Over the past few days I have read Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill (Stephen King's son). It is a supernatural type thriller more than horror and not a difficult read (close to 400 pages). To be brief, the story is about an aging rock star who buys a haunted suit. The twist is the suit belongs to the stepfather of a girlfriend/long-term groupie that killed herself. Jude, the main character, is eventually told that the suit is meant to bring about his demise as vengance for the groupie's death.
Overall, I liked the book. However, there are some really contrived areas where Hill (more likely his editor) placed allusions to rock songs within descriptive parts of the narrative. The allusions were awkward most of the time. There were also parts where the description was overdone. Instead of allowing the reader to imagine things after a sentence of description, Hill goes on for a few more, seemingly plotting out a storyboard for a movie. The ending was kind of weird, too. Again, it seemed a bit contrived.
I recommend it if you are into horror/thriller stuff. There was one point in the book where I really liked the characters and I was actually afraid for them and didn't want to turn the pages.
If I had to rate this book, since this is about a rock star, I'd give it 3 1/2 flying "V" guitars out of 5. It is good, just not mindblowing.
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