Book · 2007
Heart-Shaped Box
by Joe Hill
An aging rock star buys a dead man's suit off the internet as a joke, and the ghost sewn into it comes to collect.
What does Reddit think of Heart-Shaped Box?
Still scares people, by their own account, years later. r/horrorlit (↑91) says flatly the book is 'scary as shit,' and a ↑177 suggestmeabook comment specifies 'I'm not easily spooked' before conceding this one worked anyway, pairing it with Stephen King's Gerald's Game. r/booksuggestions runs warmest of the three big subs — a ↑88 comment describes getting scolded at work for not putting it down, a mundane detail that lands harder than any adjective. Not everyone's in. A ↑87 horrorlit comment breaks the pattern flatly: 'I just don't like his writing style, couldn't get into NOS4A2 either,' naming a second Joe Hill title as the same problem. There's a recurring hedge on genre positioning too — a ↑96 comment concedes the default horror answer is Pet Sematary before choosing this instead, and the company it keeps elsewhere (Hill House, House of Leaves, Ghost Story) leans toward slow-building dread over gore. Over two thousand recognized mentions is a lot of noise; the disagreement inside it still reads clearly.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Fear that lingers after the last page rather than jump-scares
- · Joe Hill's writing style as a love-it-or-bounce-off-it divider
- · Horror-as-prose versus horror-as-film as separate tastes
- · Where it sits next to Pet Sematary, Hill House, and Ghost Story
Common praise
- + r/horrorlit says flatly it's still scary as shit years after reading, no qualifiers attached (↑91).
- + A commenter who calls themselves not easily spooked admits this one got them anyway, right alongside Gerald's Game (↑177).
- + Someone got scolded at work for reading it on the clock because they couldn't put it down (↑88).
Common criticism
- − One horrorlit reader states plainly they don't like Joe Hill's writing style, and couldn't get into NOS4A2 either (↑87).
- − It shows up as the second choice after Pet Sematary in at least one comment, not the instinctive first answer (↑96).
- − r/horrorlit's sentiment sits right at the positive threshold, not comfortably above it like the two suggestion subreddits.
Who it's for
Pick this up if 'I'm not easily spooked' describes you and you want to test it — that's the exact frame a ↑177 comment uses before admitting it worked anyway. Love horror as prose but can't stand horror as film? The ↑88 comment's distinction between the two is worth sitting with before you decide. Already tried NOS4A2 and bounced off Hill's style? A ↑87 comment suggests you'll hit the same wall here, and that's a real data point, not an outlier to wave off. Default to recommending Pet Sematary out of habit? Use this as the deliberate change-up a ↑96 comment makes it.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Heart-Shaped Box?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill scared the crap out of me and I'm not easily spooked. I looked at the corners of my apartment differently for quite a while after reading that book! I highly recommend it. Gerald's Game by Stephen King was pretty scary as well.
“I still think about Heart Shaped Box from time to time.
“Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. It’s a little creepy and mature so it’s a good book(to me at least)
“I still find Heart Shaped Box to be scary as s***. Joe Hill nailed it.
“I got scolded at work because I was finishing Joe Hill’s *Heart Shaped Box* and couldn’t put it down. It’s horror, if that’s not your thing. But also, I hate horror movies and love horror books. Especially anything written by Joe Hill. Stephen King might be the king of horror (and *IT* is another …
“Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. I think I just don’t like his writing style, couldn’t get into NOS4A2 either.
“I really don’t mean this as an insult because heart shaped box is one of the only books that made me scared when I first read it, But he is really so much like his dad. Mostly for good. When he references an “Ass,cash or Grass”Bumper sticker in the first page or two I was like “ah classic King”. I l…
“Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box - the whole book is great but I was thoroughly terrified several times in the first half.
“Stephen King has a son who writes as Joe Hill. His book Heart-Shaped Box remains one of the best ghost stories I’ve ever read. Have given away over a dozen copies of the book just so I could talk about it later.
“For me, it's totally Pet Sematary (slept w the light on for days lol). Some runner-ups are The Shining, The Amityville Horror, and Heart-Shaped Box.
“Heart Shaped Box by Joe Hill. It's kind of just your average ghost story, but it really got to me for some reason.
“Heart shaped box by Joe Hill is the only book that actually creeped me out while reading it. I usually only like horror because it’s entertaining but the TV scene was the only one that made me kinda creeped out
“Heart-Shaped Box is Hill's best novel in my opinion. I would definitely recommend giving it a go.
“Heart Shaped Box - Joe Hill I read a lot of Stephen King, Preston and Child, used to read Koontz a lot. Point is, I’m no newbie to this genre of horror. That being said, I’ve never been actually scared from a novel until this book. I had to put it down multiple times and even had nightmares. Not …
“I remember being super scared of The Exorcist when I was a kid, around 13 or so. As an adult I'm hard pressed to think of anything really scares me but Heart Shaped Box had a few spook moments.
Convinced? Pick up Heart-Shaped Box
What else does r/horrorlit read?
Other books mentioned in the same sub, ranked. Shared-sub overlap with this title breaks ties.
Heart-Shaped Box — frequently asked
Is Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill actually scary, or is that just marketing?+
Actually scary, on this evidence. r/horrorlit (↑91) calls it scary as shit with no hedging, and a separate ↑177 comment from someone who says they're not easily spooked admits the book worked on them anyway, filing it next to Gerald's Game as comparable discomfort.
Is Heart-Shaped Box better than Pet Sematary?+
Not a clean ranking in the data, but one comment is telling: a ↑96 reply admits the reflexive answer to 'scariest book' is Pet Sematary before deliberately picking Heart-Shaped Box instead. That reads as a considered alternative, not a claim it beats King's book outright.
Should I read Heart-Shaped Box if I didn't like Joe Hill's NOS4A2?+
Probably not without caution. A ↑87 r/horrorlit comment names both books together as the same problem: the poster says they just don't get along with Hill's writing style, and NOS4A2 didn't work either. Style dislike here isn't book-specific.
What books pair well with Heart-Shaped Box?+
A ↑87 r/suggestmeabook comment lists it alongside The Haunting of Hill House, House of Leaves, and Ghost Story — company that leans toward slow-building dread and haunted-object dread rather than gore, which tracks with how the other displayed excerpts describe it.