Tag: ghosts

Heart-Shaped Box, by Joe Hill

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Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill: Audio Book CoverFinished audio 12-31-09, rating 2.5/5, fiction, pub. 2007

Jude Coyne is an aging rock star who goes through 20-year-old goth girls like candy.  When his assistant finds a ghost for sale online he knows that Jude will want it.  Only once Jude receives the old suit and the ghost with it bad things start to happen.  The ghost turns deadly and Jude must face his past sins and accept that they are directly responsible for what is happening.

9 cds, 11 hours and countless good reviews later and I confess that I really did not like this book.  The last two cds actually made me angry because I just wanted it to end.  Harsh, yes, but true.  This book was well written (by Stephen King’s son) but boring.  I did not care about the characters at all and because of that this story just dragged on and on.  I kept waiting for something exciting to happen, but was disappointed.  My husband and I listened to this on our Christmas travels and we still had 2 cds when we got home.  I finished listening on the treadmill and Jason decided not to bother finishing at all.

I confess that I did not enjoy the audio and I think that could have something to do with my dislike.  It was so slow.  If I had been reading it I may have been able to move along at a faster pace, but that doesn’t really solve the problem of characters I didn’t like.  Hill is a talented writer and I would read another of his books, but not anytime soon.  A disappointing way to end the year.

I checked this audio book out of the library.

The Girl on Legare Street, by Karen White

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The Girl on Legare Street by Karen White: Book CoverFinished 12-16-09, rating 4/5, fiction, pub. 2009

Book 2 in the Tradd Street series

“And?” I prompted.

“They found human remains inside.”

I didn’t respond.  I was on my knees following the trail of salt, realizing too late that the grainy spills resembled footprints.  I held my breath as if preparing to dive into water, and stopped when I saw that the trail of salt led to the back stairway.

“Jack?” I whispered. ” I think we have a problem.”  And then I dropped my phone and started to scream.

Chapter 5

Melanie is a successful and attractive Charleston realtor who also has the uncanny gift of being able to interact with ghosts.  She has recently reconciled with her recovering alcoholic father and when her mother, who has been absent from her life for 30 years, waltzes back into town she has enough.  Her mother pulls strings with Melanie’s boss and she s forced to help her mother buy her childhood home, just a short walk to her own home.  Melanie is uptight and plans every detail of her life and her mother and friend with sparks, Jack, do not fit into her plans. 

The historical home that her mother bought has been haunted since her mother was a child and the spirit is gaining strength and hatred.  The two must come to terms with each other.  And Jack has started dating a woman who rankles Melanie and much of the book is spent with the silent treatment being used by both of them.  But the puzzle of the past and the details of who this evil spirit may be brings them together, if only to solve the riddle of Melanie’s heritage.

As with the first book, I really enjoyed the ghostly elements of the story.  These evil ones can do real damage!  I enjoyed Melanie more in this one, but Jack less.  I really thought he behaving stupidly, but maybe that’s not too far from reality.  Melanie and Jack keep dancing around each other and a little of that can go a long way.  And I confess that I really didn’t like the very end.  The plot all comes together in a satisfactory way, but the addition of the last page or two was unnecessary.

I would recommend this book and the first one, even if you are not into ghosts, I’m certainly not and I think these are fun mysteries.

tlc tour hostStop by the TLC website and see who else has reviewed this book.  I received this book from the tour for review.

You will choose 50 of the books I will read next year.  If you help me you could win a $20 gift card to Barnes & Noble.  Go here to vote. (Right now the top vote getter is A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving)

The House on Tradd Street, by Karen White

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Cover ImageFinished 11-10-09, rating 4/5,  fiction, pub. 2009

I recalled that when I was a child, before I’d learned to ignore such things, if I were paying very close attention, I could hear the murmur of very low voices all the time as if someone had left a radio on in a distant room.  But tonight all I heard was silence, and the pressing thought inside my skull.  The photo album.

I put on my robe and slippers and headed toward the guest bedroom, turning on every light as I went.  Regardless of how many times I saw them, it was always easier to see dead people when the lights were on.

Chapter 11

Melanie Middleton is a very successful real estate agent in Charleston, an expert at selling historical homes while having no love for them at all.  When she visits a new client one day and becomes the owner of his historical house a few days later due to his death, she is not happy.  She is forced to live in the house for a year and is given an allowance to restore it.  Only she is not the only one in the house.  The spirits who stay there both fight her and push her into solving a generations old mystery.

Her best friend Sophie and estranged father are both on board to help, as well as a good-looking true crime author working on his next big story.  Before long Melanie is forced to confront her past with her father and accept the help of a man she knows is silently grieving.  And these ghosts are not the Casper kind.  They can do real damage.

I really liked this book.  Melanie is a feisty 39 year-old woman who has relied on no one to achieve success and I was rooting for her to comes to terms with her father and grow to love the house.  The mystery of the missing diamonds was one that had me guessing til the end and the ghosts, while unnerving, added depth to the story. 

White writes with great humor and attention to detail and I am looking forward to the next book with Melanie.

This was a library book.