Heart-Shaped Box - by Joe Hill (Paperback)

About the Book

"Sooner or later, the dead catch up ... Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals, a used hangman's noose, a snuff film. Many of these objects were gifts from the black-clad fans who made his metal band a legend and made him rich. But not all. When is personal assistant told him there was a ghost for sale on the internet, Jude knew he had to have it for his private collection. He didn't think twice. He should have. Jude has spent a lifetime evading ghosts--his abusive father; the bandmates he betrayed; Anna, the suicidal girl he loved and abandoned. But this spirit is different. This one means to chase him to the edge of sanity. He new acquisition--delivered to his doorstep in a black heart-shaped box--is the restless soul of Anna's vengeful stepdaddy. Craddock McDermott swore he would settle with Jude for ruining his daughter's life. Soon, everywhere Jude turns, Craddock is there: behind the bedroom door; in Jude's restored vintage Mustang; outside his window; on his widescreen TV. Waiting--with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. If ever there was a case of buyer beware, this is it..."--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

A pulse-pounding, terrifying rollercoaster ride of a supernatural thriller--the remarkable 2007 debut from the #1 New York Times bestselling author.

"The shocks in Hill's riveting debut novel can be lurid and blood-drenched, or as quietly chilling as a casual phone call from an old, dead friend." -- Entertainment Weekly

Sooner or later, the dead catch up . . .

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals, a used hangman's noose, a snuff film. Many of these objects were gifts from the black-clad fans who made his metal band a legend and made him rich. But not all. When his personal assistant told him there was a ghost for sale on the Internet, Jude knew he had to have it for his private collection. He didn't think twice.

He should have.

Jude has spent a lifetime evading ghosts--his abusive father; the bandmates he betrayed; Anna, the suicidal girl he loved and abandoned. But this spirit is different. This one means to chase him to the edge of sanity.

His new acquisition--delivered to his doorstep in a black heart-shaped box--is the restless soul of Anna's vengeful stepdaddy. Craddock McDermott swore he would settle with Jude for ruining his daughter's life. Soon, everywhere Jude turns, Craddock is there: behind the bedroom door; in Jude's restored vintage Mustang; outside his window; on his widescreen TV. Waiting--with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. If ever there was a case of buyer beware, this is it...

Review Quotes

"A thriller with moments of terror and genuine humor." -- People

"A wild, mesmerizing, perversely witty tale of horror . . . . a Valentine from hell." -- New York Times

"Heart-Shaped Box is, quite simply, the best debut horror novel since Clive Barker's Damnation Game...It's the kind of book that the overworked adjectives people use on book jackets--relentless, gripping, powerful, a genuine page-turner--were really meant to describe, for it's all of those things, and enormously smart besides. A genuinely scary novel filled with people you care about; the kind of book that still stays in your mind after you've turned over the final page. I loved it unreservedly." -- Neil Gaiman

"Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box starts with a premise that is as simple as it is brilliant: a ghost for sale on the Internet. But here is a tale that is far from a one-trick pony. It chills with every word, surprises with every page, and twists with every chapter. Here is a debut as literate as it is horrifying . . . and the resounding introduction of a new master in the field of suspense." -- James Rollins

"Heart-Shaped Box. . . rocks. It's a flat-out, white-line, turbo-charged, relentless, bleakly humorous, and, above all, honest story . . . Hill's fealty to the autumnal suspirations of the darkest sorts of dread is instantly apparent. And this, as they say, is just the beginning." -- Austin Chronicle

"The shocks in Hill's riveting debut novel can be lurid and blood-drenched, or as quietly chilling as a casual phone call from an old, dead friend." -- Entertainment Weekly

"Dark, taut, and deliciously terrifying. Heart-Shaped Box is a roaring good read." -- New York Times bestselling author Kathy Reichs

[Hill]'s got horror down pat, and his debut is hair-raising fun." -- Kirkus Reviews

"A relentlessly scary ghost story." -- Bookseller (London)

"Hill is flawless in his ability to articulate frailties that humanize his characters and make the vulnerable to intrusions of the strange . . . . One of the most confident and assured new voices in horror and dark fantasy to emerge in recent years." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Powerful . . . a fast-paced plot that crackles with expertly planted surprises and revelations . . . a truly memorable debut." -- Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"You can't go wrong with Heart-Shaped Box." Top Five Fiction-Books of 2007 -- The Observer

"A fast-paced journey on wheels borrowed from hell's used-car lot, and there aren't a lot of comfort breaks...The pictures [Hill] painted colored my dreams and darkened my mood even after I'd put the book down." -- Cleveland Plain Dealer