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 as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude … 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, no benign conversation piece. 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 bony hand…
A multiple-award winner for his short fiction, author Joe Hill immediately vaults into the top echelon of dark fantasists with a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel, a masterwork brimming with relentless thrills and acid terror.
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Joe Hill is Stephen King’s son. This is his debut novel. A horror story centred around an aging rock musician and the women in his life. If horror is your thing, it doesn’t disappoint.
What can you say about a book where a ghost is bought on the internet
It’s Joe Hill. That about sums it up. Great writer.
This book may have been the scariest horror fiction i’ve ever read.
Judas likes to collect anything that is macabre. Then something comes up for sale that he cannot do without. A ghost for sale for $1000. But he gets more than he bargained for when a heart shaped box is delivered to him. He gets the ghost he purchased but the ghost is out to get him. This is a creepy, scary, page turner of a book. This was the …
Still looking for a good Halloween read? Heart-Shaped Box is one of my favorites! One of the most creative, heart-wrenching, and touching ghost stories I’ve ever read.
Perfect book for late-night reading. Especially around Halloween. Interesting characters and I love the way it builds. It would make a great movie or series.
I read this book a few years ago and it was scary then as it is today when I reread it.
A very well written haunting story that keeps you guessing
This book had SO much potential but died 3/4 the way through when it became a slasher book and 2 dogs died. TWO dogs. It’s all fun and games until the dog dies. I’m also still not clear if the ending was supposed to scare me or just completely gross me out. It really wasn’t scary at all.
‘One of the dogs was in the house …’
Good book. It’s the first novel I’ve read from Joe Hill – I’ve read all of his short fiction – and I was impressed. I’d say it’s a tad long, but it was suitably creepy and well written. Nice work.
great read
This book reads like a screenplay but doesn’t have the ability to build the picture in your mind of a circumstance that is supposed to be extremely scary. Poor development of characters. The book tries to tell you what things are like instead of wrapping a story that lets you confabulate the situation and characters.
Excellent story. Very spooky, keeps you interested throughout. I can’t say too much about the story itself because I don’t want to give anything away. It’s just an awesome story. You won’t be able to put it down. This was the first book of Joe Hill that I had read and I’ve been hooked on his books ever since. Enjoy!
The story starts out on a spooky note when a collector of morbid objects purchases a ghost. It arrives in a heart-shaped box containing a suit. From there, the story became weird, then rambled, and basically disappointed.
Exquisite in every way. Stayed up way too late because I couldn’t stop reading. Well done, Joe Hill.
This is the first – but not the last – book that I read by Joe Hill. Halfway through the book, I started thinking that it was at least as good as any by King. That led me to research a bit about the author – only to find that Joe Hill is Stephen and Tabitha King’s son! The apple definitely didn’t fall far from that particular tree.
I read this book many years ago and it will stay with you forever.
I loved the book. It was scary but not enough to give me nightmares. Guess I’m too use to his fathers stories to scare easily but it was a great book.
I loved this book. It is still at the top of my favorites. It is original and exciting and scary. I don’t scare easy and I loved being scared by it. I also enjoyed the nod to my favorite band AC/DC the dogs named after band members. I don’t want to spoil any of it but read it. I consider this his best work.