Mary M. (emeraldfire) -
Judas Coyne is a collector of the macabre: from Disney sketches drawn by John Wayne Gacy, to a hangman's noose used at the turn of the nineteenth century in England - and everything in between. As an aging death-metal rock god, his varied taste for the unnatural is widely known to his legions of fans as the notorious excesses of his youth. But nothing he possesses can possibly rival his latest discovery - an item for sale on the Internet - something so terribly strange, Jude can't help but reach for his wallet.
"I will 'sell' my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder..." begins the email, and right from that line Jude is intrigued. For a thousand dollars, he 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 band-mates he betrayed. So, what's one more?
But what UPS delivers to his doorstep in a black heart-shaped box is completely unexpected. This is no imaginary or metaphysical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.
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. And, Judas Coyne is about to learn that sooner or later the dead catch up...
Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's son - something that I didn't realize until Mareena told me when I bought this book back in April. Anyway, although Joe Hill has written many short story collections, I believe that this is his debut novel - and what a debut it is!
I absolutely loved this book. I found the story to be fast-paced and action-packed, not letting up for an instant. Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel by Joe Hill was compulsively readable for me, and I finished it at a gulp. I give this book an A+! Definitely a winner in a family of winners, and I'm putting Joe Hill's other books - 20th Century Ghosts, Horns and NOS4A2 - on my Wish List.
"I will 'sell' my stepfather's ghost to the highest bidder..." begins the email, and right from that line Jude is intrigued. For a thousand dollars, he 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 band-mates he betrayed. So, what's one more?
But what UPS delivers to his doorstep in a black heart-shaped box is completely unexpected. This is no imaginary or metaphysical ghost, no benign conversation piece. It's the real thing.
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. And, Judas Coyne is about to learn that sooner or later the dead catch up...
Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's son - something that I didn't realize until Mareena told me when I bought this book back in April. Anyway, although Joe Hill has written many short story collections, I believe that this is his debut novel - and what a debut it is!
I absolutely loved this book. I found the story to be fast-paced and action-packed, not letting up for an instant. Heart-Shaped Box: A Novel by Joe Hill was compulsively readable for me, and I finished it at a gulp. I give this book an A+! Definitely a winner in a family of winners, and I'm putting Joe Hill's other books - 20th Century Ghosts, Horns and NOS4A2 - on my Wish List.
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