The Book Report #127

Episode #126

The Book Club Edition #9

I joined a book club, and this was the book chosen in June 2026.

Heart Shaped Box By Joe Hill

The Book

This book was released worldwide by HarperCollins Publishers on the 13th February 2007.

My copy is an ebook copy, which was published in 2010. My copy has 410 pages.

What Did I Think?

Jude, an ageing rock star, is bored with his life and is living it in a way he seems okay with. But he isn’t happy. Until Danny, his assistant, finds a suit online. Claiming to be haunted, Jude decides to buy it.

But there is a problem. The suit is actually haunted. And the ghost has been sent to kill him.

Jude’s “girlfriend”, Marybeth, but he calls her Georgia. Jude doesn’t want to commit, so he calls her by the place she came from. She has been infected by a needle that is in the black heart-shaped box the suit comes in. And throughout the book, the infection gets worse.

Craddock McDermott is the ghost that tries to kill anyone and everyone connected to Jude. We later find out he can convince anyone to do anything he wants them to do, and that’s how he tries to get them to kill themselves. On top of that, he likes kids. So there is no saving this person in whatever dimension he is in.

Jude starts to see ghosts and gets messages from the long-dead and the recently deceased. They slowly make their way to the creator of the box that will finally lead him back home again. A place he never wanted to return to.

I did have some high hopes for this book, but it slowly got to the point in the story that I didn’t care what happened next. The story itself was okay in its own right. However, I found it dull, and there was no ummph to it. No drive for the story to get exciting.

The author covered everything in the end, making sure all of the characters get closure.

Would I Recommend?

Second week in a row, and I can’t recommend this book. Whatever it was, it just wasn’t there for me. I don’t know what happened. However, also, again, never let me stop you from reading this book.

Please give it a go.

Would you like to purchase your very own copy?

You could try these online stores: Amazon UK/USA, Waterstones. AbeBooks UK/USA, Barnes and Noble and eBay UK/USA.

Alternatively, you could try your local bookshop or even your local library.