I don’t know what possessed me to pick up Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box.  It’s been sitting on the shelf for well over a year.  It’s the story of an aging retired hard rocker named Judas Coyne who owns a collection of odd keepsakes.  After his assistant spots a ghost for sale on an auction site, Jude has to have it.  It arrives to him via the dead man’s favorite suit, folded nicely in a black heart-shaped box. What Jude doesn’t know is that the suit was intended specifically for him.  The ghost is the step-father of a young girl Jude had a fling with several years ago.  When the girl got depressed and “went crazy,” he sent her back home to Florida where she killed herself.  Now, her dead step-father is back for vengeance.

What I liked best about the book is that Hill tells the story straight through over a few weeks.  We’re with Jude from beginning to end, and there are no multiple stories to follow or plot lines to figure out.  This really helps to build the intensity of the book and allows the reader to really connect and get to know the characters.  We get a glimpse into Jude’s miserable past, where he came from, what his parents were like, how big of a celebrity he is and the followers he still has.  We meet his current girlfriend, Mary Beth (aka Georgia), whose along for the ride.  We also make a connection with two of Jude’s protectors – his German Shepard dogs named Bon and Angus. You also get to know the ghost – Craddock, a crazy old man who was into hypnotizing people with his odd razor hanging on a cold chain which he used as a pendulum and for dowsing.

The book definitely builds with a nice “keep you up at night” plot, but it sort of levels out once the ghost is haunting the couple.  It doesn’t get boring, but rather the pages go flying by as we go with Jude and Georgia to Florida to visit Craddock’s living step-daughter who set Jude the ghost. And it’s quite a bumpy ride along the way. Some of Hill’s writing becomes very cliche within itself – he uses “black ink” to describe everything from blood to someone’s pupils, but there’s always repetitive writing in the horror genre, right?  If not in the same book, then over a series of books.  Just ask Hill’s famous dad, Stephen King, about that. But without trying to sound cliche myself, I fully admit I couldn’t put the book down!

It was scary.  It was clever.  Never boring.  And it entertained.  All the traits that a good horror book should have.  It’s original.  The characters are interesting.  Their storylines are deep and are enough to keep you guessing.  I also liked Hill’s short chapters which really helped you feel like you were moving along.  Heck, one chapter is only one sentence long.  And near the end, several chapters in a row are only one paragraph long.  I was never a fan of heavy metal or death rock, but I was cheering for Jude and wanted to see him win.  And I’m definitely a fan of Hill’s now too!

Oh, and yes, the dead really do claim their own!