Heart-Shaped Box

By: Joe Hill

Narrated by: Stephen Lang

Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins

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)

Terrifyingly Marvelous!

This was my first time reading a novel by Joe Hill. The Heart-Shaped Box came highly recommended. It is wonderfully terrifying and gory in the King family tradition. Haunting. Vivid. Brilliantly written and narrated. I'm an instant fan. I can now confidently and highly recommend it to you.

Horror Story?

Beautifully written, intense story, well-paced, great central characters, but unfortunately (and I know I'm in the minority with this so I'm probably going to catch a lot of slack) not very scary. Please, don't get me wrong. I highly enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it and I'm looking forward to reading other books by Joe Hill. This is the first book I've read by him and if his others are as well written I'm sure I'll enjoy them as well but to tell you the truth, it's been a long time since I've read something that's kept me up at night flinching when my furnace kicks on or one of my window panes rattles in the wind. Thrilling? Absolutely but to me there just seems to be something missing that propels this book outside of being a thriller and into something downright terrifying. Still, I have to say Heart-Shaped Box this is exquisitely written and it was definitely worth the time I've invested in it. I liked the names Mr. Hill chose for judas's dogs well as the two later dogs Robert and Jimmy. I've heard that his father is supposed to be a fan of AC DC and got I got a kick out of that.

Hope I never receive a Heart Shaped box lol!

Any additional comments?

Loved the book! It really is a great story and loved all the craziness!

Scary fun!

So Joe Hill is like a red neck Stephen King. His characters are deliciously trashy, as well as loveable and so well written. Anyway this book is really great. The characters are wonderful, the story is solid with some pretty awesome twists and turns, and the scary parts are genuinely scary. I loved it.

Very slow ghost story. If you like that, it's good

narration was fantastic. I kept waiting for the story to finally pop and then it was over. Maybe it's simply in contrast to the typical fast paced stories I'm used to.
There is a ridiculous techno beat that plays in between some of the chapters. And then plays for a while as the narrator starts reading. It has nothing to do with the story and isnt even of theme of the book. I found myself turning the book off when it would start.

Solid story, Great Narration, Annoying Music

I will never understand why audiobook producers think the listener wants music added to the audio to break up sections of the book. Every single time it happened in this one, it took me out of the story.

Aside from the production, the story was okay. It has a strong setup and an intriguing premise. But I had to fight to keep my attention on the hook. The climax of the story is pretty killer. But the denouement and most of the middle part of the book just didn't hold my attention.

Good old fashioned ghost story

This ghost story pulls no punches. If you're used to overly violent books, this won't phase you. But if you're used to more tame, run of the mill fiction violence then this may shock you.

With wonderful narration, we follow an unlikable aging rock star and his shallow young girlfriend as they are tormented by a malicious ghost who has come to punish him for his past. Few of the characters get any more likable as the story progresses, and some get even worse, but still, all is not as it seems. Guilt and innocence become muddled concepts.

I love that as the novel gets deeper into ghost story territory, it leaves New York City on a road trip to the south. There really is no setting for a certain breed of horror like a slow trip through the deep south.

One of my favorite books ever - a must read!

Heart Shaped Box is possibly my favorite book ever. I would say it is a MUST read/listen for any horror fan. You won't be disappointed!

great narration takes this solid story up a notch!

the book was good, not amazing but good. I enjoyed it throughout with only one slow spot in the last half. it had a great ending and Langs narration really brought it up a notch!

Very surprising

I chose this title because it was an audible daily deal. After reading Horns by this author several years ago, I didn’t think I’d ever read him again based on how weak that story was. But I’m a sucker for a sale. I was surprised that this book was so much better than Horns. I don’t understand why Horns was made into a movie instead of this book. It had a good flow and kept my interest throughout with characters that were well realized. I can’t say that I didn’t see every development coming a mile away but because the writing was good, I found this forgivable. I’m still not sold on reading anything else by Joe Hill, however. The older I get (46 now), the less comfortable I have become with the intolerance of the uber liberal for anything other than like-mindedness. I find it tiresome. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes SK type horror.