HEART-SHAPED BOX (Joe Hill) - June 5/07

While this undeniably had a bunch of really interesting and inventive sequences - the whole thing with the blood-painted "doorway" near the end, for example - the book is simply far too long. Trimmed by 200 pages or so, there's little doubt that Heart-Shaped Box would have been as thrilling as the best of Stephen King's work. Still, as a debut, it's quite impressive. **1/2 out of ****