Heart-Shaped Box

by Joe Hill

'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 . . .

• ISBN10: 0575081864
• ISBN13: 9780575081864
• Publish Date: 1 May 2008 (first published 13 October 2000)
• Publish Status: Out of Print
• Out of Print: 29 March 2021
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Gollancz
• Format: Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
• Pages: 416
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

Reasons to grab your earbuds and listen to Heart-Shaped Box

• Jude Coyne, an aging rocker buys a ghost on a whim to add to his macabre collection. When his package arrives it's a black heart-shaped that contain a suit. He laughs, and tucks it away but soon he begins seeing the ghost on an old man. The tale that unfolds develops into a creeptastic haunting that will send shivers down your spine.



• Jude and his goth rocker girlfriend, Georgia (Marybeth)  are both a little rough around the edges and fairly cliché, but Hill will surprise you as he peels back their layers. My opinion of both of them changed as the story progressed, and I actually became quite fond of them.



• You love a good scare. This got dark with some disturbing moments. The tension and suspense built and I soon found myself holding my breath and turning on a few extra lights. Sometimes when I close my eyes those scenes come to mind. Eek! Never let it be said that Hill doesn't have a twisted imagination and his skill with a pen brings it all to terrifying life. Animal Lovers warning: a scene involving animals was painful for me as an animal lover. You have been warned.



• Hill explores the human psyche from Jude to the women who love him. He allows the reader to get them, connect and become invested in their outcome.



• The whole premise surrounding the ghost was fantastic!! The ghost himself was a powerful and frightening character. From Hill's vivid description of him to the things this ghost appears to be able to do and in fact does! I thought his history was rather clever and gave plausibility to the story for those prone to believe in the supernatural.



• The ending wrapped up really well, leaving the reader in a good place and even contains an epilogue.



• Stephen Lang offered a stellar narration from the characters individual voices to the way he aided in intensifying scenes and emotions. Hill's books lend themselves perfectly to audio and Lang delivered.

This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[layawaydragon]

TW: Rape and Abuse

Def. not as good as Horns but not bad. It’s not scary but I can’t remember the last time a book caused scares like a movie so it’s not a big deal for me. I really read this kind of thing for the dark, creepy, and twisted, which Heart-Shaped Box has in spades. I do like how it’s not the bloodbath type of horror.

It is pretty standard with the plot and genre tropes but eh. It was entertaining.

It did take a while to get into. I wasn’t feeling it but it wasn’t bad enough to drop before 100 pages. It got better but I could stop reading it for the night with no compulsion to continue reading.
I do not like how it uses the “metal fans are all disturbed: the women sexually damaged and the men perverts” stereotype for every.single.one.of.them.

The surprise guest at the end felt…off. I totally understand her seeking them out and everything. But the way they went about it…just didn’t mesh, which made it feel shoe-horned in.
There are a couple of things I noticed though….Since the book was right about animal companions, why didn’t he go back and read it again? It could have been right about other things.
And how did they get away from the trouble they caused in the Denny’s? Why didn’t they call the cops or press charges or anything?

[pamela]

Heart Shaped Box packed a punch. It was absolutely intense to read from beginning to end and didn't let up until the last few pages. It was exhausting, emotional and packed with equal parts humanity and inhumanity. To call it entertaining would be the wrong way to describe it as its subject matter makes it impossible to truly enjoy, however it was well written, engrossing and thought provoking.

There is very little character development in set up, and the reader learns about the characters and their pasts as the plot progresses. I would have liked to have seen a little more information on the characters'personal history to really feel like I knew them, but despite this Joe Hill respectfully trod the path between horror and voyeurism in a way that many writers who tackle similar subjects of abuse fail to achieve.

The subject matter is confronting and the ghost is truly frightening. The moments of haunting have been masterfully rendered by Hill and they played themselves out in my mind like a film. The characters' reactions seemed genuine and believable and there were some moments that left me breathless with suspense. For all this however I would have liked a little more to be made of the afterlife and the supernatural elements that weren't ghost related. Hill fails to build lore around his more supernatural elements, simply letting the reader take for granted that they are there.

I would recommend this highly to readers who aren't squeamish and who like their horror full of psychological elements rather than just straight up action. It was my first foray in to Joe Hill's work and I'd definitely like to read some more. Perhaps NOS 4R2 orHorns?

[inlibrisveritas]

I don’t read very many horror novels as they are not typically something I enjoy or seek out. But with the film Horns in theaters and my innate curiosity to know more I decided to try out the Joe Hill book that I had sitting in my Halloween display at the store. While Heart-Shaped Box was not the most original or unique horror book it was highly enjoyable and definitely had the full on creep factor going for it.

