Heart-Shaped Box

My first book by Mr. Joe Hill plus I chose it as the October Halloween Book of The Month read for my Facebook book club, "Once Upon a Time Book Club". I am Absolutely thrilled over my decision!!!! If I counted hours only. I read this book in less than 24 hours. I could not put this book down. It's a constant page turner. Hill captured the supernatural phenomenally!!!!! SPOILER ALERT!!!!! Mr. Coyne, famous rock star, does exceptionally well for himself. Has enough money to do anything he wants with out worry. Goes thru women to satisfy his needs but never gets attached,. Doesn't even respect them enough to call them by their name, instead he calls them from the state they're from. If they act crazy, they're shipped back home and another state comes along. The last one he was with is from Florida and he finds out that she killed herself, he's not too surprised with the way she was acting when they were together. Coyne's rep finds a ghost for auction because likes to collect the paranormal. He tops the bid and wins the auction. To find out he received a ghost who happens to be Florida's step-daddy. Coyne talks to Florida's sister (Price) and she laughs at him over the phone telling him he's going to die and everyone with him including his dogs and his current girlfriend, Georgia. Coyne is freaked out yet keeps seeing this ghost and this ghost is a hypnotist who comes over the radio and gets Georgia to try and kill herself but Coyne stops it. Or he trays to get Coyne to kill her or himself. He realizes what's going on and the power behind it is too hard to fight. Coyne's dogs see the spirit and attack stepdaddy Craddick. So now Coyne knows he must keep the dogs with him for protection. Coyne decides they need to get to Florida's house and give this ghost back to Florida's sister, Price. On the way the ghost Craddick follows in his old blue pick up truck trying to still kill them. Georgia wants to stop by her grams on the way since they'll be passing in case she dies. She wants to see her one last time. While there, Georgia pulls out oujia board she played with as a child. They call on Florida (real name Anna). It works and Anna tells Georgia she will be the door for her to get through to help them trap Craddick. With that settled, they leave and get to Price's house. She starts going crazy on Coyne telling him how he ruined everything, how he ruined Anna. Suddenly Coyne sees what happened when Anna returned home. All this time she was acting crazy was because she was being sexually molested by her stepdaddy by being hypnotized with her own sister assisting. She was unable to talk about it, but suddenly couldn't stay quiet anymore and when Coyne sent her home she threatened to go to the police. With all the hypnotizing being done it didn't have an affect on Anna anymore. Anna was able to block it out. They blamed all this on Coyne and swore vengeance. Anna's sister drugged her then carried her in the tub and killed her herself making it look like Anna took her own life. Anna had found pictures where Craddick was now molesting Price's young daughter as he did Anna when she was young. There were pictures. As all this was going on, in the house of price in walks Price's daughter with gun. She shoots Coyne's dog dead and shoots off Coyne's fingers. Him and Georgia run out and jump in his car. He realizes he needs to get to his house where his father is. As he's driving a car crashes into them which is Price, she hits the windshield. Coyne and Georgia are hit badly, the other dog is in the back seat crying, his legs Re broken with bone coming through. They're racist g down the highway and suddenly they're in a bad accident. Georgia's neck is sliced, Coyne sees the crescent razor moon that made the slice. He's hopeless in saving her. Suddenly there's bright light and with her blood Anna and Georgia both together draw a doorway in blood and Craddick is sucked through streaming. Anna and Georgia are both driving both in the same body. Anna is beautiful and he thanks her. He calls out for MaryBeth, no longer by her state name Georgia. She's dying and Georgia tells her to hold on. He loves her. It ends in the hospital. He swears he lost Marybeth but finds out she's in ICU in critical shape but alive. He runs to her and hold her with his shadow dogs guiding the way. The get married and all is happy. Price is in jail for the pictures found on the molestation of what she did to her own daughter. Her daughter hitches to Coyne's all grown up to say sorry that Anna visited her. She's all good driving a black car and explained what happened. How she never wants to see her mother again. Phenomenal story!!! Excellent supernatural read!! I couldn't put it down plus the gore was just the right amount. Perfect. I wasn't squeamish at all. Superb job Mr. Hill! I will definitely be reading more of your books with pleasure!!!!

