Heart-Shaped Box
Title: Heart-Shaped Box
Author: Joe Hill
Published in: 2007
Date read: 28th October 2024
Score: 4/5
Genre: Supernatural, Horror, Thriller
Plot: (Warning, may contain spoilers):
"Heart-Shaped Box," published in 2007, is Joe Hill's debut novel and a chilling supernatural horror story that masterfully blends modern suspense with classic ghost story elements. It is a terrifying tale about a man haunted by his past, both literally and figuratively.
The protagonist is Jude Coyne, a reclusive, aging rock star whose career is fuelled by a goth-metal aesthetic and an obsessive collection of morbid artifacts. He has a strange and unsettling hobby: he collects things with a dark history, from a mummified finger to a hangman's noose. His latest acquisition comes from an online auction: a ghost. The item is an old suit, purportedly haunted by its previous owner, which arrives in a heart-shaped box.
Jude, a man whose life is filled with regret and a sense of emotional emptiness, believes the ghost is a hoax. He keeps the box as a macabre curiosity, but he soon realizes that the "ghost" is very real, and it is very, very angry. The suit's former owner, a man named Craddock McDermott, was a hypnotist who died under mysterious circumstances, and he is a vengeful spirit.
The ghost is not a fleeting apparition but a physical, tangible entity that haunts Jude's life. He manifests as a dark, malevolent presence, a figure in a black suit who stalks Jude's property, terrorizes his young girlfriend Marybeth (known as "Georgia"), and leaves behind a trail of death and destruction.
Jude and Georgia, now on the run from the relentless spirit, must try to uncover the truth about McDermott's life and death. They realize that the ghost's hatred of Jude is not random; it's a terrifying form of spiritual revenge. The novel becomes a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game, with the couple pursued across the country by a supernatural force that seems to have no limits.
The mystery deepens as Jude begins to uncover his own dark, forgotten connections to McDermott's past. He learns that a terrible act of his own, a tragic incident that he has spent years trying to suppress, is the real reason why he is being haunted.
The climax is a brutal and visceral confrontation between the living and the dead. Jude must not only face the physical threat of the ghost but also the emotional weight of his own past. "Heart-Shaped Box" is a terrifying and deeply psychological horror novel that explores the idea that some ghosts are not just supernatural beings but the physical manifestation of our own guilt and buried secrets.
Comments:
Great to have a book that grabs you so quickly. I am always trying to guess the direction of a story and this one tricked me a few times. The reason that I chose this was because I was looking for a good "ghost story" and it certainly delivered this in the first half then the direction changed (for me, I know that I am strange and there was certainly a ghost). I recommend this book, particularly as during the last half I could not put it down and I keep checking that the ghost in question is not lurking on my landing when I go to bed at night.
This page was updated on: 21st August 2025