Heart-Shaped Box focuses on Judas Coyne, an aging rock star with a macbe hobby. He likes to collect things that a normal person would avoid, things like a hangman’s noose and a snuff film, so when his agent tells him about a ghost for sale he doesn’t hesitate to buy it outright. As soon as he gets the heart-shaped box with a deadman’s old suit things start to get weird. It starts out small and easy to handle, like cold rooms or a glimpse of a figure in a chair…but as soon as Coyne understands that this isn’t happening by chance things ramp up and the book sets off at a break-neck pace. The reason I hate horror books is because I have a very visual mind, I don’t process words as words I process them as pictures…so with books like HSB I end up “seeing” far more than I want to and end up obsessing over it. I can’t even describe how freaked out I was over some of the scenes in this one. The more action based scenes definitely got the heart pumping but to me the best parts were the “quiet scenes” toward the beginning and middle of the book. I loved seeing how the story would unfold and I have to admit I didn’t see a good portion of the plot coming.

Coyne is not a particularly likeable guy overall. He’s gruff, crude, and self-indulgent; but as you see him try to handle the haunting and learn more about his past you see why he never puts the rockstar persona aside. Marybeth was much easier to like than Coyne, and I found that I was able to connect to him through her. As the story moves forward we get a lot more depth to both characters and I enjoyed seeing both of them fleshed out in a way I didn’t really expect from a one-shot horror novel.

Heart Shaped Box does has it’s flaws but it’s definitely a rollercoster ride of creep.

[leahrosereads]

Here we are, you and me. All out of road, the dead man said.

Wowzers! What a journey Heart Shaped Box ended up being. It wasn’t all that scary, but honestly that didn’t bother me too much. I was completely enraptured by the story and the characters, and their journey into this twisted supernatural nightmare, and I couldn’t be bothered that it wasn’t all that scary. It was incredibly intriguing instead.


The novel centers around Judas (Jude) Coyne, aging rockstar extraordinaire. Even though he’s been out of the spotlight for several years, and really doesn’t make music anymore, his fans still love him (especially his 20 something lady fans). Because they’re goth, they tend to send Jude items for his collection of extremely weird and disturbing items. You know, snuff films and cannibal cookbooks. Just what every collection should have. So, when Jude receives an e-mail with the promise that he could win his very own ghost, well, the guy goes for it. And his nightmare begins.

You see, the ghost he wins has a pretty big beef with Jude. It’s the stepfather of one of the 20 something lady fans of Judas’, and he’s mighty pissed off. Jude, and his current 20 something plaything, Georgia (Marybeth) work most of the book trying to find a way to get rid of Craddock (the ghost). Craddock’s a creepy bastard who tortures and attempts to destroy both Jude and Georgia, and anyone else who helps me along the way.

While Jude and Georgia are attempting to find a way out of this nightmare, they learn more about his past girlfriend, Florida (Anna), her life, and Craddock, and none of it’s pretty.


I absolutely loved all of the characters introduced in Heart Shaped Box.

I loved that Jude was this closed off, manwhore, asshole. It fit him well, and I think Joe Hill did a really decent job at giving the readers enough of an insight into Jude’s past to make him still likeable. I understood why he was the way that he was.

Georgia was spunky and damaged. She had a rough past, and I think that it may be hard to respect hers and Judas’ relationship, because of her past and his own, but it felt real, and so, I didn’t mind that there was this 30 year gap between them, or that he could be seen as really creepy for choosing girls like Georgia as his playthings.

Angus and Bon - the dogs! They were the real heros in this story, and I hated that they both died. Although Jude getting to see Bon immediately after her death, was touching, I hate hate hate animal deaths in novels…

Bammy, Georgia’s grandmother is a minor character that we meet who’s just excellent, and she was just a great character that showed that Georgia had some light in her messed up life.

Anna a/k/a Florida - it was hard to not feel for this poor soul. She was depressed and damaged long before meeting Jude, but his personality definitely didn’t help matters. When her story was fully told, I just felt so badly for her and the life that she had been dealt. However, in the end, I think she showed just how strong she really was, and I loved that.

Craddock - This creepy son of a bitch. No words really express how much I disliked him. My hatred towards this bastard is pretty high. I think he’s definitely in my Top 5 most hated bad guys. He was just a disgusting human being who deserved so much more pain. Lots and lots of pain. Torture.



Overall, I really liked this, and I’m going to be trying another novel by Joe Hill soon. It’s looking like he may be an autobuy author for me in the future though, if his other work is as well done as this one.

[thepunktheory]

I read this book a few years back and it is quite thrilling and you can’t put it down. Joe Hill definitely inherited the talent for writing from his father, Stephen King. The characters all seem really credible and are described very well. None of them remains shallow. Especially the musical references throughout the whole book were something I liked. The music industry was also pictured authentically.
The book also never fails to frighten. I caught myself holding my breath several times while reading.
As I heard the book will be turned into a movie in 2014 and I can’t wait to see how it turns out. I hope they will be able to capture the dark atmosphere of the book and find an actor who is really able to play a role like Jude Coyne.

[empressbrooke]

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.