[Trisha]

ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥ wrote: "Chapter 15 [spoilers removed]"

I know(view spoiler)[ My heart completely dropped when we found out she burned it. I mean, he could have tired auctioning it off again maybe, right? and "sold" it to someone else
but could you....?! (hide spoiler)]

I hope you are liking this one!!

[ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥]

Trisha wrote: "ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥ wrote: "Chapter 15 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]..."

(view spoiler)[I don't think it would made a difference.. because the ghost was intended for him anyway and once he had it he's stuck with it.. evidence by how after Marybeth burned it the ghost stayed around.. (hide spoiler)]

[ɑƨħŵɑɡ ♥Team Magnus Damora FOREVER♥]

chapter 22 (view spoiler)[ Anna kinda foretold Jude's future (hide spoiler)]

chapter 23 (view spoiler)[Georgia's wound is how Anna used to pin herself?? that's strange (hide spoiler)]

Chapter 44 (view spoiler)[they're leaving bodies behind.. I can't imagine Justin/Jude hitting his sick father.. horrible image (hide spoiler)]

Ending (view spoiler)[I'm so relived Marybeth wasn't dead.. this was such a bloody story.. reminded me of Supernatural.. Jude/Justin has grown up as a character as well xD (hide spoiler)]

[Abbie]

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Reading from the 1st of May 2017

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[Haley]

I can't wait to join! I'll be starting later today

[Abby]

Wish I could start, but it didn't fit any of my other group challenges for this week. :(
Fingers crossed for next week...

[Haley]

You're good! I'm going to try and just take my time in reading this one.

[Abby]

Have you read any Joe Hill before, Haley? I LOVE NOS4A2 and liked Horns just okay. Hoping this is more like NOS4A2.

[Haley]

Nope it'll be my first time! My friend read NOS4A2 and she really liked it so I'm hoping this will be good to!

[Alley]

I'll join in! This has been on my to-read for awhile. I've read Horns, and I didn't like it as much as I had hoped.

[Abby]

Alley wrote: "I'll join in! This has been on my to-read for awhile. I've read Horns, and I didn't like it as much as I had hoped."

Horns wasn't so good. It was weird.

[Alley]

Abby wrote: "Alley wrote: "I'll join in! This has been on my to-read for awhile. I've read Horns, and I didn't like it as much as I had hoped."

Horns wasn't so good. It was weird."

Yeah. The beginning was pretty interesting, and I liked the concept, but I still don't understand the book.

[Alley]

Finished Chapter 1
(view spoiler)[This book is showing promise so far. Danny seems like a pretty chill character, so he'll probably die pretty soon. The whole selling a ghost thing is weird. I loved the description of the items Jude has in his collected. Also, if those dogs' names aren't AC/DC references, then I've lost hope. (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

finally starting this one! I have two buddy reads today and just wanted to get a little of the first one done.
Ch 1 (view spoiler)[ I am liking Danny and coming across the ghost in the suit is a bit odd, but I bet people do that everyday now. The book is just odd so far and I wonder where it's going to take us (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

ch 6 (view spoiler)[ The book is getting more interesting. Now he has the suit and it was delivered in the heart-shaped box odd. I kind of find Georgia annoying, but maybe I'll grow on her. The old man is now creeping around the house... I'd flip (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

ch 10 (view spoiler)[ I'm kind of confused right now. Anna came from Florida or is Anna's name also Florida? What the heck the suit was sent to him on purpose! It's pretty much to kill Judas... and now he knows this. I don't know how this is going to work. (hide spoiler)]

[Alley]

Chapter 7
(view spoiler)[Oh dang this is getting serious! I really like how thought out this setup was. Gives more thought to the plot line. That Jessica sure went nuts on him! (hide spoiler)]

[Alley]

Haley wrote: "ch 10 [spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[He calls his girlfriends by the state they lived in. Anne was Florida. His current girlfriend is from Georgia. (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

Alley wrote: "Haley wrote: "ch 10 [spoilers removed]"

[spoilers removed]"

Ohhh okay thank you!!

[Haley]

ch 20 (view spoiler)[ wow so much has happened in this chapters. I was starting to get bored a little bit, but then it started to pick up. The old man is trying to convince them to kill themselves. He almost succeeds when Jude gets him out of his head and releases his dogs. The scene with the dogs attacking the old man made me happy! *Internally cheering* Doesn't Jude know they can't outrun the ghost? (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

ch 30 (view spoiler)[ now on a road trip to get rid of the ghost once and for all. Of course he wasn't the first one with Anne. I didn't realize they were so far apart in age. We finally got a background story on Georgia. Bammy is a hilarious person, I'm really liking her. I have a feeling Geogia's thumb is just going to get worse until it spreads. (hide spoiler)]

[Alley]

Chapter 18
(view spoiler)[Really not sure where this is going. With the stuff going on right now, I figured we were close to the end. Nope. :I Only 1/3 of the way. I'm curious to see if Danny is really dead. I do like the way to ghost is presented. It's really interesting. That whole dream sequence with the Vietnamese prison really threw me for a loop and confused me further, so I don't know. (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

Alley wrote: "Chapter 18
[spoilers removed]"

(view spoiler)[ The way the book was going I thought we were close to the end too! I have a feeling it's going to drag out a little bit. (hide spoiler)]

[Alley]

Chapter 20
(view spoiler)[The dogs are freaking awesome! I'm wondering if it's just playing on the idea of dogs being more sensitive to supernatural presences, or if the shadow dogs were ghosts of dogs he's had before. (hide spoiler)]

[Alley]

Chapter 22
(view spoiler)[I find it kind of odd that Anna stabbed her thumb with needles and that's where Georgia got pricked. Anna's character is really messing me up. I didn't think we'd see so much of her with her being dead and all. (hide spoiler)]

[Haley]

finished (view spoiler)[ poor Bon died from protecting them & angus... I can't believe Craddock just had sex with his step-daughters... How awful and to think that Jessica doesn't even see the wrong in it. They killed her themselves wow. I wasn't expecting Craddock to just take over Martin's body. I was happy with the ending although this book didn't really hold up to my expectations. (hide spoiler)]

[Alley]

Chapter 33
(view spoiler)[I love Bammy! She's amazing, and I feel so bad for her with everything going on in her life. That Ouija Board scene was really cool. I feel like Anna's still with them now and will use Georgia as a vessel to stop Craddock. (hide spoiler)]

[Abby]

Chapter 15: (view spoiler)[Yeah, burning that suit will most likely just make the ghost mad. (hide spoiler)]

[Alley]

Finished
(view spoiler)[I'm really peeved about the dogs dying. I literally almost cried. The entire book felt really dragged out, and the child pornography and incest situation was unnecessary. It added very little to the novel, I felt. (hide spoiler)]

[Abby]

Chapter 28: (view spoiler)[I really like Bammy. She's pretty down to earth. (hide spoiler)]

[Abby]

Chapter 41: (view spoiler)[Marybeth's and Jude's hands are gonna fall off! (hide spoiler)]

[Abby]

Finished: (view spoiler)[Glad this ultimately had a happy ending with Jude and Marybeth having a good life together. (hide spoiler)]