Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill
Grade: B-
Heart-Shaped Box is Joe Hill’s first novel. I loved the premise: an aging rocker buys a ghost at an auction website, and the ghost is delivered to his house in a black, heart-shaped box. Initially very creepy, the book degenerates into violence. I lost interest and started scanning for plot (so I’d know what happened to the characters without having to read every word). Unlike some reviewers, I don’t think nepotism had anything to do with this novel being published. The book is good enough to have merited publication, but I wish that Hill had spent more time on the second half, because it’s not nearly as good as the first. I wouldn’t recommend Heart-Shaped Box, but neither would I try to steer anyone away from it if they thought it sounded interesting.