Hi. Hello there! Yes, YOU. Hi.Are you always looking for original and quirky scary stories? If you answered, yes, I would like to put forth Heart-Shaped Box for your consideration. Unique and just damn cool, this is a must read for fans of the macabre.This gritty, haunting tale had my horror-loving heart swooning with how eerie it was. Joe Hill is truly talented author. He writes with such conviction that you find yourself believing what the narrator is telling you no matter how far-fetched it m...

Imagine a ghost! Not just any ghost, imagine a ghost with a unique set of skills like advanced interrogation skills and deep hypnotic abilities, which he acquired during his long and diverse career. That's right, kids. The ghost in this story is Liam Neeson of Ghosts. Well, at least he started out to be Liam Neeson of ghosts, and he will find you.... and he will kill you. But who is going to be his victim?Meet our hero, Judas Coyne, a 54-year-old rockstar with a very rockstar-y lifestyle. Unf

When aging rocker Judas Coyne buys a ghost on the internet, he doesn't take it seriously. That is, until a musty old suit shows up in a heart-shaped box. Soon, Judas begins to see the horrifying spectre of a man wearing the suit. Things take a sinister turn and people start dying so Judas and his girlfriend Georgia go looking for the woman who sold him the suit, the sister of his deceased ex-girlfriend. Can Judas stop the man in the suit from destroying his life?After NOS4A2, I thought it best t...

My third Joe Hill, and second of his novels. I'm afraid once again I am underwhelmed, maybe having read Locke & Key twice before reading one of his books, my expectations are way too high? I should add other than Odd Thomas I can't stand ghost stories.A rock star in his 50s, who collects the macabre, is notified of a 'ghost' for sale. He can't resist the temptation, and purchases the ghost! His, his much younger girlfriend and his wonder dog's lives will never be the same!The book took me nearly...

With relentlessly good characterization, this debut horror novel by the now-firmly-established powerhouse of Joe Hill rocks one hell of a good ghost story.I have a thing for stories about aging rockers. I don't know what it is. They're just so pathetic and glorious and full of redemptive possibilities and gloriousness. :)In this case, he's just built such a gruesome persona over the years and he's pretty much any horror-writer's dream rocker. You know, like Ozzy, but more like Rob Zombie or a bi...

Rating: 3.25* of fiveThe Publisher Says: Aging death-metal rock legend Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals...a used hangman's noose...a snuff film. But nothing he possesses is as unique or as dreadful as his latest purchase off the Internet: a one-of-a-kind curiosity that arrives at his door in a black heart-shaped box...a musty dead man's suit still inhabited by the spirit of its late owner. And now everywhere Judas Coyne goes, the old man is there—watching, wait...

Meh.https://youtu.be/ZO7sc4ouDqc

I don't think I quite knew what I was getting into when I picked up this book. I don't know what I thought I was going to read, but it wasn't this. So a warning to you: this book, or at least the beginning of it, is pretty freaky. I'm not a wimp. I grew up on Goosebumps and Scary Stories by Alvan Schwartz, graduating on to Christopher Pike and various R.L. Stine young adult novels. I also love scary movies of all sort, so I'm not one easily freaked out. But this novel was pretty creepy, or at le...

When aging, retired rocker Judas Coyne buys a ghost on-line, he gets more than he bargained for, as the ghost, which arrives by way of a used suit in a heart-shaped box, is no blithe spirit. I was most reminded of Freddie Krueger, as the hostile ghost sets out to destroy Coyne and all those he holds dear. I was not ecstatic early on about the premise, as I believed it was insufficient to sustain a book of this length. Although I have read better horror books, this one turned out well enough. Wha...

The cover of this book promises that you will be "haunted" and "startled," and that the book will even "visit you in your dreams." Funny, as I read this "scary" novel, I couldn't help but think back to the time I read The Shining ... it was storming outside, it was 3AM and I was too afraid to put the book down, and I didn't care if I would end up wetting the bed because there was no way in hell I was going to get up and go to the bathroom. "Heart Shaped Box" also made me think back to other King...

