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taliatalksbooks's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Joe Hill's Heart-Shaped Box was a spooky, creepy, horror filled read that you should add to your TBR ASAP. This book reads like a short story, and jumps right in to the action, without beating around the bush. If you’ve followed my page for a long time, you’ll know that this is one of my favorite story structures (peppering in developmental details with plot, not incoming for 50 pages). The amount of detailing feels well-balanced, leaving enough up to the readers imagination that they can feel the fear seep from the pages. Any more description and the horror would lose its edge, but any less and it wouldn’t leave a haunting impression on the reader, and Hill delivers. He allows the readers mind to wonder and wander, which makes this all the more creepy. While there is certainly some dated language, misogyny, and unsavory characteristics, I think this book captures the attitude of the past-their-prime rockstar that our main character is. The voice of the characters feels authentic, even if I don’t agree or condone the ways that personality presents (In other words, I can forgive it in fiction, but not in real life). If you’re a fan of horror (especially Stephen King’s or paranormal/ghost stories) and are looking for a book you’ll want to devour all in one sitting, this one should already be on your TBR.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death and Car accident
Minor: Abandonment
alisonwonderland98's review against another edition
4.0
Truly terrifying, but the ending was... meh.
However, this book shows Hill's promise. I want more!
However, this book shows Hill's promise. I want more!
shalashaskka's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
stephroemer's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
kb_toys's review against another edition
4.0
I’m usually not a fan of the hypnotism trope in any story but I enjoyed this a lot. A creepy ghost story, lots of character development and a sad (and very tragic) backstory. I was rooting for Jude even though he’s mostly an asshole. My first Joe Hill novel but I will definitely be reading more.
mysteriousnorse's review
3.0
I really love the concept here, but I just found many of the events plain and predictable. Now, I think a novel can overcome that, but I don't think this one quite did. It's good for a first novel, but not great.
Spoiler
Some of the dreams sequences, those less related to actual characters, and the mish-mash of spiritualism, hypnosis, familiars, ghosts, and possession didn't really cohere for me. I know they're all things people believe, but none of it ever seemed linked. It's kind of the same with the twist. It absolves Judas of his cruel treatment of Anna/Florida way too easily. Also, the Anna and Mary Beth being "the same girl" hasn't aged well. At least, Mary Beth didn't die. That would have been worse. On that note, a literal door? Really? Okay, I'm done complaining.nicole_is_reading's review against another edition
4.0
I have to say it even though it’s about to sound slightly cheesy buuuut.... this book really was a good read! I wasn’t too sure about it at first, not knowing that it’s more of a supernatural -haunting type of story. (I’m not very big on those types of stories) It’s not that it was written bad because it was actually very well written.. the story itself just wasn’t grabbing me. Then somewhere about halfway through I caught myself fully invested into not only the story but the characters.
For anyone that loves stories about haunted or possessed items this is definitely the book for you.. and even if that’s not your cup of tea I still urge others to check it out because this story went from a 2 ⭐️ to a 4 ⭐️ for me within a matter of chapters!
And even more so.. I think it fits well for a Valentine’s Book.. it was mesmerizing to read the emotion and feeling Jude had for “Georgia” and how it blossomed so much so she became Marybeth to him. You could really feel how much he loved her, and how he even grew to love Anna by the end of this book.
For anyone that loves stories about haunted or possessed items this is definitely the book for you.. and even if that’s not your cup of tea I still urge others to check it out because this story went from a 2 ⭐️ to a 4 ⭐️ for me within a matter of chapters!
And even more so.. I think it fits well for a Valentine’s Book.. it was mesmerizing to read the emotion and feeling Jude had for “Georgia” and how it blossomed so much so she became Marybeth to him. You could really feel how much he loved her, and how he even grew to love Anna by the end of this book.
traceynorman's review against another edition
3.0
I saw someone online mention that they were reading this book and it was so creepy that they could only read for a few minutes at a time, so I immediately picked up the Kindle edition. One person's "Meh" is another's "Oh my GODDDD..." so I had an open mind as to whether or not I would find it a chilling read.
