title: Heart-Shaped Box
author:  Joe Hill 
description: Do you sleep with the light on? Are you in the habit of checking your doors and windows before you go to bed? Maybe even checking <i>under</i> your bed? If you are about to crack open Joe Hill's chilling thriller <i>Heart-Shaped Box</i>, you might want to rethink your nighttime habits--Hill's story about an aging rock star (with a penchant for macabre artifacts) who buys a haunted suit online will scare you silly. But don't take our word for it. We asked bestselling authors (and masters of dark terror tales themselves) <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043875">Scott Smith</a>, and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html/?node=69375">Harlan Coben</a> to read <i>Heart-Shaped Box</i> and give us their take. Check out their reviews below, and you might want to pick up a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Automatic-Sensor-Xnite-Diamond-Night/dp/B000B8VAVY">nightlight</a> while you're at it. <i>--Daphne Durham</i><br> <table width="100%" align=center cellpadding="6" cellspacing="10"> <tr> <td width="50%" valign="top"> <hr size="1"><span class="h1"><strong>Guest Reviewer: Scott Smith</strong></span><br><br><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043875"><img src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/P/1400043875.01.TZZZZZZZ.jpg" border="0" align="left"></a><span class="small"><b>In 1993, Scott Smith wowed readers with his stunning debut thriller, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0312952716/"><i>A Simple Plan</i></a>. Thirteen years later, he spooked us again with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400043875/"><i>The Ruins</i></a>, a horror-thriller about four Americans traveling in Mexico who stumble across a nightmare in the jungle.</b> </span><br><br> The set-up for Joe Hill's novel, <i>Heart-Shaped Box</i>, is appealingly simple. Jude Coyne, an aging rock star, buys himself a dead man's suit. He acquires it online, lured by the promise that the dead man's ghost will be included in his purchase. Jude thinks this is a joke, of course. He also assumes the seller is a stranger. We soon discover that he's wrong on both counts, however, and from this point on the story moves with an exhilarating urgency. Jude wants the ghost gone; the ghost wants Jude dead. We watch, chapter-by-chapter, as they battle for survival. "Watch" is the appropriate word, too, because this is an extremely visual book. Hill's prose is lean and precise, and he renders Jude's world with impressive confidence. It feels solid, every detail both correct and fresh. And this physicality provides a firm platform for the book's otherworldly happenings, which seem all the more frightening for being so securely grounded.
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  ## CONTENTS
  
  
  [Also By Joe Hill](part0002.xhtml#rtoc_119)
  
  
  [NOS4A2](part0003.xhtml)
  
  
  [Horns](part0126.xhtml)
  
  
  [Heart-Shaped Box](part0190.xhtml)
  
  
  [20th Century Ghosts](part0260.xhtml)
  
  
  [About the Author](part0283.xhtml#rtoc_118)
  
  
  [About the Publisher](part0284.xhtml#rtoc_122)
  
  
  
  
  
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  ## [ALSO BY JOE HILL](part0001.xhtml#toc_119)
  
  
  [_Horns_](http://ads.harpercollins.com/boba?isbn=9780061969461)
  
  
  [_Heart-Shaped Box_](http://ads.harpercollins.com/boba?isbn=9780061798306)
  
  
  [_20th Century Ghosts_ (story
  collection)](http://ads.harpercollins.com/boba?isbn=9780061804762)
  
  
  **GRAPHIC NOVELS**
  
  
  _Locke & Key, Volumes 1–6_,
  
  
  with Gabriel Rodríguez
  
  
  (IDW Publishing)
  
  
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