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.