Book Review: Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

 

Here is another Joe Hill book which I read before. And while I remembered more of this one than "Horns," there was a surprising amount that had apparently slipped my mind. Again, it was not as extreme as "Horns," a book which I had also previously read, bur which I also remembered so little of as to make it feel like a new read entirely. Yet, much of it only rang a distant bell as I read it again much more recently.

Before I go any farther, however, let me give the usual warnings to stop reading if you intend to read this book, because there will be spoilers ahead.

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

SPOILER ALERT

Okay, so by now if you are still reading this, I have to imagine that you either are familiar with this story already, or perhaps you do not mind the spoilers. Please just don't say that you were not given advanced warning. 

So the major character for this book is Judas Coyne. He is a rock star, having enjoyed success as the frontman of a metal band dating back to the late 1970's. But his band no longer exists, and he is living off of that past fame, not really doing much or creating new music. However, he does collect things. Among them are goth girls, which he has relationships with for about six or so months before setting them free, as he sees it. He usually does not bother to remember their names, simply nicknaming them by the state they come from. Currently, he is going out with "George," who in fact is Marybeth Kimball, who is the second most prominent character in this book. While he seems to almost be just about ready to dump her and send her on her way at the beginning of this story, she becomes a major character, pivotal to how the events occur as they do. 

They live together (for now) at a farm in New York, but Danny Wooten, Jude's assistant, comes to the house to work and assist Jude in myriad ways. One of those ways, we find, is to search for and obtain things for another of the fascinations/collections for Judas, which is macabre items. When Danny finds an auction for a dead man's suit, which comes with a haunted spirit, he brings it to Jude's attention. Sure enough, Jude decides to go for it, and he outright purchases the suit. But both men dismiss this as a likely prank. After all, they may obtain such items purporting to be haunted, but neither of them really truly believe that anything which they acquired really is truly haunted.

But that, however, is about to change. 

The package comes after Jude has seemingly forgotten all about it. Right away, however, there is an unsettling feeling that comes with it's arrival. Jude has two dogs, and they never really react strongly to the mailman. This time, however, they go absolutely crazy, and Jude struggles to hold them back. They seem to react to what is in the box, and the suit he finds is inside of a heart-shaped box which reminds Jude of gifts that he always received during his childhood, which he is haunted by. We learn a lot about Jude's childhood, and particularly the abusive father he had, whom he hates, and whom we find out in time is still alive. 

When it becomes clear that the suit really is apparently haunted, after Judas has encounters with the ghost which comes with it (and which is real), Judas and Danny track the suit back to the sister of one of the "goth girls" in his collection. That would be Anna McDermott, whom he had nicknamed "Florida." She had serious mental issues, to the point where Judas feels that he cannot handle. He sends her packing because he felt unequal to the task. But he learns that Anna has apparently killed herself not long after Judas sent her back home to Florida. It seems that her family wants revenge on Judas for this, and that is why they set up the fake auction, knowing that Judas would be interested enough to make sure that he won the auction. The ghost is that of Anna's stepfather, Craddock McDermott. And Judas knows that Craddock means to kill him, as well as anyone who gets in between the two of them. The person who set up the auction and made sure that Judas would win is Anna's sister, Jessica Price, who currently resides in Florida. 

The ghost's presence grows more severe. Soon, others begin to have encounters, including Danny and Georgia. Judas himself seems hypnotized by the ghost, who commands him to kill Georgia. But just as he is about to do it, the spell is broken. Judas learns that his dogs have the power to have their internal ghosts (if that's the right way of putting it) attack Craddock and this keeps the ghost at bay. But when Danny leaves and quits his position with Judas, he calls Judas at three in the morning, sounding lost. As it turns out, Danny is dead of suicide, an act the Craddock ghost commanded him to do. By this point, after surviving - barely - himself and barely having avoided Craddock's command to kill Georgia, Judas feels that he has to head to Florida to face Jessica Price. Georgia goes with him, and the two of them head down South.

Judas and Georgia grow closer with the drive. The dangerous situation has drawn them closer together. He begins to see her as more than his sex object, as more than someone he is using for selfish purposes. In fact, he sees parallels with Anna/Florida, and this time, he feels maybe he can make right what he got wrong with Florida. The guilt of how he dismissed Anna/Florida still eats at him, and he begins to see Marybeth/Georgia as a real person. No longer will he refer to her as Georgia, she becomes Marybeth for the duration of the book. They are in this together, and so they look out for one another, work as a team.

Still, there are close calls. However, Judas learns through a dreamlike encounter with the ghost of Anna (via Marybeth) that Anna in fact did not kill herself. In fact, it is more sinister than that. Craddock has killed her, and Jessica Price was involved. Now, Judas's mission has changed. He wants the truth to be known about Craddock and Price, and he wants Anna to obtain a measure of revenge. By now, Anna's ghost has spoken to Judas, and he learns that she had sought his help to get out of the abusive situation before she was killed, which is in fact why she was killed. Now, in death, she wants Judas to help expose her stepfather and sister. 

Before going to Florida, they stop at Marybeth's grandmother's place. They get a chance to rest, but they make sure also to keep their distance and not recruit help, knowing that this would lead to a disaster. Still, they are in a relative rush, because they head back on the road very quickly.

Ultimately, there is a showdown as Judas and Marybeth arrive at Jessica Price's house. However, it does not go very well. Price's daughter pulls a gun on Judas, and one of his dogs is killed. Also, Craddock's ghost intervenes. Judas and Marybeth have to retreat, both injured, and with only one dog, who also is seriously injured. They retreat and head to Louisiana, to Judas's old home.

Once there, Judas sees his father alive for one last time. He and Marybeth are confronted, once again, by the ghost of Craddock McDermott. But they manage to recruit Anna's ghost, and finally defeat Craddock. 

After all of that, Judas finally settles down. He and Marybeth marry, and there is a surprise visit by Reese, the daughter of Jessica Price. She regrets pulling a gun on Judas. After that confrontation, the authorities indeed discovered that Jessica Price was incredibly abusive. But judas has helped her along, and he does so one final time at the end of the novel, when Reese is on the way to Buffalo, and her own future. 

All in all, an entertaining novel. I enjoyed the writing and character-building, as I generally have with all of Joe Hill's works. Highly recommended also for fans of horror.