Jude has caused a lot of pain over the years, moving through life with a carelessness that verges on the callous. The story's horror ultimately has as much to do with Jude Coyne's past-his mistakes, abandonments and betrayals-as with anything supernatural. And toward the end of the book, when Hill describes a trip down death's 'night road' in a '65 Mustang, the passage has a startlingly lyrical beauty. An e-mail to Jude from the ghost (trust me, it's not as absurd as it sounds) could even pass for something ee cummings might've written, in an especially morbid mood.

There are times when his writing, for all its spare efficiency, seems to jump away from him, stopping one small step short of poetry. And one can sense his literary ambition pushing at the margins of the genre. His narrative never flags, nor does it ever move so quickly as to outrun itself. And this physicality provides a firm platform for the book's otherworldly happenings, which seem all the more frightening for being so securely grounded. It feels solid, every detail both correct and fresh. Hill's prose is lean and precise, and he renders Jude's world with impressive confidence. 'Watch' is the appropriate word, too, because this is an extremely visual book. We watch, chapter-by-chapter, as they battle for survival. Jude wants the ghost gone the ghost wants Jude dead. We soon discover that he's wrong on both counts, however, and from this point on the story moves with an exhilarating urgency. He also assumes the seller is a stranger. He acquires it online, lured by the promise that the dead man's ghost will be included in his purchase. Jude Coyne, an aging rock star, buys himself a dead man's suit. The set-up for Joe Hill's novel, Heart-Shaped Box, is appealingly simple. Thirteen years later, he spooked us again with The Ruins, a horror-thriller about four Americans traveling in Mexico who stumble across a nightmare in the jungle. In 1993, Scott Smith wowed readers with his stunning debut thriller, A Simple Plan. Check out their reviews below, and you might want to pick up a nightlight while you're at it. We asked bestselling authors (and masters of dark terror tales themselves) Scott Smith, and Harlan Coben to read Heart-Shaped Box and give us their take. Do you sleep with the light on? Are you in the habit of checking your doors and windows before you go to bed? Maybe even checking under your bed? If you are about to crack open Joe Hill's chilling thriller Heart-Shaped Box, you might want to rethink your nighttime habits-Hill's story about an aging rock star (with a penchant for macabre artifacts) who buys a haunted suit online will scare you silly.

Heart shaped box by joe hill