King’s influence is clearly present in Hill’s prose – in a good way. The book reads inoffensively and smooth (except for the parts that are intentional offensive).

The premise is that a has-been rockstar who now collects occult items and relives the glory days by hooking up with groupies receives a supposedly-haunted item. He immediately begins to be haunted by the ghost of this vietnam veteran interrogator. He learns that the seller of the item is the sister of an old groupie he got with for a few months and then kicked out because she was a deadbeat. It’s also revealed that he possesses a Mexican snuff film, which was the source of his divorce (his ex-wife was mortified). As soon as he receives the titular heart-shaped box, the ghost starts to haunt him. His assistant kills himself, and bad stuff starts to unfold with his new groupie. They try to rid themselves of the ghost by fleeing town. It obviously follows him and uncomfortable dialog ensues as he has to explain why the ghost my be haunting him to his new groupie who learns that she’s just another piece of ass in a long line of young pieces of ass for the 50-something frontman, Jude, who also has a dark history with his band which has since broken up, and many of the members died tragic deaths.

The spook factor comes from the way that the ghost compels people near Jude to kill themselves. There’s a twist which makes his retributive arc righteous, but also a happy ending which isn’t very “haunting” at all :p.

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