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Heart-Shaped Box (Gollancz S.F.)
 
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Heart-Shaped Box (Gollancz S.F.) (Hardcover)

by Joe Hill (Author)
3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
RRP: £12.99
Price: £11.69 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Heart-Shaped Box (Gollancz S.F.) + 20th Century Ghosts + Just After Sunset
Price For All Three: £21.52

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  • This item: Heart-Shaped Box (Gollancz S.F.) by Joe Hill

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Product details

  • Hardcover: 384 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; First Edition, First Impression edition (15 Mar 2007)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575079126
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575079120
  • Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.4 x 4.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 174,101 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Product Description

THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH

"Joe Hill certainly makes an impressive entrance. He has successfully woven strands of family drama and road movie with his horror, which combines traditional motifs with images all its own; old fashioned ghost stories with uncanny applications of modern technology. Joe Hill is an important new horror voice."


Review

"A relentlessly scary ghost story." (THE BOOKSELLER )

"Heart-Shaped Box is a horror novel that is scary within ten pages. It takes no time at all to get going after which it holds you in its jaws and doesn't let you go. A brilliantly pitched novel that marks the debut of a major contributor to the field." (John Berlyne SF REVU )

"While the novel's occult elements are horrific enough, the true horror is the very human cycle of abuse, as victim becomes victimiser. And the redemption is achieved without recourse to sentimentality." (Eric Brown GUARDIAN )

"He's successfully woven strands of family drama and American road movie with his horror, and that horror itself combines traditional motifs with images all its own, old-fashioned ghost stories with uncanny applications of modern technology. Joe Hill's debut is certainly the work of an important new horror voice." (Alex Sarll PRESS ASSOCIATION )

"The slick sensory prose, snappy dialogue and a handful of spooky creative touches amount to a well packaged box of tricks. A satisfying box of Black Magic." (Stuart Weightman STARBURST )

"Sexy, scary and modern." (Karen Parsons LINCOLNSHIRE ECHO )

"Disturbing, scary, the morbidly guilty forebodings building to a superbly dark crescendo." (SFX )

"Gory, exhilarating and surprisingly tender stuff. There's fresh blood on the horror scene." (METRO )

"Chilling and disturbing." (SO LONDON )

"There are scenes of great intensity in Heart-Shaped Box, and others of great humor. Jude is a wonderful creation, a fascinating blend of immaturity and world-weariness, lovable because of, not in spite of, his many flaws." (STRANGE HORIZONS )

"Hill's debut novel is as assured a debut novel as I have ever read, regardless of genre. Heart-Shaped Box, itself an entertaining and superb novel, offers hints of a great writing career to come." (SFFWORLD.COM )

"I couldn't put Heart-Shaped Box down until I was good and done. The chracter of the sountern-fried undead dowser and hypnotist Craddock creeped the hell out of me." (Peter Murphy HOT PRESS (Ireland) )

"Joe Hill has gone straight for the jugular with his debut horror story. (He) more than proves his birthright." (Henry Sutton THE MIRROR )

"The King ain't dead yet, but long live the new King. [An] excellent debut novel." (THE DAILY STAR )

"Once you peel the pages of Heart- Shaped Box, the addictive nature of the writing that has made Stephen King among the most famous living writers in the world has clearly been handed down." (THE LIST (Scotland) )

"Stephen King's son turns out to be sexier, smarter and cooler than his dad with this tale about a fading death metal star who buys a aghost over the internet." (THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY )

"A dark fantasy in the great American tradition. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son and a worthy successor in the family business." (Roz Kaveney TIME OUT )

"Hill writes the supernatural stuff with skill and conviction." (THE LONDON PAPER )

"Joe Hill certainly makes an impressive entrance. He has successfully woven strands of family drama and road movie with his horror, which combines traditional motifs with images all its own; old fashioned ghost stories with uncanny applications of modern technology. Joe Hill is an important new horror voice." (THE BELFAST TELEGRAPH )

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Heart-Shaped Box (Gollancz S.F.)
91% buy the item featured on this page:
Heart-Shaped Box (Gollancz S.F.) 3.7 out of 5 stars (43)
£11.69
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Customer Reviews

43 Reviews
5 star:
 (12)
4 star:
 (17)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (4)
1 star:
 (3)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (43 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A definite page-turner., 24 Feb 2008
Heart Shaped Box, written by Joe Hill (if you don't recognize the name, google him, he's got a great pedigree), turned out to be a page-turner. I picked up the novel out of sheer curiosity (wanted to see how far the apple fell from the tree) and a real love of the cover art. Not expecting much... after all, Papa casts a long shadow... by the fifth chapter I was hooked.

Heart Shaped Box is about an aging death-metal rock rocker with a fondness for collecting items of the macabre. A cannibal's cookbook; a witches signed confession; a used hangman's noose; snuff films, you get the picture. So naturally when he's told about a dead man's suit (ghost included, free of charge!) auctioned on an ebay-esque site, he sees to it he's the highest bidder. But what first appears to be a random act quickly becomes a life-meets-death case of posthumous revenge.

Hill does a great job of fleshing out his main character, giving him the hard edge necessary to be believable, yet still finding ways to make us care. And when you consider he's incorporating personalities most people shy away from (think hard-edged lunatic fringe), it's doubly impressive.

