Son of legendary author Stephen King,  Joe Hill, surpasses his father with his debut novel Heart-Shaped Box, a masterpiece, that will vault him to the top echelon of horror authors as he weaves a dark tale with a tightly scripted, blood-curdling plot and amazingly chilling characters. A multiple–award winner for his short fiction, Hill has a talent for writing wicked scary sequences that are so well-executed early on that they lay down a sense of foreboding that sets the reader up for the pay-off scenes of spine-tingling chills.

Hill’s story centers around Judas Coyne, an aging rock star, (with a passion for macabre artifacts such as a cookbook for cannibals and a snuff film) who buys a man’s suit online that is purported to be inhabited by a ghost so evil that you will want to sleep with your lights on for nights after finishing the last chapter. The extremely visual descriptions that Hill provides gives the reader the ability to believe that this evil ghost, who is the deceased step-father of a recent suicide victim that had been involved with Judas, actually exists as it does everything in its power to terrify both Hill and his latest conquest Georgia as it seeks revenge for the girl’s death.  

As the story continues, Judas’ battle with the ghost brings his past behavior into sharp focus forcing him to reflect upon his own capacity for cruelty causing a self-awakening of sorts that brings about a gradual revealing of Judas softer side that will ultimately be of crucial consequence in his death struggle with the ghost.While this novel manages to stand up to all its hype it’s the characterization of Judas and Georgia as flawed characters and the superior use of descriptive but straight forward detail and dialog that make this book a firm platform for its otherworldly happenings.  

Overall, this is a wonderful novel by a new author who is just beginning to share his wonderful talent with the masses and I would suggest that if you have a penchant for horror novels and have not read the Heart-Shaped Box as of yet, that you go ahead and purchase a first edition copy if possible.  To find sources for a purchase of this great work you can take advantage of your Google search engine.

Tags: book review, stephen king, joe hill, heart-shaped box, horror, thriller, suspense, ghost, google, otherworldly