Review: The Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

He climbed the stairs and started back down the hall to the bedroom. His gaze drifted to an old man, sitting in an antique Shaker chair against the wall. As soon as Jude saw him, his pulse lunged in alarm, and he looked away, fixed his gaze on he bedroom door, so he could only see the old man from the edge of his vision. In the moments that followed, Jude felt it was a mater of leife and death not to make eye contact with the old man, to give no sign tha he saw him. He did not see him, Jude told himself. There was no one there. [pg 29-30]

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
William Morrow, 2007
Horror; 376 pgs

I remember when Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box came out. It was all the buzz. Nearly everyone loved it and couldn't stop talking about it, or so it seemed. I love the premise of the novel. A man who likes to collect macabre things, buys a ghost through a website auction. He gets much more than he bargained for.

What transpires is a nightmare of a story that builds in intensity as it goes. The suit carrying the ghost wasn't meant to belong to just anyone, as Jude soon finds out. His past comes back to haunt him in more ways than one. It took a while for the main character to grow on me. He wasn't the most likable person initially. He is a former rock star who has hurt his share of people over the years, one who goes through women like they are potato chips. His current girlfriend is the young Marybeth, nicknamed Georgia, after the state she is from as all of SS's past girlfriends were. She's a feisty woman, not easily shaken. As the story progresses, however, the reader sees a different side to Jude. He's not quite as tough and despicable as he at first may seem. And by the end, I was definitely rooting for him and Marybeth (and, of course, the dogs).

The ghost himself was scary in his own right. There was a subtleness to the horror initially which grew until it boiled over near the end. This is not a novel for the faint of heart.

Heart-Shaped Box got off to a slow start for me, but I cannot pinpoint why. The novel is very well written and the pacing was perfect for the type of novel it was. The characters were well developed and although the story was at times predictable, it was never lacking in suspense or imagination. By the time I reached the second half of the book, I didn't want to put it down. And I loved the way it all came together in the end, including the wrap up.

I can see why so many people sing Joe Hill's praises. He definitely has a gift for writing a creepy, entertaining and frightening story.


For more information about Joe Hill and his books, visit the author's website.

Read for the Readers Imbibing Peril (R.I.P.) Challenge

Source: I purchased this book a couple of years ago from a book club.

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