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Heart-Shaped Box

With Bonus Material

ebook
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks
0 of 1 copy available
Wait time: About 2 weeks

Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals . . . a used hangman's noose . . . a snuff film. An aging death-metal rock god, his taste for the unnatural is as widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as his latest discovery, an item for sale on the Internet, a thing so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.

I will "sell" my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder. . . .

For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by a restless spirit. He isn't afraid. He has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts—of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed. What's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.

And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere: behind the bedroom door . . . seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang . . . standing outside his window . . . staring out from his widescreen TV. Waiting—with a gleaming razor blade on a chain dangling from one bony hand. . . .

A multiple-award winner for his short fiction, author Joe Hill immediately vaults into the top echelon of dark fantasists with a blood-chilling roller-coaster ride of a novel, a masterwork brimming with relentless thrills and acid terror.

This special edition includes an excerpt from Joe Hill's newest novel, Horns, and a letter from the author.

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  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from December 11, 2006
      Stoker-winner Hill features a particularly merciless ghost in his
      \t\t powerful first novel. Middle-aged rock star Judas Coyne collects morbid curios
      \t\t for fun, so doesn't think twice about buying a suit advertised at an online
      \t\t auction site as haunted by its dead owner's ghost. Only after it arrives does
      \t\t Judas discover that the suit belonged to Craddock McDermott, the stepfather of
      \t\t one of Coyne's discarded groupies, and that the old man's ghost is a malignant
      \t\t spirit determined to kill Judas in revenge for his stepdaughter's suicide.
      \t\t Judas isn't quite the cad or Craddock the avenging angel this scenario makes
      \t\t them at first, but their true motivations reveal themselves only gradually in a
      \t\t fast-paced plot that crackles with expertly planted surprises and revelations.
      \t\t Hill (20th Century Ghosts) gives his
      \t\t characters believably complex emotional lives that help to anchor the
      \t\t supernatural in psychological reality and prove that (as one character
      \t\t observes) "horror was rooted in sympathy." His subtle and skillful treatment of
      \t\t horrors that could easily have exploded over the top and out of control helps
      \t\t make this a truly memorable debut.

    • Library Journal

      Starred review from December 1, 2006
      According to an October 19 "USA TODAY" story, Morrow picked up this first novel by a two-time Bram Stoker Award winner on its own literary merits, not knowing that Hill is the pen name of Joe King, son of Stephen. This reviewer wishes he had had the same opportunity. It's impossible to read this wrenching and effective ghost story without seeing Hill's father in itwhich is not to say that it's bad. It reads like good, early King mixed with some of the edgier splatterpunk sensibilities of David J. Schow ("The Kill Riff"). Aging death-metal guitarist Judas Coyne, who's obsessed with the macabre, is living peacefully in upstate New York when he buys a dead man's haunted suit from an online auction site. (It arrives in a heart-shaped box.) Soon he and young Goth girlfriend Georgia are pulled into battle with the ghostly old man and their own shattered pasts. Predictable at times, the book has genuinely touching emotional moments as well as action-packed confrontations with the dead. Morrow has a huge media push behind this book, and film rights have already been sold to Warner Brothers. Recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 10/15/06.]Karl G. Siewert, Tulsa City-Cty. Lib.

      Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • School Library Journal

      March 1, 2007
      Adult/High School-Hill, two-time winner of the Bram Stoker Award for his short fiction, delivers a terrifyingly contemporary twist to the traditional ghost story with his first novel. Aging rock star Judas Coyne is a collector of bizarre and macabre artifacts: a used hangman's noose, a snuff film, and rare books on witchcraft. When he purchases a suit billed in an online auction as the haunted clothes of a recently deceased man, Coyne finds more than he bargained for. Everywhere he looks he sees the twisted spirit of an old and evil man following him and dangling a deadly razor on a chain. He learns that the suit belonged to Craddock McDermott, the stepfather of a former lover who committed suicide shortly after Coyne tossed her out of his life. McDermott, a professional hypnotist prior to his death, swore to destroy Coyne's rock-star life of self-indulgence to avenge her death. The behind-the-scenes look at stardom alongside the frightening pyrotechnics of McDermott's ghost will draw in teens who really enjoy a good scare. But like all good ghost stories, Hill also crafts a deftly plotted mystery as McDermott's true motivations and powers unfold. The depth of character hidden in the dark shadows of both men lifts what could otherwise be a formula supernatural thriller to an impressive debut."Matthew L. Moffett, Pohick Regional Library, Burke, VA"

      Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      Starred review from April 30, 2007
      This first novel by Hill, the second son of Stephen King, provides the perfect raw material for Lang to create an auditory world so convincing that the listener will feel as if they have seen a film by the time they are through. The complex plot can be simply stated: as a lark, retired heavy metal star Judas Coyne buys a haunted suit online. The ghost turns out to be the very angry stepfather of an ex-groupie/lover of Coyne’s who killed herself after he sent her away. The relentless ghost is there to kill Judas and anyone who tries to help him. Lang’s superb narration is nearly hypnotic in its calm delivery, perfect as backdrop for the action and horror that surrounds it. His Coyne is reminiscent of John Goodman, deep and understated, with a foundation of confidence with a barely perceptible trace of a Southern accent. Each disk starts with a bit of Nine Inch Nails–ish heavy haunting electronica, an ideal tone setter for the journey. Simultaneous release with the Morrow hardcover (Reviews, Dec. 11).

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