Heart Shaped Box

For the past ten months or so, I've written about all things Stephen King.  From random ramblings and musings to discussing the comics, movies, short stories, and novels; as well as covering any breaking news stories I come across.  I think it's about time we took a little break.  Let's talk about something that wasn't written by (or based on the work of) Stephen King.

Egad! He's jumping the shark! He's nuking the fridge! This isn't the sort of behavior we expect from the Stephen King examiner!

Relax, I'm not going to veer completely off topic and talk about something like football (go Ravens!)  I mean come on, the playoffs?  I'm not gonna talk about the playoffs. Playoffs? You kidding me? Playoffs?

No, we're going to discuss a novel written by one Joe Hill.  Who in Sam Hill is Joe Hill, you ask?  Joe Hill is actually Stephen King's son.  Much like his father did, Joe decided to operate under a pen name.  He did this so that he could make it on his own and not ride his father's coat tails.  

On the one hand I do have to commend him for wanting to make it on his own merits as opposed to piggybacking on his father's success.  However, I can't help but wonder why he changed his name.  I mean, King isn't an uncommon last name, so it's not like a relation would be immediately implied.  More importantly, if you saw a book on a shelf by a Joe King, wouldn't you just assume that that was the pseudonym?  Maybe it's just me.

The novel is called Heart Shaped Box, and it is actually Hill's first published novel.  He had published a collection of short stories prior to this, but this is his debut into the world of mainstream book publishing.

The story follows Judas Coyne, a retired rock star with a penchant for the macabre.  He collects serial killer memorabilia and even owns a bona fide snuff film.  When he comes across someone actually selling the ghost of their step father online, he can't refuse such an opportunity and buys it.  He receives a suit that belonged to the dead man and it arrives in a heart shaped box.

The ghost turns out to be legit and it's none too happy.

It seems like a simple haunting story but Hill makes it stand out by throwing a few turns in to the plot.  It's revealed to be a surprisingly elaborate revenge plot by the sister of one of his ex-girlfriends who he believes killed herself shortly after their relationship collapsed.  Even that turns out to be half of the story as later reveals show.  While there are things that alter their perception of what's going on, nothing comes out of left field and everything flows naturally.

When I started reading the book, it seemed like the story was better suited as a short story or novella.  Hill actually manages to expand the plot without really throwing in any padding.  

The simple solution when dealing with ghosts is to use salt and fire.  Seeing as proton packs aren't available yet, that is your standard mode of combating a ghost.  Hill touches on this and kind of subverts it.  Judas' girlfriend Mary Beth (who Judas calls Georgia) tries burning the suit that the spirit is linked to.  Suffice to say, it doesn't work.  Whether that's because she forgot to add salt or because these ghosts are different is up for debate.  Whatever the explanation, the tactic doesn't work and Coyne is left forever in debt to her priceless advice.

Most books take a while to get going.  Even great ones like Black House or Ender's Game needed a little while to gain momentum when I was reading them.  This book had me hooked, pretty much from the get go.  The book slowed down slightly after the first hundred pages or so, but not so much that I would count it as a detriment.

I wasn't sure how well Jude would work as a protagonist, but he is fully fleshed out and has a sort of "jerk with a heart of gold thing" going for him.  Georgia was cool though, she was my favorite of the two characters, she came off as good people.  The relationship between them is handled really well and it acts as the backbone for the story.

While she doesn't have a lot of page time, Bammy rules as well. 

One of my favorite parts is when Jude flashes back to when he met her.  She used to be an exotic dancer and when Jude first saw her perform he noticed that she was lip synching along with the AC/DC song that was playing as she danced.  Jude says it was the sexiest thing about her and I have to admit, that's freakin' awesome.  

Hey wait, I've got a new complaint; you have a man in love with a woman he calls Georgia, and yet at no point does he state that he has Georgia on his mind.  It's not a huge flaw, and it probably is an obvious joke, but still.

You probably guessed it from the title, but Hill is a music/rock and roll aficionado as well.  The title of the novel shares the name of a song by Nirvana.  There are also several musical references peppered throughout the book.  Music also manages to play a small role in helping Coyne get the upper hand in the final confrontation.  I won't spoil it, but Batman used a similar trick in an episode of Justice League.

The ghost, named Craddock, is an interesting and rather reprehensible villain.  He forgoes most of the usual haunting activity and develops his own style of terrorizing the main characters.  He also proves himself to be a formidable psychological villain.  Being a hypnotist, he doesn't really possess you (though he does possess a character at one point) and chooses to make you submit to his will and turn you against others. 

I could make a point and say that most people, even hypnotized ones won't do something that they are morally opposed to.  However, that ruins a good chunk of tension in the story and given the supernatural aspects, you could say that it augmented his influence and that he became powerful enough to overpower whatever moral qualms you have.  

Definitely a novel I recommend picking up.  It's only 350 or so pages so it won't take you too long to get through it and Hill shows that a penchant for writing runs in the family.  Given the fact that this is his first novel, the quality is even more impressive.  I'm pretty excited to see what he writes in the future.  I wouldn't mind seeing Hill collaborate on a book with his dad, that would be quite awesome