Judas Coyne has made a living as a musician playing to the dark sides of humanity. A collector of macabre relics, he is eerily fascinated with death and murder and is about to come a bit too close to the undead. Drawn to a listing for a ghost on an online auction site, Judas jumps at the chance to own this poor soul. All he has to do is make an offer.

Upon arrival he finds out there are no returns, only paybacks. Drawn to the gothic crowd, he names the women he discards by their state, knowing he won’t be with them long enough for their names to matter to him. One such throwaway was driven so far into despair that she killed herself. Now her family is exacting revenge by ghost.

You can almost find anything online these days and I wouldn’t be all that surprised to actually find a listing for a ghost. With that in mind, I am surprised the idea wasn’t sprouted sooner. Joe Hill has a creative mind that some might argue was in his genes. I beg to differ. He stands on his own as a genius in his own right. Some of the scenarios portrayed in the book are so vivid that they jump from the pages. Is it any wonder Joe Hill was a named a Stoker winner?

The urge to turn on all lights when listening to Heart Shaped Box hits full force midway through the book. Stephen Lang’s voice takes on a truly haunted sound as he masterfully succeeds in scaring the bejeezus out of enraptured listeners.

Reviewed by Joyce