Heart-Shaped Box

Heart-Shaped Box (2007) is the debut novel of horror writer Joe Hill, son of the famous Stephen King. The novel is a contemporary Gothic story about Judas “Jude” Coyne, a retired rock star hunted by a ghost. His confrontation with the ghost forces him and his girlfriend, Marybeth “Georgia” Kimball, to confront their respective pasts and current relationship. Hill went on to publish novels such as Horns (2010), NOS4A2 (2013), and The Fireman (2016), as well as graphic novels such as the Locke & Key series (2008-2013). Overall, his work has received critical success, including the Crawford, Eisner, and Locus Awards, as well as the Bram Stoker Award and the International Thriller Writers Award for Heart-Shaped Box.

This guide refers to the hardcover first edition published in 2007 by William Morrow.

Content Warning: The novel and this guide discuss anti-gay bias, sexual assault, incest, child pornography, mental health conditions, murder, and suicide. They also depict physical and verbal abuse (including that of children), animal death, and general violence. Finally, this guide briefly discusses mass shootings.

Plot Summary

Heart-Shaped Box tells the story of Judas “Jude” Coyne (born Justin Cowzynski), a retired rock star who lives on a secluded New York farm with his girlfriend, Marybeth “Georgia” Kimball, and his assistant, Danny Wooten. One day, Danny comes across a listing for an allegedly haunted suit, which appeals to Jude, who collects macabre items. As soon as Jude unpacks the suit from its heart-shaped box, he sees the ghost of an old man—who resembles his abusive, hospice-bound father, Martin, in Louisiana. Georgia pricks her hand on the suit, and the hand becomes necrotic. Danny also hears mysterious voices and feels chills while on the farm. Jude calls the suit’s previous owner, Jessica Price, who reveals herself to be the sister of his ex-girlfriend, Anna “Florida” Price. Jessica claims that he treated Florida so badly that once she returned home, she died by suicide. As revenge, Jessica and her stepfather, Craddock McDermott, imbued the suit with Craddock’s ghost—which will eventually kill Jude and whoever tries to help him.

Jude tells Georgia what happened, and she believes him because she once saw her grandmother Bammy’s deceased twin, Ruth, during her childhood. He researches Craddock and discovers that he was a professional hypnotist-diviner who honed his craft while serving in the Vietnam War. Disturbed by Craddock’s ghost, Danny quits as Jude’s assistant. Later, the ghost speaks to Jude through a radio, hypnotizing him to die by suicide from car exhaust. He is narrowly saved by his two dogs—Angus and Bon—and Georgia. Later, he finds Georgia watching a video, through which the ghost hypnotizes her to masturbate, with a loaded gun in her mouth. Jude also falls under the hypnotism and is only able to stop himself from killing Georgia by driving a knife though his hand. The same evening, he receives a call from Danny, who reveals that he hanged himself and is on the “nightroad” now. Jude runs outside, tailed by Craddock. He releases his dogs, and they manifest dog-like shadows that drive the ghost away. In the morning, he and Georgia decide to confront Jessica.

Jude and Georgia journey south, pursued by Craddock in a ghostly pickup truck. While they spend time in cheap motels, Jude finds that he’s able to keep the ghost at bay with his music. Craddock eventually catches up to the couple when they go to a Denny’s restaurant: He speaks through a man’s electrolarynx and attempts to persuade Georgia to die by suicide in the bathroom. She and Jude narrowly escape and head to the state of Georgia, where Georgia’s grandmother, Bammy, has a Ouija board they could use to contact Florida. Bammy is suspicious of the couple’s physical deterioration, but they successfully contact Florida through a Ouija board. When Florida learns what Craddock is up to, she cryptically asks which one of the couple “will be the door” (219); she then tells Jude to stop assuming that her stepfather killed her. Jude finally realizes that Florida was sexually abused by Craddock and that he and Jessica killed her to cover up the abuse.

The couple arrives at Jessica’s house and have a violent confrontation, in which Jude bludgeons Jessica with a tire iron and forces her to admit that she covered up Craddock’s abuse of all the women in their family—Florida, herself, and her own 11-year-old daughter, Reese. After Jude broke up with Florida, she decided to report Jessica and Craddock, so the two framed their murder of her as a suicide. As Jude seemingly empowered Florida, Craddock decided to punish him. Before Jude can kill Jessica, Reese comes home from school with a gun. She tries to kill him but misses, instead shooting one of his fingers off. Jessica tries to attack him, and his dog Bon ends up being killed. Jude and Georgia try to escape but are attacked by Craddock’s ghostly pickup truck. They escape in their own car but realize that their dog Angus was fatally injured.

Jude tells Georgia to drive to his father Martin’s house in Louisiana, as Martin owns dogs that may be able to protect them. Jude’s childhood home is in terrible shape, and Martin’s nurse, Arlene, is revealed to have sent away his dogs. Arlene tries to call an ambulance upon seeing the couple’s physical deterioration, but Craddock commandeers all nearby phones. She leaves to search for help, and Jude goes to his father’s room. Craddock emerges from a heart-shaped candy box on the floor and possesses Martin’s body. He attacks Jude with a razor and slits Georgia’s throat. She dies and becomes the “door” between life and death for Florida. Florida drags her stepfather into death, and Jude saves Georgia from death. He finds himself in a car, driving on a “nightroad” with a woman who oscillates between being Florida and Georgia. As he speaks to this woman, Georgia becomes untethered from Florida, and he drags her back to life.

While recovering in the hospital, Jude tells the detective investigating his case that Martin attacked them and that Georgia killed him in self-defense. Upon release from the hospital, he learns from his lawyer that Jessica was jailed for her treatment of Reese: Police found pornographic photographs of Reese that Jessica had taken for Craddock. Jude and Georgia build a life together and get married. Five years later, Reese visits them and apologizes for her injury to Jude. He gives her cash and takes her to a bus station so that she can continue her journey north to see friends. Jude hopes “she makes it” (374).