While I won't say he's a carbon copy of his father, I will say that he's his own unique, interesting, and ultimately readable voice. Wish I could give it 3.5 stars, but in lieu I'm opting for 4. Well worth the investment.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't finish it I'm afraid!, 9 Jul 2008
This review is from: Heart-Shaped Box (Paperback)
I didn't know Joe Hill was Stephen King's son when I bought and read (half) of this book so I can honestly say my opinion of the book was not influenced by his Father's talent of whom I am huge fan (not so much his later stuff!). In a nutshell I was disappointed with this book, very. I felt as though I was reading a story written by a Teenager with no life experience - there was no depth of feeling in the narrative, little emotive description, the book is more an irritating 'rat tat tat' of dialogue - 'He said....', 'She said....' and so on. I didn't like the writing style at all, it just didn't grip me, I wasn't interested in the Characters as I didn't like them. A book has to draw you in to at least care and be interested in the Characters you are reading about but this book simply doesn't do that, by the time I got half way through I was so bored and irritated by the Characters and the style of writing I couldn't be bothered to finish it. Unfair maybe to comment without finishing it but as the Reader I should want to finish the book and I didn't, not at all. I have to be honest and say would the book have climbed so high if he wasn't Stephen King's son? I wonder.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Heart-Shaped Book?, 19 Dec 2007
By Niall A. Rough (Menstrie, Scotland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Heart-Shaped Box (Paperback)
I'll say from the outset that 'Heart-Shaped Box' could be 100 pages shorter and better for it, sure. Let's be honest, though: if it were written by Hill's father, it'd be longer still, and quantity - as the esteemed Mr King has amply proven throughout his career, between gems like 'Rita Hayworth' and 'The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon' - hardly equates to quality. Thankfully, other than a slightly flabby running time, debut author Joe Hill doesn't repeat the sins of his father in 'Heart-Shaped Box', his first novel.

The forthcoming '20th Century Ghosts' collection will perhaps enlighten more inquisitive readers on the evolution of Hill's not inconsiderable talent. As it stands, the few mere missteps contained in this text are hardly indicative of the majority of first novels. The author balances plot, pace and the people that populate his pages with a knack more becoming of a seasoned pro - in fact, by the thrilling conclusion of 'Heart-Shaped Box', it's fair to say that Hill has taken the very peak of King's craft as his foundation, before building upon that high standard until his house is sturdier than even his father's.

The inevitable comparisons to King were what worried me most upon picking this book up - it's hardly fair, after all, for one of the world's most popular novelists to be the yardstick by which a bright new voice such as Hill is measured - but with 'Heart-Shaped Box' behind me, I can safely say that Joe Hill has taken his father's place at the top tier of the genre. He waves such an effective tapestry of terrors throughout the novel that his place with the other horror greats - alongside Barker, Gaiman, Simmons and so on - is effortlessly earned.

It's already been a few weeks since I finished 'Heart-Shaped Box', but I can still taste my heart in my mouth, tender and coppery. To you, Joe Hill: a warm welcome. I hope you stay for a while.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars terrifying
extremely extremely worrying and terrifying.
one of my favourite books
one of my most avoided books
depending on the enviroment I'm in
Published 1 month ago by Panda-Boo

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't bother
Joe Hill has a lot to learn about constructing a novel. He can write; that you can't deny, but this book is completely shapeless. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Geoff Naylor

5.0 out of 5 stars Disturbing and emotional horror
Heart Shaped Box is a ghost story. It's born from a fresh and cutting-edge angle and never stops from the first page to the finale. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. G. Battle

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy My Step-Father
Judas Coyne is an ageing heavy metal icon with a taste for the macabre. When he receives an e-mail offering to sell him a haunted suit, the offer seems too good to be true. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Paul D

5.0 out of 5 stars If I never read another book again, it doesn't matter--this one tops them all!
I would like to take this oppotunity to declare my love for Heart Shaped Box and that I pledge to love it forever more.

I adore this book, totally. Read more
Published 9 months ago by Charlotte J. Caulfield

3.0 out of 5 stars American gothic
I'm a big fan of supernatural horror (ie, ghosties!) and when I spotted this as a staff recommendation at my local bookshop I immediately snapped it up and went home to read it... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Z. OConnor

4.0 out of 5 stars bit scary... but gripping
My husband made me read this book as he thought I would enjoy it. Which I did, different to what I would normaly read, I found it quite scary at times, but was hooked. Read more
Published 9 months ago by M. Block

4.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes a book jumps off the shelf and says buy me...
...and that was certainly the case here. The story starts quickly, it's only a matter of a few chapters before the ghost appears and then it all kicks off; from then on the story... Read more
Published 11 months ago by edzshed

3.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Too Long
I did enjoy this book, but I felt that it was a short story dragged out. I don't think the story had enough premise to be a full novel. Read more
Published 14 months ago by George Maven

4.0 out of 5 stars enjoyable read
Ok, let's get it out of the way right at the start. Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, if there's anyone out there that didn't know it. Unfair to mention this? Read more
Published 15 months ago by time I had some time alone

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