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Heart-Shaped Box

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Heart-Shaped Box

Written by: Joe Hill
Narrated by: Stephen Lang
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Buy Now for $31.46

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About this listen

 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 Ghosts Horror Supernatural Suspense Thriller & Suspense Haunted Scary Paranormal Fiction Fantasy

What the critics say

  • 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)
All stars
Most Relevant
A creepy and surprisingly emotional journey that follows a former rock star and his girlfriend, who find themselves haunted by a malevolent spirit after making a reckless purchase.

The concept of HEART-SHAPED BOX hooked me right away: Who doesn’t love a story where a ghost has haunted a suit? From there, I found the writing to be nice and crisp, the characters to be complex, and the atmosphere to be quite creepy.

Jude is definitely a morally grey hero who has some skeleton in his closet, though he always tried to do right by the people closest to him. He’s not a good man, but he’s also sympathetic enough that I wanted to see him succeed. Same for Georgia, who fell into hard times and yet proved to be a tough lifeline for Jude when he needed it.

Most of the plot is dark and disturbing, and there were more than a few moments where I grimaced at the visceral imagery. That said, the plot moves at a good clip with enough downtime that nothing felt unbalanced. There are some truly terrifying moments, especially at the end, with a paranormal aspect that isn’t too outlandish for readers who might not want to venture far from realism.

While this is my first Joe Hill book, it won’t be the last, and I recommend it to anyone looking for a dark, supernatural thriller!

Disturbing and Complex

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i really enjoyed this story. I am a Stephen King constant reader, and I love how I feel his dad's flavor in Joe's writing but totally hear his own voice and style. This was a goooooood ghost story. The narration brought it all home!

Great narrator, great ghost story!

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It was an interesting paranormal mystery. Story was alternative which makes it distinctive and quirky.

Unique

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Not the best of Joe Hill but still very enjoyable. Perfect ending. The narrator was great but the weird music was terrible. I feel like someone hated their boss and wanted to see what ridiculous shit they could get away with for their last job. Seriously what was that weird misplaced techno bullshit? Totally distracting but did add a bit of hilarity to seriously moments.

Very entertaining but not his best

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fantastic story a little too much of a happy ending for me but other than that it was a good listen.

Good story great narrator.

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good beginning to end. pretty much enjoyed every book by Joe hill so far. this one is now tied with n0s4a2

awesome

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Great book and narration. As someone else mentioned, the music was weird and not necessary!

awesome!

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Had a bit of trouble getting into this story…seemed to drag for the first 1/3…but then picked up…and excellent storyline. Creative, with some excellent “ewwwww…!” moments. Glad I stuck it through. Worth the listen.

Ended well

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nasty bugs in my recording caused a lot of skips. really messed up a perfectly good book.

bugs

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Such a great story and the fellow reading it is really quite good. For some reason the producers plopped in some generic 80s synth muszack in between some (thankfully not all) chapter breaks. It’s jarring and breaks up the tension built by the performance and the story. If it was supposed to be representative of Judas Coin’s music, I think they missed the mark by a country mile.

Great Storytelling

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