Reviews tagging 'Child death'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

385 reviews

whatsnewkaseyroo's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? N/A
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

vixenreader's review

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

An exciting, and yet heartfelt, horror novel of how failing to address the grievances of the past will come back to haunt generations to come. Plus if you are afraid of dolls and puppets, this book is nightmare-fuel. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and War

Be aware that this book features estrangement within families, unstable sibling relationships, unresolved generational trauma, children drowning, cult-like behaviour, 9/11 and the Iraq War, bad exes, mother-daughter relationships, sewing needles as weapons, eyeball trauma, and killer dolls/puppets/imaginary dogs.

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Gardy Hendrix is such a talented writer and he's a master of his craft. This book exemplifies that. This book was genuinely scary, tapped into some very real feelings around family dynamics and grief, and it was an interesting premise and execution.

With this said, this was kind of meh for me. I didn't care for any of the characters , especially Louise, and the plot felt like it really dragged on. I also found the ending to be fine, but nothing really emotional or grounding.

Also the M&M scene was so weird and I could have lived without "sensual" as a descriptor of rubbing candy on a child puppet's mouth...

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

carbinara's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Such a fun halloween read! I was perhaps after a little more mystery and a little less on the nose, but to be honest that’s my own fault; I know Hendrix tends to write quite explicit on the page scares. Clearly not that much of an issue though, as I always finish his books having enjoyed reading them. 

Loved the relationship between Louise and her daughter,

especially how it effected how she treated Pupkin come the end of the story. I’m glad after all the horror we still have this little nugget of warmth to sign off on.

Also in general loved the extended family and Mark, although Mercy was a personal favourite. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic friendship

allisonsmith120's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

heathercottledillon's review

dark funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, and Death of parent

eed8's review

emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Car accident

yunaquack's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Marks info dump about Pupkin reads like a fever dream (not the good kind) which turned a five star read into a four star read for me. The last 150 pages or so is where it turned into a 3 star read. Far too long in my opinion, couldn't help but be bored with the supernatural stuff of the story at that point since we had a really thrilling climax in the middle and it became repetitive after.

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

paronomaniac's review

dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Animal death

joxinabox's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

A mystery book with a strong premise, a rich and complex cast of characters, and incredible plot twists-- Just what I've been looking for! "How to Sell A Haunted House" is a masterclass in re-contextualization, presenting a reality to you only to completely shatter it later down the line. Each character feels alive and you can really bite into why they are the way they are. Not to mention the twist-- without giving anything away, a good twist is when you can guess a piece of the puzzle but NOT the full picture. The how, but not the why. The when, but not the who. The where, but not the what. Hendrix cleverly sets up your expectations and pays them off all while gesturing your attention away from the bigger truth underneath the truth you've already discovered. Nothing short of genius.

The only reason this gets a 4.25 and not a perfect 5 is because there's a moment near the end where the pacing REALLY starts to drag. It picks up after awhile, but there's a good handful of chapters in the final act where you'll be going "Oh my god, seriously? I thought this was over with already." It does ultimately end in a much more satisfying conclusion to this story with all of the arcs wrapped up in a nice bow, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't take some getting there.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Fatphobia

Tagging as fatphobia as there's a reoccurring bit where someone refers to a character as "Fatboy." Given this character is both an antagonist and a very young child, I assume we're not meant to find this humorous. It doesn't happen very often, but still I figured I'd point it out just in case. There is also extremely graphic eye trauma, Hendrix does not hold back when describing the injury. I can handle a lot but it made me have to take my headphones out while this was being read.