I've fallen in love with this horror novel.
If I like death-metal music, I imagine I would love this all the more. It's about Judas, a death-metal rock god who buys a soul of a dead man from eBay to add to his growing collection of gruesome items.

What happens next--well, what did you expect? The dead man haunts him, following him everywhere and I thought it was predictable too, until Hill turns the tables on me and begs to differ.

Heart-shaped box is filled with surprises, and surprisingly a lot of heart, and I agree with Neil Gaiman's review, where he mentioned that :
"It's the kind of book that the overworked adjectives people use on book jackets-relentless, gripping, powerful, a genuine page-turner-were really meant to describe, for it's all those things and enormously smart besides. I loved it unreservedly."

Joe Hill's writing style is very simple and straight-forward, but the twists are wonderfully executed that I forgot to eat lunch, I just had to find out what would happen next. There are gruesome scenes I skimmed, but also tender, love-filled moments that tugged at my heartstrings and never let go.

While I was reading this, I was aware that Joe Hill is Stephen King's son, and just like his father, Hill is also capable of delivering one hell of a horrifying tale. What I like more about Hill though, is that he was able to end this tale more satisfyingly. I often get turned off by stories that are stylecentric, with little regard for plot, and more focus on the careful poetic stringing of words. This book might have lacked subtlety but made up for it with its gripping turn of events.

Sometimes after reading a King story I become depressed, since his endings are just so sad and dreary sometimes, but Hill manages to balance the realism (if you can call it that) with a healthy dose of pragmatism. I thoroughly enjoyed this debut novel by Hill and can't wait to read his future works.

P.S. I agree Eliza, the cover does suck though.

What I think: 8 and a half unicorns