Mini Review: Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill

‘Buy my stepfathers ghost’ read the email.. so Jude did..

I have had Heart Shaped Box on my tbr list for so long and I am only kicking myself that I haven’t read it sooner. This was a perfect bit of good old fashioned horror, chilling, creepy with an ounce of gore it was a fantastic ride.

“He bought it, in the shape of the dead man’s suit, delivered in a heart-shaped box, because he wanted it: because his fans ate up that kind of story. It was perfect for his collection: the genuine skulls and the bones, the real honest-to-God snuff movie, the occult books and all the rest of the paraphanalia that goes along with his kind of hard/goth rock.
But the rest of his collection doesn’t make the house feel cold. The bones don’t make the dogs bark; the movie doesn’t make Jude feel as if he’s being watched. And none of the artefacts bring a vengeful old ghost with black scribbles over his eyes out of the shadows to chase Jude out of his home, and make him run for his life . . .”

If you’re looking for a decent ghost story then look no further! This kept me on the edge and had me so deeply engrossed in the story the house could have gone up in flames and I wouldn’t have noticed. Joe Hills writing is descriptive without being too drawn out, I could clearly hear the characters accents in my head. The references to different bands just made it all seem more real which gave it an even creepier edge.

It was definitely my kind of story and I will absolutely be reading more from Joe hill.