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Post by nightreader on May 26, 2008 12:34:41 GMT
Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill (Gollancz 2007) Heavy metal rock god Judas Coyne has a collection of the bizarre – a used hangman’s noose, a confession from a witch burned at the stake, cartoons from jailed serial killers, and a particularly nasty snuff film that is the real deal. So when a ghost turns up for sale on the Internet (no, not ebay) he doesn’t hesitate to buy it, no questions asked and not really believing it anyway. Jude has a good life. In his fifties he’s semi-retired, doing solo stuff after his band finished – most of its original members dead. He’s still in demand, has a nice home, two great dogs Bon and Angus and plenty of cash. He also has Georgia – not her real name, he calls all the goth rock chick girls he’s had by the name of the State they originally come from. His last girl was Florida, a pretty girl with severe manic depression which eventually got too much for Jude so he sent her home to her family. That’s when the trouble really started. Jude’s purchase arrives in a large black heart shaped box. Inside is a neatly folded black funeral suit, and the ghost of Craddock McDermott, Florida’s step daddy. The house is suddenly freezing cold and it’s Jude who sees the ghost first, a creepy looking old man in a black suit with inky black scribbles over his eyes and carrying a shiny razor blade on a chain. Jude learns the old man used to be powerful hypnotist, a dowser and a communicator with the dead, a talent he learned while in Vietnam. Jude contacts the seller of the ghost, who turns out to be Florida’s sister. She says the suit was always meant for him, she accuses Jude of killing Florida, for the girl she knows as Anna came home after Jude sent her away and slit her wrists in the bathtub. Step daddy Craddock means to kill Jude and anyone else close to him… And all that in the first third of the book. Having finished it I can say it delivers on the promise of the first few chapters. The ghost is a real nasty, very creepy and twisted and like all the characters in the story, believable. Jude is a great central character, he’s very self-aware, he knows he hasn’t always been a good man, he admits his failings but doesn’t apologise for them and his saving grace is his genuine affection for Georgia and Anna. Georgia (real name Marybeth) feels real too, a pale skinned goth girl with her piercings and tattoos, she meets Jude in a sleazy strip club while getting naked. Like Jude she’s been quite damaged by her life but she’s strong, resourceful, smart and she loves Jude. The ghost is a real threat, it’s unrelenting and inventive and convincing. The pace of the book is brisk, it doesn’t feel like there’s unnecessary padding out anywhere in the book. I really liked this and would recommend it to anyone. |
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Post by sean on May 26, 2008 14:38:10 GMT
This seemed like a very film-style novel, not in a bad way. I thought it was well paced, and, as Nightreader said, the ghost is threatening. Wouldn't be surprised if it was filmed soon. A very easy-going well-written, enjoyable horror novel.
Hill's collection '20th Century Ghosts' is pretty good as well.
(and he was in Creepshow!)
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Dec 25, 2008 15:55:46 GMT
I've not long finished this & agree with what has been said above. It may be just over 400 pages, but it was never a slog, made me want to keep reading throughout.
The ghost is a genuinely nasty character & relentless, the characters although flawed themselves, are still ultimately likable & you care about them.
It may not be quite pulp, but it's certainly worth reading. I don't want to say any more, other than just read it, anything other than what's been said so far would spoil it.
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Post by H_P_Saucecraft on Feb 24, 2009 20:42:10 GMT
Bit of trivia for you, didn't realise it myself either, Joe Hill is Stephen King's son.
For those who liked the book, it's being filmed for release in 2010, no further info on it though, as I haven't got IMDB pro. Let's hope it's not made a hash of.
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 20, 2010 13:15:51 GMT
Errr... apologies, but I am basically bumping this thread up into Vault consciousness just to point out that it's in the wrong section (I am rootling about in here to see if I can find anything more on the 80s Night Hunter series).
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Post by dem on Dec 20, 2010 14:32:56 GMT
Errr... apologies, but I am basically bumping this thread up into Vault consciousness just to point out that it's in the wrong section (I am rootling about in here to see if I can find anything more on the 80s Night Hunter series). Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Dr. S. Have transplanted his heart-shaped box where it belongs! Embarrassingly, the solitary story I've read of Joe Hill's to date is the collaboration with his dad, Throttle, a bloody good biker horror if ever was. As to Robert Holdstock's 'Night Hunter' series, not much as yet. Andy Decker is a big fan of the series and you'll find some comments to that effect halfway down this Arrow & Legend: 1980's thread. |
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Post by jamesdoig on Dec 21, 2010 3:22:20 GMT
As to Robert Holdstock's 'Night Hunter' series, not much as yet, i'm afraid. Andy Decker is a big fan of the series and you'll find some comments to that effect halfway down this Arrow & Legend: 1980's thread. Just noticed the scans Andy posted earlier - the last one does look out of place. I think I used to have an omnibus edition that had 2 or 3 of the novels in each volume. Holdstock's The Necromancers was also a good novel, but Mythago Wood seems to overshadow everything else he did - and it's deservedly a classic fantasy novel - a real breath of fresh air after all the sub-Tolkien garbage around at the time. |
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Post by Dr Strange on Dec 21, 2010 10:01:06 GMT
As to Robert Holdstock's 'Night Hunter' series, not much as yet, i'm afraid. Andy Decker is a big fan of the series and you'll find some comments to that effect halfway down this Arrow & Legend: 1980's thread. Just noticed the scans Andy posted earlier - the last one does look out of place. I think I used to have an omnibus edition that had 2 or 3 of the novels in each volume. There is an omnibus (combining the last 2 books in the series) here - www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/f/robert-faulcon/hexing-and-labyrinth.htm |
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Post by jamesdoig on Dec 22, 2010 2:53:40 GMT
That's the one - I must have got rid of it at some point. Nice cover of an appalling head, reminiscent of this one:  |
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Post by dem on Sept 16, 2018 16:42:35 GMT
Joe Hill - Heart-Shaped Box (Gollancz, 2007)  Edward BettisonBlurb: "Buy my stepfather’s ghost, read the email." So Jude did.
When Judas Coyne heard someone was selling a ghost on the internet, there was no question what he was going to do. It was perfect for his collection of the macabre and the grotesque: the cannibal’s cookbook, the witch’s confession, the authentic snuff movie. As an ageing death-metal-rock-God, buying a ghost almost qualifies as a business expense.
Besides, Jude thinks he knows all about ghosts. Jude has been haunted for years … by the spirits of bandmates dead and gone, the spectre of the abusive father he fled as a child, and the memory of the girl he abandoned, who killed herself. But this ghost is different. Delivered to his doorstep in a black heart-shaped box, the latest addition to Jude’s collection makes the house feel cold. It makes the dogs bark. And it means to chase Jude from his home and make him run for his life …Got this down the Lane this morning along with another of those ropey The Autobiography Of Jack The Ripper things, this one by James Willoughby Carnac (Bantam, 2012). That will be case solved to everyone's satisfaction, then.
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