Reviews with content warning for Animal death - Heart-Shaped Box

A solid horror novel, through and through. Docked a point for the misuse of death metal. Jude was not a death metal musician. You can't just say death metal to mean 'obsessed with death' or being evil or whatever if you're talking about a hard rock band. It's a grosse misrepresentation. Anyhow, spooky, freaky ghost going around dragging the living down, especially the rockstar MC. I'm not one for thrillers but I think messed up horror thrillers might be my exception, I actually enjoyed this more than I thought I would.

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august_18's review against another edition

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dark sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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lyndyntree's review against another edition

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challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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bababookmatt's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

This is a character driven book. The protagonist, Judas Coyne, is an aging, pessimistic, misogynistic rock star. Not a character that typically elicits sympathy for me. However, behind the plot we do see growth, and by the end he calls the women he dates by their name, and not just the American state he met them in. Without loving him, he felt real, and earned my respect. The relationship dynamics are excellent. The horror component was a little ho-hum; a ghost haunting. Judas and his entourage are being haunted by a ghost and Hill doesn’t waste time convincing the reader it’s a haunting as opposed to mental illness, natural phenomena, etc. I appreciated this. It’s established and not something that needs doubting or suspicion. There’s a snuff film that Judas owns that is very unsettling, and while it’s mentioned a few times, I struggle with finding how it fits in to the larger story. This didn’t bother me, but I found it to be a loose end.

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