Narrator: Stephen Lang
Audio Length: 11 hours 3 minutes
It was the Richard Bachman situation for me all over again. I had been eying this horror novel for sometime, ever since it won the 2007 Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. The other reviews that I read were extremely positive so I picked up a Hardcover copy at a second hand bookstore but could not find the time to read it. Then a couple of weeks ago I was looking for a Audio Book to listen to and saw that Heart-Shaped Box won the 2008 Best Audio Book in the Thriller / Suspense category (yes, I now have both the Hardcover and Audio editions and no, I will never learn). After all this, I decided to read up on the author and discovered that he is the son of one of my favorite authors, Stephen King. So congratulations, you did it to me again.
What I learned was that Joe Hill aka Joseph Hillstrom King changed his name in 1997, because he wanted to thrive based solely on his own merits rather than as the son of his famous father. After achieving a degree of independent success, which includes a Bradbury Fellowship, World Fantasy Award for Best Novella, 3 Bram Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Award and a British Fantasy Award, Hill came out of the closet and confirmed his identity.
Does Heart-Shaped Box live up to the billing? In most respects it does and it is well worth reading if you enjoy ghost stories. The main character is Judas Coyne and he used to be a heavy metal rock star. Now he lives in his mansion with his girlfriend of the month, Georgia (he calls his girlfriends by the state that they came from instead of their real name). He also collects macabre items so he was the perfect customer for an offer to buy a ghost. He couldn’t really by the ghost per se, but had to buy the dead man’s suit and the ghost would come along with it. There are no returns, no refunds. So Judas pays the $1,000.00 for the suit and it is delivered later in a heart-shaped box.
Of course the ghost is not very nice and starts tormenting Judas and Georgia. The first half of the novel was slow as the majority of the action takes place inside Judas’s mansion. Most of the action between the ghost and the main characters is pretty standard stuff found in numerous horror flicks. Eventually, Judas discovers that the ghost was not sent to him on a random chance but there is an actual purpose behind the haunting. By this point, it is a pretty average horror novel.
Judas and Georgia decide to take road trip to find the original owner of the ghost and to make it go away. In my opinion, the novel exponentially picks up from this point forward and becomes a much stronger novel than the first half. Judas and Georgia backgrounds are further developed and the characters become much more interesting. As you start to identify with Judas then you really start to hope that nothing bad happens to him. This is exact opposite from the first half of the book it which I really didn’t care if he lived or died.
Narration: The narration by Stephen Lang fits this story perfectly except for Judas’s speaking parts. Mr. Lang’s voice has a southern gothic quality that gives the story added spookiness. When Judas and Georgia travel to the southern states you have added realism to the story. My only problem was Judas. Even though he grew in the south, the novel states that he worked hard to get rid of accent and had spent most of his life as a rock star. To me, he wouldn’t have sounded like a good ole boy. But the strengths of Mr. Lang’s narration far outweigh the negatives. The Audio presentation is deserving of it’s award for 2008 Best Audio Book in the Thriller / Suspense category.
What I liked: Joe Hill spends a lot time on creating atmosphere all through the novel and for the most part it really improves the tone of story. At times his descriptions seem alittle over the top and a bit too frequent but then again, this a debut novel. For example;
“The Denny’s was loud and overcrowded, thick with the smell of bacon fat and burnt coffee and cigarette smoke. The bar, just to the right of door, was a designated smoking area. That meant that after five minutes of waiting up front to be seated, you could plan on smelling like an ashtray by the time you were led to your table.”
Pretty sounds like every Denny’s that I have been to. And another example;
“These woods, behind the Days Inn, were different from the forest around his farmhouse in Piecliff, New York. They were unmistakably southern woods, smelled of sweet rot and wet moss and red clay, of sulfur and sewage, orchids and motor oil. The atmosphere itself was different, the air denser, warmer, sticky with dampness. Like an armpit.”
Good description but in my opinion somewhat over the top.
What I didn’t like: As I stated previously, I was not entertained by the first half of the story during the cat and mouse game between the ghost and our heroes. But the second half of the novel more than makes up for it and I will be anxiously looking forward to Mr. Hill’s next novel.
