Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel
by Joe Hill
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Book Summary Information
Author: Joe HillEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2007-02-13
ISBN: 0061147931
Number of pages: 384
Publisher: William Morrow
Book Reviews of Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel
Book Review: "See You On the Other Side"
Summary: 3 Stars
Try to remember reading your first Stephen King novel - "Carrie", "Salem's Lot", maybe "The Shining" - and you'll get a pretty good idea of the white-knuckled suspense that will keep you glued to the pages of the opening chapters of "Heart-Shaped Box." Judas Coyne is an aging death-metal rock star living semi-retired in New York's Hudson Valley farmlands. When his assistant comes across an unassuming ghost for sale on the Internet, the macabre Coyne can't resist, and soon a heart-shaped box bearing the suit of the deceased is on Jude's doorstep. In less time than it takes to shred a few chords of "Stairway to Heaven", the scribbly-eyed ghost of one Craddock James McCormack, in life a hypnotist and Viet Nam vet with training in psychological warfare, is scaring the black eyeliner off Jude and his current Goth squeeze, "Georgia". Old Craddock turns out to be as far from Casper the Friendly Ghost as Metallica is from The Backstreet Boys, soon people close to Jude are turning up dead, and Jude and Georgia are stuffing the German shepherds into the old Mustang and running for their lives.
So far so good, but what started out as a can't-put-it-down horror-fest begins to lose some steam, the terror feeling more like tedium and the road bogging down in the ruts along the Highway to Hell. Part of my problem was bearded and burned-out Jude himself - he struck me less like an Ozzy Osborne than an over-the-hill, out-of-shape Hell's Angel. Yeah, Jude did some bad things in the past, but not enough to make him despicable. But on the other hand, the absence of any real endearing qualities never had me really pulling for him, either, resulting in a main character who ultimately - and paradoxically - wasn't that interesting. And while the premise - a ghost for sale on an eBay wannabe - was fresh, the magic soon begins to fade as author Joe Hill reverts to standard King-branded scare fare. Not that that's such a bad thing, but while Hill's writing is far from pedestrian, is doesn't match up to the brilliance of King, evident in the climax, better suited to a teenage slasher flick than the promise Hill's high concept deserved but failed to deliver.
But all things considered, in the recent absence of any real quality horror suspense in the market - King's recent stuff included - Joe Hill's "Heart-Shaped Box" is definitely worth a read, if for no other reason, the nostalgia. Give it three stars and a run for your attention on the next long plane ride.
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