Yatterings

Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box is an extraordinary debut. On the surface its about a ghost and the perils of eBay (trust the author on this - never buy a ghost) but what comes out of this is a fantastic novel of growing up in more senses than one.

Judas Coyne is an aging rocker, still dating women half his age. His work partner sees a ghost on an auction site and feels that it is a great addition to the collection. The ghost comes from the bitter family of an ex and the ensuing novel is one that is a riot of emotion and types.

The background culture is very much late 70s and early 80s Rock (AC/DC and Led Zep) which ties in with the pop culture in his short story collection, Twentieth Century Ghosts. Its comfortable territory for the writer and he meshes it so well with eBay culture. The movement through various types of novel adds to the layers and allows the reader to approach the novel in a variety of ways.

technorati tags:joe hill, horror, books