REVIEW: Heart-Shaped Box
I just finished reading Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill, who appears to be Stephen King’s son. (I mention this only as a curiousity, since the book stands on its own merits.)
The Story: Judas Coyne is a rock star, (one puh-leez) and he collects macabre objects (two puh-leezes.) One day he buys an old suit, ghost included, and his life veers into the Twilight Zone. (Great premise, BTW.)
The Precis: This is suspenseful, gritty, and a fast read. Hill definitely has talent, and another few books should see that talent bloom.
The Cons: OMG, could there be more of a Gary Stu? And Jude spends the whole book having “trouble thinking.” Jesus, PUH-leeze the third! Which was about one puh-leeze too many. Definitely Jude and his girlfriend are written as TSTL, and the frustration of bumping against the threshold of disbelief that created almost ruined the experience of reading.
I definitely wanted to get out my red pen and get rid of a bunch of exposition, infodump, clumsy foreshadowing, and just plain sloppy writing. It was painful to witness what could have been such a wonderful book. I got the impression that the editor was frightened of the writer, which is a sure recipe for disaster even if talent is involved. There were repeats and shoddy sentence structure sprinkled all through the book that should have been treated to reveal the lovely structure and wonderful stuff underneath. There simply wasn’t enough speed and strength in the “serve” of the story to drag me along despite the snags, which made reading less pleasurable than it might otherwise have been.
The Verdict: Still, it did pull me along to the finish line and with a bit more practice, Hill could be solidly good. There are chilling images and great little hooks all through the book, and glimmers of real talent. And Hill isn’t afraid of beating his characters up, as well as creating nasty supernatural effects.
So, definitely recommended for a library or mass-market, maybe used-book read. I’ll be looking forward to whatever Hill comes out with in the future. I’d give it a solid C+, with high B potential in the future.
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