I was quite willing to go along with the concept of an ageing, jaded rocker with more money than sense "buying a ghost". It fitted with the character, what little motivation in life he had left and his need to maintain his "image". As I read, however, I found that the concept of buying a ghost was one of the more realistic parts of the book. I'm not a hardened horror fan and hadn't read much in the genre for the last few years, but I didn't find it particularly creepy. There were some events which threatened to pull me out of the story, because of the unrealistic (or absent) reactions of some of the incidental characters to the outlandish happenings. There were a few cliches and I never truly warmed to either Jude or Georgia/Marybeth, even though I tried and really wanted to be rooting for them. If something pulls me out of the story from within, that's usually a bad sign.
I wanted to find this book creepy and unnerving, but sadly, it didn't really do it for me.
I was quite willing to go along with the concept of an ageing, jaded rocker with more money than sense "buying a ghost". It fitted with the character, what little motivation in life he had left and his need to maintain his "image". As I read, however, I found that the concept of buying a ghost was one of the more realistic parts of the book. I'm not a hardened horror fan and hadn't read much in the genre for the last few years, but I didn't find it particularly creepy. There were some events which threatened to pull me out of the story, because of the unrealistic (or absent) reactions of some of the incidental characters to the outlandish happenings. There were a few cliches and I never truly warmed to either Jude or Georgia/Marybeth, even though I tried and really wanted to be rooting for them. If something pulls me out of the story from within, that's usually a bad sign.
I wanted to find this book creepy and unnerving, but sadly, it didn't really do it for me.
persypie's review against another edition
5.0
It all started with a heart shaped box and a dead man’s suit.
obsidian_blue's review against another edition
5.0
I had no idea that I was in such need for a great horror book.
To me, a great horror book will keep you up all night tensing listening for noises on the stairs.
It will make you believe in bogeymen under the bed.
It will make you go and triple check your doors and windows, because evil does exist and it doesn't care if you are a good person.
I can read horror books all year long though I know some readers like to wait til October (atmosphere) and other days like Friday the 13th. The last horror book I read that kept up me into the wee hours before this one was Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. I still need to check out one of the stories that was made into a movie from that collection of stories, Big Driver.
When I first started reading this book I really did not like Judas (known as Jude throughout the story) Coyne and a whole host of other characters. At first glance they all sounded awful to me and I was worried that I was going to default disliking the book since all of the characters sounded terrible.
Jude-Anyone that owns a snuff film and seems to treat women so interchangeably I was totally down with him buying it at any time. And then I read more, and more, and Jude became so layered and so 'human' to me that all I could do is hold my breath that he makes it through the entire book.
I was at one point pacing while reading my Kindle and started nibbling on my fingernails because I felt so tense. In hindsight, it probably was not a great night to start finishing this books on one of the darkest stormiest spring nights we had in my area.
Marybeth-The same thing happened to me with regards to Jude's current squeeze, Marybeth Kimble, otherwise known as Georgia (yes Judas refers to women from the state's they were born in...lovely) who at first glance seemed petty and trashy.When you read more about Marybeth's life growing up and what events led her to where she is now it just made me sad for her.
So I have to give Mr. Hill props for making both Jude and Marybeth feel real and very much flawed. Jude though he tries to hide it, does care, and his whole life has been about pushing women away since he seems to think he really doesn't deserve to be happy. Marybeth is in the same boat.
Secondary and tertiary characters made me feel a lot too. Jude's assistant Danny felt very real to me and I loved Marybeth's grandmother Bammy who seemed to understand far more than you give her credit for at first glance.
The plot seems very simplistic at first. Jude buys a ghost. However, finding out about the ghost and how it ties into Jude's past I thought was quite brilliant. There were some side plots with Jude's dying father, and Marybeth's past that I really at first didn't see how that could work with the larger "got ghost, must be rid of it" plot, but everything worked very well.
