Heart-Shaped Box

by Joe Hill

Aging rock star Judas Coyne spends his retirement collecting morbid memorabilia, including a witch's confession, a real snuff film and, after being sent an email directly about the item online, a dead man's funeral suit. Jude is informed by Jessica Price, the dead man's daughter, that the old man's spirit is attached to the suit, such that Jude is effectively buying himself a ghost. Jude cannot pass up this creepy opportunity.

The suit arrives in a heart-shaped box. Various odd occurrences cause Jude to realize that the ghost is deadly and is out to kill him and those around him. His assistant, Danny Wooten, kills himself, but not before contacting the woman who sent the suit. Jude finds out that the ghost was the stepfather of a groupie, Florida, whom Jude lived with for a few months and who had later committed suicide. The ghost holds Jude responsible for Florida's death and wants revenge. Jude flees his house with his current girlfriend, Georgia, with the ghost in hot pursuit.

The ghost's intent is to separate Jude from his two dogs, Angus and Bon, who, as familiars, can protect their owners from the dead. Jude and Georgia take the dogs with them while fleeing south. The dogs save them several times, but the ghost eventually kills them. Jude and Georgia discover that Florida had been hypnotized and molested by her stepfather, Craddock McDermott. When Florida threatened to turn in Craddock and her elder sister Jessica to the police, they killed her and staged her death as a suicide. Later, a dying Craddock hexed the suit and arranged for Jessica to sell it to Jude.

After a series of gory battles between Jude and Craddock, Georgia finds a way to contact Florida beyond the grave for help fighting her stepfather's ghost. In the end, Craddock is vanquished, freeing Jude and Georgia from his curse, and Jessica is sent to jail. After surviving the horrendous ordeal, Jude and Georgia eventually marry.