Joe Hill

When Judas Coyne, an ageing death-metal-rock-god and a collector of the macabre, buys a ghost off the Internet, it is delivered to his doorstep in a heart-shaped box. The ghost makes the house feel cold, it makes the dogs bark, and it means to chase Jude from his home and make him run for his life.

Heart-Shaped Box

'Buy my stepfather's ghost' read the e-mail. So Jude did. He bought it, in the shape of the dead man's suit, delivered in a heart-shaped box, because he wanted it: because his fans ate up that kind of story. It was perfect for his collection: the genuine skulls and the bones, the real honest-to-God snuff movie, the occult books and all the rest of the paraphanalia that goes along with his kind of hard/goth rock. But the rest of his collection doesn't make the house feel cold. The bones don't make the dogs bark; the movie doesn't make Jude feel as if he's being watched. And none of the artefacts bring a vengeful old ghost with black scribbles over his eyes out of the shadows to chase Jude out of his home, and make him run for his life ...

Miles Ledger

A Novel

Ryan Mateyk

This was pretty well written and while I don't tell to get scared very easily... this book and the old man with black scribbles for eyes really messed with me.

Sarah Sammis

Here's a bit of advice: don't read Joe Hill on the heels of finishing a Stephen King book. Yes, I knew that Hill is King's son going into this reading venture. I did it anyway. See I had just finished Duma Key and the big showdown involves in part, a heart-shaped box. It piqued my curiosity and so I went from Duma Key right into Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Bad idea.

The basic plot is this: Judas Coyne collects things with bad mojo. He decides to buy a ghost off eBay. It comes with a nasty told suit and a heart shaped box. Of course, the ghost is real. Jude isn't some random schmuck stuck with the ghost; no he was chosen for an act of revenge.

Here's where I started to lose interest. The problem is Hill's book reads like a Japanese vengeance ghost horror plot wrapped up to look like a Stephen King book. I realize he comes by that wrapping naturally and maybe he likes Japanese horror (I have no clue if he does or doesn't). He's decided to write horror and be accepted on his own merits as an author (hence the different last name) but his debut novel doesn't get far enough away stylistically from his father's writing to stand up on its own.

King's writing works for me because his protagonists are usually likeable. They might be drunk SOB's like the writer in The Shining but their broken personalities are well established and well explained. Hill tries to explain Judas's dark past and make him a likeable protagonist but it doesn't work (for me). The explanation isn't solid enough while at the same time Jude isn't a despicable enough character to be a more typical horror lead.

Then there's the ghost. He seems to be making up the rules as he goes along. First he's just sort of stinky and annoying. Then he's trying to get Jude to off himself. When that doesn't work he decides to go after loved ones. Wait... that sounds like the plot of Dumas Key except without the tropical setting or the trippy art work. See the problem?

Joe Hill has a new book out, called Horns. I haven't read it. I'm not rushing out to read it but I might check it out if I see it at the library.

Dimitris Papastergiou

Done.
This would have been a lot better with a better rating if the end was satisfying. As you can see this is not the case for me. The end was boring and it was basically 30 or so pages of Little House on the Prairie script. 

I liked most of it and I love Joe Hill, especially his comic book work, but, this was a bit slow to begin with, but with a good pace nonetheless. Had more than enough moments where I just wanted to read a chapter and sleep early but gotten to a point of reading 3-4 chapters just to see what happens next.

Great moment, didn't like the main character that much but still the story was solid enough to make me finish it.

I'd say read it if you like Joe Hill or ghost stories.

Anthony

Well this book may not be a horror but it sure is entertaining! There were only a few points in the book that caught me by surprise but I am a fan of Joe's Locke & Key series and had always intended on checking out some of his books. A much needed break from the non-fiction world!

Kristen Claiborn

It isn’t a surprise that the spawn of Stephen King is capable of writing horror. It is a surprise, however, that it took me so long to get around to reading the books written by the spawn of Stephen King. I even scratch my own head at that one. Those who know me are aware that I am a pretty big fan of Stephen King. Many years ago, I was a rebellious youth (aren’t we all?), and in an effort to stand up to my big bad 5th grade teacher, I picked a Stephen King book to read for our self-choice book report thingie (Mrs. Ogilvie was in no way a big bad human, she was wonderful and I loved her, despite her misguided views on impressionist paintings). She was quite alarmed and immediately contacted my mom, who shrugged and reminded her that she said ANY book. I was allowed to move forward with my choice (if my mom had actually read that book, it’s likely she would have vetoed), and I absolutely devoured it. I had to use the dictionary many times (what ten-year-old knows the word “officious?”), but it was worth it. 
	I have read every Stephen King book, but it wasn’t until I read the one co-written by him and his son, Owen, that I realized his children might actually be authors as well. Upon further investigation, I discovered Joe Hill was his other son and was also an author (dude is almost a carbon copy of his dad). Bingo, new authors to read. 
	This book definitely destroys the idea that ghosts can’t hurt you. While there have been plenty of authors that have tried to breach that stereotype of the ghost, Joe Hill thoroughly decimated it. And apparently, a ghost hell-bent on revenge is the most terrifying thing to happen to fiction (dear god let this just be fiction). Judas isn’t even much of a likeable fella, but somehow Hill is able to spin the story so well that we feel really bad for the poor guy, because he's got to battle a thing without an actual form. The twists at the end were mind-blowing and unsettling, and I won’t divulge them because I feel strongly that this book is definitely worth reading (if I give away too much of the story, it’s largely because I don’t feel like it’s worth any other reader’s time). Fans of the horror genre will love Joe Hill.

