Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill

I just finished reading Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. It is a story about a middle-aged Rock star named Judas Coyne who buys a dead mans suit on an online auction site (with the promise of ghost attached), and gets more than he bargained for when the mans ghost actually comes with it.

I decided to read this book after a few friends recommended it as a good, fun read. I was a little skeptical at first because Joe Hill is Stephen Kings son. Apparently all of his family, wife and two sons, are writers. Being a writer with such a famous writer Dad must be daunting enough but choosing to write a fictional novel in the same genre as Dad would be even worse as there is the pressure to live up to his name. Joe Hill, I think, manages to do just that.

When Judas Coyne heard someone was selling a ghost on the internet, there was no question. It was perfect for his collection of the macabre: the cannibal’s cookbook, the witch’s confession, the authentic snuff movie. As an ageing death-metal-rock-god, buying a poltergeist almost qualifies as a business expense.

Besides, Judas thinks he knows all about ghosts. Jude has been haunted for years…. by the spirit of band mates dead and gone, the spectre of the abusive father he fled as a child, and the memory of the suicidal girl he abandoned. But this ghost, delivered to his doorstep in a black heart-shaped box, is different. It makes the house feel cold. It makes the dogs bark. And it means to chase Jude from his home and make him run for his life….

This novel was thoroughly enjoyable. Maybe not really scary, as some reviews made out, but it has just the right amount of creepiness to make it worth while. I quite liked the characters of Jude and Georgia and the references to rock and heavy metal, littered throughout the novel were a lot of fun to spot. This novel is a must for anyone who loves a good horror story, heavy metal music and a bit of fun all rolled into one.

Rating 3/5