For starters let me just tell you how much I love horror. The thrills and goosebumps are my favourite!! I love it when a horror novel can give me the chills while I am reading and this book did just that.
Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill is about a man name Jude Coyne, a self-absorbed rock star, who likes to collect things for his macabre collection. So when his assistant, Danny, tells him that a ghost is up for sale on an online auction site, Jude can not resist and immediately purchases it.
The item that Jude purchased was a dead mans suit that came in a black, heart shaped box. The vengeful owner of the suit, Craddock, travelled with his suit to Judes house to seek revenge for his stepdaughter, who happened to be a young groupie who committed suicide after Jude sent her back to her home in Florida. Based on this, Craddock is dead set on killing Jude and any one who aids him in his attempt to stay alive.
For those of you who hate gore and being freaked out I suggest you don't pick up this book for those reasons (I have to put this out there). I found this book to get gory and creepy at times. So if you are one of those people, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! You will thank me.
Onto my thoughts about the book.
I thoroughly enjoyed the read. I found that at times I was having trouble putting the book down, I wanted to continue reading to find out what happens to Jude and Georgia, Judes girlfriend (I have something to say about this relationship but I will talk about it later). But there were times that I wanted to put the book down. There were parts of the book that were slow or it would side track onto something else and during these parts I wanted to skim read them or just put the book down. Either way I marched through it to get to the good parts.
There were parts of the story that can really put the readers on their toes. Hill managed to keep the narrative interesting, surprising us with plot twists, and kept the readers engaged until the very last page.
In horror I try to find books that are scary or at least creepy. I want them to be able to give me goosebumps down my arms and legs and Hill achieved this within the first 50 pages. It is rare for a book to do this to me, as there has only been 1 book, and if Hill did this then it means that it was scary. I just don't scare easy!
I loved how the book went right into the story. I do not like when authors take their time when getting into the story. I find that it bores me and I will often put the book down and never pick it up. At the beginning of chapter 1, Hill gave his readers a little bit of background into Jude, which I feel sets out the story, and then gets right into the story.
Now to talk about Jude's and Georgia's relationship.
I find this to be interesting. At the beginning of the book, I never picked up that they were dating, not until later on in the story. I was often asking myself 'what is Georgia's relationship to Jude?' because it was hard to pick up anything. At the start Jude and Georgia, I felt, had no relationship. They both were both cruel to each other and there was no elements of a relationship. But as readers get into the narrative, the two characters start to act more like a couple. It was then that I picked up they were dating. It could have been me who missed at the beginning that they were a coupe. Then that would have been my fault. But I feel I didn't skip over anything that would suggest they were dating.
I did, however, like the way Hill established their relationship, I thought that was captivating, going from people who were mean to acting like a couple. I feel that it placed humanity onto Jude as he is described as a self-absorbed man.
It is hard to describe how much I loved the story. I rate this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.
Thank you for reading
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