• Heart-Shaped Box

  • By: Joe Hill
  • Narrated by: Stephen Lang
  • Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (11,267 ratings)

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Heart-Shaped Box  By  cover art

Heart-Shaped Box

By: Joe Hill
Narrated by: Stephen Lang
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Publisher's summary

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals...a used hangman's noose...a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is widely known. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, a thing so terrible-strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

I will sell my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder.

For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts: of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more? But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost. It's the real thing.

And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door...seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang...standing outside his window...staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting - with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one hand.

A multiple award-winner for his short fiction, author Joe Hill immediately vaults into the top echelon of dark fantasists with a masterwork brimming with relentless thrills and acid terror.

©2007 Joe Hill (P)2007 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic reviews

  • Audie Award winner, Thriller/Suspense, 2008
  • Thriller Award, Best Novel, 2008

"Powerful....[Hill's] subtle and skillful treatment of horrors that could easily have exploded over the top and out of control helps make this a truly memorable debut." (Publishers Weekly)
"Mr. Hill elicits honest empathy for Jude, who turned his stage persona into a nightmare version of his fears and must now figure out what strength he has left for legitimate battles. This dynamic is both frightening and funny, and the book weaves together those two threads in clever ways." (The New York Times)

Featured Article: Authors Like Stephen King


Best-selling author Stephen King has published a staggering amount of work, from gripping crime thrillers to epic fantasy series, winning prestigious awards. Yet King’s varied writing is united by common themes, styles, characters, and settings. King fans will recognize a book by him for elements ranging from child characters to atmospheric settings, from eerie psychological horror to New England locations. Undeniably, King’s influence is evident in many of the horror genre’s leading and emerging authors. If you're a fan of Stephen King, these horror authors should be on your radar.

What listeners say about Heart-Shaped Box

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    5,343
  • 4 Stars
    3,654
  • 3 Stars
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Performance
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Story
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  • 4 Stars
    2,763
  • 3 Stars
    1,320
  • 2 Stars
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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good strong story telling

Solid page turner. shocking ghost story with a completely irredeemable and evil spirit. highly descriptive not for the faint hearted.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

I thought this was optional

I enjoyed this book very much. The author has a sound voice. I found the music completely took me out of the story. The music was a distraction more than an asset to the story.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Just ok

The performance is great, but these characters, especially the main character, is hard to like so it's difficult to become fully invested in them. I'd say it's pretty light on the scares, I didn't find it all that creepy. I will say the ending is good and feels like a nice way to round out the main character and make him more likable.

Overall, Heart Shaped Box was just alright. Not great, but not bad.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

great book

wow great book spooky great flow didn't quite understand the random music but didn't ruin anything

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not as scary as I thought, but still awesome

I enjoyed it, the narrator is great. Awesome story, not too scary. Definitely creepy, though.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Fresh, unique & corny in all the right places.

I wanted to hate it several times but ended up skidding out the other side of the story appreciating every silly inch of it. Worth the drive on the Night Road.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Fun listen

Coming off Barker's Scarlet Gospels I was in desperate need of a good book. This did the trick. Not as amazing as Nos4a2 or creative as Locke and Key but a fun ride all the same.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

A great ghost story.

Totally enjoyed this debut novel by the next SK. A totally believable ghost. Interesting characters, and non stop action.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

I don't understand the praise

I'd heard good things about this book as well as the narration, but Heart Shaped Box just reads like a cheap teen ghost story. Characters have no depth but somehow you're supposed to care about the main one, a middle aged rocker named Jude who dates young women and refuses to humanize them by using their names and instead calls them by the state they're from. The author also tries to give the character (or himself?) some "street cred" by dropping 70s-80s obvious metal/rock band references throughout.
The plot was interesting enough that I finished the book, but honestly I wish I'd spent time with something else. Steer clear unless you're looking for an unimaginative flimsy read.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent.

Excellent book. Terrifying at certain points and I fell in love with the characters. The male narration of male characters was really good, but I don't think I ever became completely acclimated to the narration of the female characters, it was a little offputting yet oddly endearing. Overall, I highly recommend this book.

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