It took me more than a month to bring myself to write this review and I think this alone is very telling. I just cannot find the absolute slightest motivation to talk about this book, because quite frankly, I just hated it. I don't think I have ever read a book I found more boring and ridiculous. The guy buys a ghost and no one is seriously fazed when bad and weird things start happening?? Everyone was so incredibly two-dimensional. Every effort to try to bring some suspense and excitement into

"The mad sometimes drilled holes in their own heads to let the demons out. To relieve the pressure of thoughts they could no longer bear. Jude understood the impulse. Each beat of his heart was a fresh and staggering blow felt in the nerves behind his eyes and in his temples. Punishing evidence of life." Aging rock star Judas Coyne spends his retirement collecting morbid memorabilia, including a witch's confession, a hangman’s noose, a real snuff film and, after being sent an email directly a

Guess what, my friends, I might have made the wrong reading choice to celebrate the horror week on Goodreads and Halloween month! Don’t get me wrong, I read so many works of Joe Hill and this book already get rusty and dusty for waiting inside the stomach of my tbr monster forever! So I cut the cord and get the book into my hands even though it hurt my arms because it is heavier than dozen bricks. But long paged readings never scared me and I never cared to look like a member of wrestling team w...

For those of you who don't know, Joe Hill is the son of Stephen King. And, yip, the old man gave him some tips, that's for sure.One of the reasons Stephen King has inspired just about every horror writer for decades, is that he writes small town 'America' better than anybody. I say 'America', because I have never been to the USA and I grew up in a city, but his stories puts me right there, as if I grew up and live in a small town.Hill shows signs of the same type of voice.This is a ghost story,

Great ending to a heavy and intense book!I'm glad I read Heart-Shaped Box after-all!I have been struggling with this book for weeks.It wasn't the book, it's more of what is going on with the world and Covid-19 right now.If I had read this book last year, it wouldn't have affected me as much with the heavy topics and sense of dread I had every time I picked up the book.I can agree now that mood reading is very real!Heart-Shaped Box has some uncomfortable topics in it so it's not for the faint of

Buddy-read with some of my faves from the Non-Crunchy Bunch coming February 2016.This should be a sweet little gem of a story for right around Valentine's day, no?! 3.5 StarsI’ve never been a very good ghost story reader. I think a fundamental element of being spooked out by ghost stories begins in either a belief or a lack of DISbelief in ghosts. I have never believed in ghosts, not even as a child around a campfire. I am missing that thundering fear of not knowing how and what could or could n...

Helluva debut from this author. The subject matter is heavy, really heavy, and long run honestly is more about the human element than the supernatural hence the rating. Not a bad book, the spooky parts were great and the story as a whole is good stuff. It's just not as much horror as I thought. Still there are plenty of 'on your feet moments' and it reads very easily. I'm excited for other forays of this author.

3.5This is the first book written by Joe Hill that I have read, and the fact that it was his debut is pretty impressive to me. I picked it up for a song awhile ago- never being sure if I was going to read it or not- I was worried that I wasn't going to connect with Jude and Georgia. I don't always have to like the people I am reading about, but in a ghost story- I find I really have to warm up to the main characters in order to root for their survival- As it turns out they were pretty easy to li...

The scariest thing about Joe Hill's debut book, Heart Shaped Box, isn't the actual story, but what lies between the front cover and the inside title page of the Harper paperback version. In it, over 18 reputable newspapers and acclaimed writers attempt to prop up little Stevie King, Jr's Joe Hill's novel with some seriously excellent reviews. Scary because all these awesome reviews lead you, the reader, to expect that Heart Shaped Box is the next BIG thing in horror.Only it's not.Not by a lo...

I had pretty big expectations for this novel, since it was somewhat of a happening in the horror genre and was praised by writers such as Harlan Coben and Neil Gaiman. I was pretty disappointed.There is not a cliche that has not been used in this book, and not a single plot twist that I was not able to predict. It's a mish mash of things from various horror novels and movies - the protective dogs, the ouija board, the evil spiritualist, dead in mirrors, talking radios...The characters are unlika...