Last word: Joe Hill tended to wander aimlessly during the first half of the book but once he found his direction the novel is at it’s best and made it an overall enjoyable read
Audio Length: 11 hours 3 minutes
It was the Richard Bachman situation for me all over again. I had been eying this horror novel for sometime, ever since it won the 2007 Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. The other reviews that I read were extremely positive so I picked up a Hardcover copy at a second hand bookstore but could not find the time to read it. Then a couple of weeks ago I was looking for a Audio Book to listen to and saw that Heart-Shaped Box won the 2008 Best Audio Book in the Thriller / Suspense category (yes, I now have both the Hardcover and Audio editions and no, I will never learn). After all this, I decided to read up on the author and discovered that he is the son of one of my favorite authors, Stephen King. So congratulations, you did it to me again.
What I learned was that Joe Hill aka Joseph Hillstrom King changed his name in 1997, because he wanted to thrive based solely on his own merits rather than as the son of his famous father. After achieving a degree of independent success, which includes a Bradbury Fellowship, World Fantasy Award for Best Novella, 3 Bram Stoker Awards, International Horror Guild Award and a British Fantasy Award, Hill came out of the closet and confirmed his identity.
Does Heart-Shaped Box live up to the billing? In most respects it does and it is well worth reading if you enjoy ghost stories. The main character is Judas Coyne and he used to be a heavy metal rock star. Now he lives in his mansion with his girlfriend of the month, Georgia (he calls his girlfriends by the state that they came from instead of their real name). He also collects macabre items so he was the perfect customer for an offer to buy a ghost. He couldn’t really by the ghost per se, but had to buy the dead man’s suit and the ghost would come along with it. There are no returns, no refunds. So Judas pays the $1,000.00 for the suit and it is delivered later in a heart-shaped box.
Of course the ghost is not very nice and starts tormenting Judas and Georgia. The first half of the novel was slow as the majority of the action takes place inside Judas’s mansion. Most of the action between the ghost and the main characters is pretty standard stuff found in numerous horror flicks. Eventually, Judas discovers that the ghost was not sent to him on a random chance but there is an actual purpose behind the haunting. By this point, it is a pretty average horror novel.
Judas and Georgia decide to take road trip to find the original owner of the ghost and to make it go away. In my opinion, the novel exponentially picks up from this point forward and becomes a much stronger novel than the first half. Judas and Georgia backgrounds are further developed and the characters become much more interesting. As you start to identify with Judas then you really start to hope that nothing bad happens to him. This is exact opposite from the first half of the book it which I really didn’t care if he lived or died.
Narration: The narration by Stephen Lang fits this story perfectly except for Judas’s speaking parts. Mr. Lang’s voice has a southern gothic quality that gives the story added spookiness. When Judas and Georgia travel to the southern states you have added realism to the story. My only problem was Judas. Even though he grew in the south, the novel states that he worked hard to get rid of accent and had spent most of his life as a rock star. To me, he wouldn’t have sounded like a good ole boy. But the strengths of Mr. Lang’s narration far outweigh the negatives. The Audio presentation is deserving of it’s award for 2008 Best Audio Book in the Thriller / Suspense category.
What I liked: Joe Hill spends a lot time on creating atmosphere all through the novel and for the most part it really improves the tone of story. At times his descriptions seem alittle over the top and a bit too frequent but then again, this a debut novel. For example;
“The Denny’s was loud and overcrowded, thick with the smell of bacon fat and burnt coffee and cigarette smoke. The bar, just to the right of door, was a designated smoking area. That meant that after five minutes of waiting up front to be seated, you could plan on smelling like an ashtray by the time you were led to your table.”
Pretty sounds like every Denny’s that I have been to. And another example;
“These woods, behind the Days Inn, were different from the forest around his farmhouse in Piecliff, New York. They were unmistakably southern woods, smelled of sweet rot and wet moss and red clay, of sulfur and sewage, orchids and motor oil. The atmosphere itself was different, the air denser, warmer, sticky with dampness. Like an armpit.”
Good description but in my opinion somewhat over the top.
What I didn’t like: As I stated previously, I was not entertained by the first half of the story during the cat and mouse game between the ghost and our heroes. But the second half of the novel more than makes up for it and I will be anxiously looking forward to Mr. Hill’s next novel.
Last word: Joe Hill tended to wander aimlessly during the first half of the book but once he found his direction the novel is at it’s best and made it an overall enjoyable read
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