You want to know what happens when the idea of the “ghosts of your past has come to haunt you” comes to life? The closest one gets to this hypothetical scenario would be Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. While the book seems to be a story about a man being haunted by a ghost, and it is, you eventually come to see that the haunting goes beyond the typical spooky ghost story variety. And this added layer was what made the book an entertaining and gripping read for me. With that said, it didn’t seem like I would end up feeling that way when I started the book. The first quarter of the book had a slow and monotonous feel with patches of action showing up here and there. It didn’t mean that it was horrible in any specific way. It just lacked a certain energy that would’ve grabbed my attention instantly, in which you knew you were in for a thrilling ride. In fact, for a good deal of time, I thought the tone wouldn’t change and therefore believed I knew what I would rate this book. Fortunately, as the story got to its midpoint, things changed and the book was seemingly infused with more action, suspense, drama which helped energized the book. Afterwards, the story got more intriguing, pulling me in and had captivated me until the end. The book’s second half really saved it from just being an average read. I really appreciated how the story was about the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt us. While you had Judas and Georgia/Marybeth trying to contend with a ghost who is aiming to do them harm, running parallel to that is them, along with other characters (Anna, Jessica and Craddock) confronting/dealing with the “ghosts” of their past and how it shaped who they’ve become. You think you’ve gotten past it and you don’t have to deal with it anymore, but in reality it’s right there with you, in the periphery, subtly exerting its influence on you. This idea is (creepily) literally illustrated in Craddock’s method of getting to Judas and Georgia/Marybeth. It made the story not just a ghost story, but one that is also character-driven. Which brings me to our protagonists. What I enjoyed about this book was Hill’s ability to create characters who were ostensibly uncouth and essentially unlikeable but whom you surprisingly grew to sympathize and root for. In a way, their fallacies makes them more credible and opens the door for you, as the reader, to like them and care about what happens to them. When I first met Judas and Georgia/Marybeth, I didn’t think much of them. They were quite unlikeable. However, in the end I wanted them to survive and succeed. While they may not be the epitome of the role model you’d want for your kids, they show how real evil can exist in the most unexpected places. I was first introduced to Joe Hill through NOS4A2 which I really enjoyed. So it wasn’t a leap for me to have certain expectations with his other books such as this one. Now while Heart-Shaped Box isn’t on the same level as NOS4A2, it still was an engrossing read with intriguing characters and great writing (I really liked the morbid sarcastic humor within the narrative). Don’t let the slow beginning turn you off from this book. The build-up that began at the start pays off as you get towards the end and once you get to the book’s latter half, you’ll find yourself unable to turn away until you discover how it all ends.

I've become a big Joe Hill fan. The characters are likeable and well-developed, the story is compelling. Just a very solid, entertaining book.

I was definately intrigued by this book. The author, like his father, is able to define his characters quickly and in great depth. In particular, the ghostly Craddock was a menacing and eerie presence, never sympathetic, but clearly interesting and absolutely unique. There is a full measure of suspense almost right from the beginning of the novel but the author takes his time in laying out all of the context that contributed to Craddock's connection with and subsequent haunting of the main character. I felt that the story was slow to unfold and ended just a bit too neatly wrapped. The one thing I love about Stephen King novels is that I get the feeling that King is detached from his characters, he lets the story unfold as it will and there is not always a happy ending. I like that ambiguity because I form my own opinions and sympathies. With King I never get the feeling that the glass is either half full or half empty, it simply has water in it. I dont enjoy being told by any author explicitly that the main character is a nice guy underneath it all and then having the ending of the story validate and reward that direction by the author as was the case with Heart Shaped Box. However, on the whole this was a compelling story that captures the reader's interest with very well drawn characters.

This thriller suspense kept me on my toes in the latter half of the book. It did have a slow start to it in order to get engaged with the book, but towards the end it was very captivating and kept me on the edge of my seat! This was written very well and I can’t wait to see what else Joe Hill has in store

Joe Hill, if you haven't already heard, is the son of Stephen King. That shouldn't matter, right? The author known as Joe Hill should be judged by his writing, not his family tree. Except that your take on King's work will probably be fairly close to your take on Heart-Shaped Box. If you liked, say, Bag of Bones, you'll probably enjoy this as well. If you hate Stephen King, you've read too far already. Heart-Shaped Box wasn't so terrifying I lost any sleep over it, but it is well-plotted and quick-moving. Like his father, Joe Hill has the knack for creating characters that the reader will care about. There are numerous pop culture references here, including the title, which is take from the grunge band Nirvana. That's one difference from dad's ubiquitous baby boomer references...

Beautiful book!

Joe Hill stellt mit seinem Erstling seinen Vater in den Schatten! Die Geschichte des abgehalfterten Rockstars, der in Internet einen rachsüchtigen Geist kauft, hat mich mitgerissen. Welch eine geniale Idee und wie pfiffig umgesetzt! Der Geist ist nicht nur lebensbedrohlich, sondern er bringt wie ein Katalysator alle Sünden in Judes Vergangenheit zutage. Jude muss sich mit seiner beiseite geschobenen Historie, seinen Liebschaften und seinen scheinbaren Erfolgen auseinandersetzen, um die Bösartigkeit des Geistes verstehen zu können. Ein mitreißender Roman, fantastisch gut geschrieben, mit tiefgründigen Protagonisten. 5 Sterne.

This is not only a ghost story but also about how childhood abuse and trauma destroys lives.