The writing I thought was phenomenal. Just a few sentences describing something were enough to put my teeth on edge and to make my skin crawl. Which leads me into discussing the flow of the book.
The flow of the entire story I thought was good, and Mr. Hill seemed to know enough when to slow the pace down (in order to allow the atmosphere to sink in) and when to speed it up. All of the chapters were like amuse bouche's to me. Tiny chapters that gave big flavor. I think that's why I just kept reading without stopping once I got going since before you knew it you were at the end of one chapter and I would just think, okay, just one more chapter.
I was enamored with everything (which is why I gave it 5 stars) though I thought the ending fell a bit flat. I think it was written to be kind of a way to say that something terrible could befall someone, or some type of dark warning, etc., but all I could think was that's it? I guess I am so used to how Stephen King often ends his books with a dark twist that I was a bit surprised to get to the end and have it kind of just peter out.
Please note that there are some discussions of child sexual abuse that readers may want to pass on reading/hearing about.
To me, a great horror book will keep you up all night tensing listening for noises on the stairs.
It will make you believe in bogeymen under the bed.
It will make you go and triple check your doors and windows, because evil does exist and it doesn't care if you are a good person.
I can read horror books all year long though I know some readers like to wait til October (atmosphere) and other days like Friday the 13th. The last horror book I read that kept up me into the wee hours before this one was Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King. I still need to check out one of the stories that was made into a movie from that collection of stories, Big Driver.
When I first started reading this book I really did not like Judas (known as Jude throughout the story) Coyne and a whole host of other characters. At first glance they all sounded awful to me and I was worried that I was going to default disliking the book since all of the characters sounded terrible.
Jude-Anyone that owns a snuff film and seems to treat women so interchangeably I was totally down with him buying it at any time. And then I read more, and more, and Jude became so layered and so 'human' to me that all I could do is hold my breath that he makes it through the entire book.
I was at one point pacing while reading my Kindle and started nibbling on my fingernails because I felt so tense. In hindsight, it probably was not a great night to start finishing this books on one of the darkest stormiest spring nights we had in my area.
Marybeth-The same thing happened to me with regards to Jude's current squeeze, Marybeth Kimble, otherwise known as Georgia (yes Judas refers to women from the state's they were born in...lovely) who at first glance seemed petty and trashy.When you read more about Marybeth's life growing up and what events led her to where she is now it just made me sad for her.
So I have to give Mr. Hill props for making both Jude and Marybeth feel real and very much flawed. Jude though he tries to hide it, does care, and his whole life has been about pushing women away since he seems to think he really doesn't deserve to be happy. Marybeth is in the same boat.
Secondary and tertiary characters made me feel a lot too. Jude's assistant Danny felt very real to me and I loved Marybeth's grandmother Bammy who seemed to understand far more than you give her credit for at first glance.
The plot seems very simplistic at first. Jude buys a ghost. However, finding out about the ghost and how it ties into Jude's past I thought was quite brilliant. There were some side plots with Jude's dying father, and Marybeth's past that I really at first didn't see how that could work with the larger "got ghost, must be rid of it" plot, but everything worked very well.
The writing I thought was phenomenal. Just a few sentences describing something were enough to put my teeth on edge and to make my skin crawl. Which leads me into discussing the flow of the book.
The flow of the entire story I thought was good, and Mr. Hill seemed to know enough when to slow the pace down (in order to allow the atmosphere to sink in) and when to speed it up. All of the chapters were like amuse bouche's to me. Tiny chapters that gave big flavor. I think that's why I just kept reading without stopping once I got going since before you knew it you were at the end of one chapter and I would just think, okay, just one more chapter.
I was enamored with everything (which is why I gave it 5 stars) though I thought the ending fell a bit flat. I think it was written to be kind of a way to say that something terrible could befall someone, or some type of dark warning, etc., but all I could think was that's it? I guess I am so used to how Stephen King often ends his books with a dark twist that I was a bit surprised to get to the end and have it kind of just peter out.
Please note that there are some discussions of child sexual abuse that readers may want to pass on reading/hearing about.