gilda_elise

An aging death-metal rock god, Judas Coyne, is a collector of the macabre: a cookbook for cannibals... a used hangman's noose... a snuff film. But nothing he possesses is as unlikely or as dreadful as an item he learns is for sale on the Internet. For a thousand dollars, Jude will become the proud owner of a dead man's suit, said to be haunted by the deceased's restless spirit. Judas has spent a lifetime coping with ghosts - of an abusive father, of the lovers he callously abandoned, of the bandmates he betrayed - so what's one more?

But what UPS delivers to his door in a black heart-shaped box is no imaginary or metaphorical ghost, it's the real thing. And suddenly the suit's previous owner is everywhere - behind the bedroom door... seated in Jude's restored vintage Mustang... staring out from his widescreen TV - dangling a gleaming razor blade on a chain from one hand…

Books whose main character isn’t terribly likable are hard for me to enjoy, much less be drawn into. I thought that would be the case with this one; Judas Coyne is something of an ass. He’s not nice to his lovers, calling them by the state they’re from, rather than their given names. Actually, he’s not terribly nice to anyone. He’s had some hard knocks and it shows.

But as his story progresses, you can’t help but root for the man. He’s a fighter. He has to be considering who, or maybe make that what, he’s up against. He’s bought himself a read, “live” ghost who’s out to get him him and anyone who gets in its way.

Tahe book isn’t scary in the conventional sense; the evil is more garden-variety human. Rather, the story is more an interesting study of a man grappling with the ghosts of his past, and one particularly nasty one in the present.

This is the first Joe Hill book that I’ve read. I think there’ll be more.