Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hillnotable books 2007, Heard it Through the Grapevine
Great suspenseful thriller and winner of the Bram Stoker Award 2007 for a first novel.
Jude Coyne, an aging heavy rocker collects young girlfriends and occult-ish items, so when he sees a ghost for sale on an E-Bay type site, he snaps it up. Bad decision. The book follows the ramifications of their interactions. It's hard to describe a good horror novel, because what makes it so good is the way the author takes you into an unbelievable world so perfectly and gradually that all of a sudden it has happened and you can't put it down and you can't look away and you don't want to know but you have to know. Hill has done this. It's like a great Stephen King novel. The kind where you wish it had been 2oo pages shorter but it was still very good. This is the one that is 200 pages shorter but still as good. Hill takes such a risk of comparison by writing a novel like his father would, but he pulls it off.
I'd recommend this as a book for the RIP III that might happen in the fall. Ghosts and festering wounds and vengeance all lead to a rip-roaring great spooky read. The rave review for the "I Heard it Through the Grapevine" challenge I remember was from kookiejar. Thanks for the suggestion.
I am saving this one for October. Glad you liked it!
ReplyDeletejill - it will be great in October. So much like King.
ReplyDeleteI heard great things about this reading the reviews of RIP II last year and do aim to read it at some point. I am really glad you enjoyed it too.
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad you liked it. I thought you would. Hill's description of the ghosts will creep me out until the end of time, I swear. :D
ReplyDeleterhinoa - I've been meaning to get to it as well. It will be great for the RIP.
ReplyDeletekookie - very creepy. So much like Uncle Steve's writing, but a little crisper (shorter) Craddock was one bad ghost dude. thanks for the rec.
I've got this one listed as a possibility for this year's RIP. I've read several good reviews.
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