Ryan LaFerney

Joe Hill's debut horror novel is wild, violent, disturbing, macabre fun. Much has been made of the kinship of Hill and his superstar father, Stephen King, but Heart-Shaped Box proves Hill can stand on his own two feet. Horror is totally the family business, or so it seems.

And while Heart-Shaped Box may not be Joe Hill's best novel, it certainly shows his astounding promise.

So what is it all about? The story is about an aging, retired rocker named Judas Coyne (Judas Priest and Flaming Lips combo maybe?) who is living his disturbing and sad life with his current girlfriend, Georgia. Judas also happens to collect items of the macabre (no biggie). So when he buys a ghost on-line, he gets more than he bargained for, as the ghost, which arrives by way of a used suit in a heart-shaped box, is no benign spirit. It's out for revenge and will kill anyone who stands in the way of said vengeance. The suit and the ghost did not come to Coyne by happenstance. The ghost immediately gets into Coyne’s head, urging him to murder Georgia and then commit suicide. Coyne and Georgia resist the temptations but not everyone is immune to the evil influence. Judas' assistant, Danny Wooten, kills himself, but not before contacting the woman who sent the suit. Jude finds out that the ghost was the stepfather of a groupie, Florida, whom Jude lived with for a few months and who had later committed suicide. The ghost holds Judas responsible for Florida's death and wants revenge. Jude flees his house with his current girlfriend, Georgia, with the ghost in hot pursuit. Can they find the answers they seek? The reconciliation they need? Can they fight for Flordia's memory? Can they defeat such evil? 

As debuts go, Heart-Shaped Box is solid. But this isn't my first book from Joe Hill and I can't help but think other works by him are a bit better. This book seemed to ride on the style of his father a little too much. This isn't a bad thing per se but rather, just an observation. 

This being said, Heart-Shaped Box becomes a very riveting story. I was impressed with Joe Hill's ability to cause me to really dislike Jude and Georgia at the beginning of the novel and how by the ending of the novel, I had grown to sympathize with them and was rooting for them to survive. I was not ecstatic early on about the premise, mainly because I didn't care for Judas as a character. He was such a jerk! Yet, as he took responsibility for his actions throughout the novel and listed his regrets I grew to appreciate him as a character. The supernatural aspect of the book was intriguing and is always one of the things I think Joe Hill does extremely well. Craddock in a way reminded me of Freddie Krueger, as the hostile ghost sets out to destroy Coyne and all those he holds dear. 

Heart-Shaped Box is not for the faint of heart. Read at your own peril. 

Trigger warnings: suicide, abusive relationships, depression, drug use.

Ahmed Salem

Not advised to be read before sleeping in the night.

Merged review:

Not advised to be read before sleeping in the night.

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet. I will "sell" my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder. . . . For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more? But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing. And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . . . A multiple-award winner for his short fiction, author Joe Hill immediately vaults into the top echelon of dark fantasists with a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel, a masterwork brimming with relentless thrills and acid terror.

Katie H

Awesome story

One of my new favorites. Keeps you turning pages. I can't wait to read more by the author, I hope they are as follows as this one.

Meg Casey

I highly recommend it and I'm very much in favor of the methods the characters use to survive. They fit very well in my view of life. Read it!

Tanya Sutton

This book is messed up - but I will admit that, at times, it scared the bejesus out of me. Sitting at my desk at work, in the middle of the afternoon, eating lunch...I had to put the book down and walk away.

Rachel

I really enjoyed Heart-Shaped Box and look forward to reading more by Joe Hill. The story is about Judas, a aging metal rock star, and his "girlfriend" Georgia being haunted by the step-father of his last "girlfriend" Florida who killed herself after Judas sent her back to her home. The story dives right in with the haunting and you learn about the characters as the story goes on. This isn't some great piece of writing. but for what it is, a scary story involving ghost, it is very entertaining.

Heart-Shaped Box

Reviews

Highlights