39 pages 1 hour read

Joe Hill

Heart-Shaped Box

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2007

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Part 2, Chapters 23-31

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 2: “Ride On”

Part 2, Chapter 23 Summary

Jude wakes up with a song stuck in his head, so he goes into the bathroom and composes on his guitar. He feels like Craddock’s ghost is further from him. When Georgia wakes, Jude finds that her infected hand is getting worse.

Part 2, Chapter 24 Summary

Jude researches Craddock on his laptop. From newspaper articles, he finds out that Craddock had a childhood interest in the occult that he made use of while serving in Vietnam, where he learned to see ghosts from a man named Nguyen Trung. After the Vietnam War, he worked as a dowser and ghost hunter in Florida. Jude then takes Georgia to a Denny’s restaurant.

Part 2, Chapter 25 Summary

At Denny’s, Jude and Georgia discuss how and why Jude’s previous marriage failed in the wake of his bandmates’ deaths. A waitress spills coffee on Georgia’s injured hand, and she goes to the bathroom to care for it. Meanwhile, an elderly man’s electrolarynx relays cryptic threats to Jude. He realizes that Craddock’s ghost has returned and rushes to the bathroom to check on Georgia. He finds her staring at herself in the mirror. She pushes the mirror and tries to slit her throat with a shard of glass. Jude forces Georgia out of the restaurant, and she runs to an underpass to vomit.

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By Joe Hill