Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Product Details
Web ID: 16837030Page turner for lovers of ghost stories
I've never read a book so quickly! The characters, the story, the string of events, and the details make this book a winner. This book made me a reader, something I usually am not. Pick it up and you won't regret it!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
A heavy metal ballad of a horror story
Heart-Shaped Box is a title full of puns. It could refer to the literal heart-shaped boxes in the narrative: the one the haunted suit arrives in, or the old candy boxes of Jude/Justin's haunting childhood. It could refer to the slang term for a woman's private parts. Naked women, and the othering of women (both intentional and unintentional) are a recurring motif. Or the title could refer to the emptiness felt by various characters in the story, and the potential for that emptiness to be filled -- sometimes not with nice things, though always the potential for love is there. Jude is a fascinating protagonist, nearly a cypher at the beginning, but only because his life has taught him to be wary of relying on others. His perspective is full of barely acknowledged paradoxes. The arrival of a malevolent spirit on his doorstep brings with it a reality check that clears his vision on a lot of things. The novel brings the ghost into the story quite quickly, but in spite of the fact that Jude recognizes the danger immediately, the story then progresses rather slowly as he tries to deal with it on his own without alarming his live-in girlfriend, ex-stripper Georgia (aka Marybeth). The narrative picks up the pace when Jude finally realizes he's not going to be able to deal with the ghost alone, and he and Georgia pack up their two German Shepherds Angus and Bon and hit the road in Jude's classic black Mustang. But the ghost stays on their heels as they revisit their own pasts while trying to work out how to get rid of Craddock, as the ghost is called. The ending is unputdownable. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys supernatural horror in novel form.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
This is a classic ghost story.
Judas Coyne is a fifty-something ex-rocker who has a taste for the macabre. He collects things that most people wouldn’t, which is how he comes to possess a suit that comes with a ghost. As Jude (short for Judas) learns, this ghost is not just any ghost and he means business. This is the story of Jude and his girlfriend Marybeth, also known as Georgia. When this suit arrives in a heart-shaped box, Jude is intrigued. He has no idea what to expect but he doesn’t have to wait long to find out. The suit is accompanied by a ghost named Craddock and what begins as mild curiosity turns into a fight for their lives as Craddock takes them down the “night road” and continues to display glimpses of their future to them. A future where Jude murders the ones he loves. This was a fantastic read and it’s been on my to-read shelve for YEARS. Not sure why I waited so long to get to it but I wish I had gotten to it sooner. Joe Hill. He’s Stephen King’s kid in case you don’t know but he definitely has his own sense of style when it comes to storytelling and from the very first page I was riveted and had to know the outcome of these two characters. If I had to find any fault with it at all, I would say that as soon as the ghost makes his appearance, the one thing that made me curious about the book in the first place went out the window. All the macabre stuff that he collected over the years was never mentioned again. Someone with a penchant for that sort of thing would perhaps use it to his advantage? I was expecting it to become part of the story but that never happened. I really enjoyed the character of Marybeth (Georgia). She was sweet but with a hard edge. I could not help but root for her. Hill did a good job of writing her as strong, but also vulnerable. She brought just the right mix of danger plus loyalty to the story. Now for the fear factor. A reader on Facebook advised me to read it during the day, that it could get pretty intense. It was intense at times but like a “race to the finish” intense. All of the horror elements were appropriately creepy but I didn’t feel that Hill tossed anything in there for shock value alone. I really enjoyed it.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com