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anadine's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Wowza….. #1- this was way more about puppets than I could have imagined. #2- damn, that was some deep shit about puppets. While the plot is pure chaos (thanks Pupkin), the depth of the characters and backstory level it out perfectly. Absolutely fantastic, I hope to read again in the future.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Torture, Blood, and Death of parent
Minor: Self harm and Fire/Fire injury
tennessaurus's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
tense
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
4.25
My primary rule of horror: you can’t tell a good haunted house story that isn’t about a family. And this one certainly packs that emotional punch.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
Moderate: Animal death
honeyflakeapparently's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Having heard mixed reviews on this book, and having a bit of a hit-or-miss relationship with Grady Hendrix's books, I am pleased to say that this book was an absolutely pleasant surprise for me.
I am the target audience for this book. I grew up surrounded by collections of stuffed animals and porcelain dolls. Very early in life, I encountered The Tommyknockers mini series, which left a bit of an impression. Add to that, that I am one of those [un]fortunate souls who was part of a puppet ministry in my childhood... you get where this is going. Usually, the haunted/possessed dolls trope is just sort of bland to me, or on the occasion, well done but nothing surprising. This one managed to somehow feel fresh and creepy, while still maintaining some of the trademark Hendrix horror-humor.
The more unexpected part of this read was the surprisingly thought-provoking examination of subjects such as grief, childhood trauma, broken/healing relationships, and those deep secrets that many families keep tucked away so deeply. It was a cautionary tale of how those secrets and avoiding hard topics have consequences that are far reaching and incredibly hard to overcome.
The characters showed massive amounts of growth (I could not stand Mark and Louise for nearly the first half of the book, and was sure I never would like them), the story was fun, the ending was satisfying. I thought about rating higher than 4 stars, but then I'm kinda pissed that no one gave Spider ear scratches before he presumably disappeared. He may have had a rocky start, but he was a good boi in the end.
I am the target audience for this book. I grew up surrounded by collections of stuffed animals and porcelain dolls. Very early in life, I encountered The Tommyknockers mini series, which left a bit of an impression. Add to that, that I am one of those [un]fortunate souls who was part of a puppet ministry in my childhood... you get where this is going. Usually, the haunted/possessed dolls trope is just sort of bland to me, or on the occasion, well done but nothing surprising. This one managed to somehow feel fresh and creepy, while still maintaining some of the trademark Hendrix horror-humor.
The more unexpected part of this read was the surprisingly thought-provoking examination of subjects such as grief, childhood trauma, broken/healing relationships, and those deep secrets that many families keep tucked away so deeply. It was a cautionary tale of how those secrets and avoiding hard topics have consequences that are far reaching and incredibly hard to overcome.
The characters showed massive amounts of growth (I could not stand Mark and Louise for nearly the first half of the book, and was sure I never would like them), the story was fun, the ending was satisfying. I thought about rating higher than 4 stars, but then I'm kinda pissed that no one gave Spider ear scratches before he presumably disappeared. He may have had a rocky start, but he was a good boi in the end.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent
Minor: Child death
aerim's review
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Child death, Toxic relationship, Grief, and Death of parent
book_adjacent's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Violence, and Death of parent
nickoliver's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
This book was a bit of a challenge for me. First of all, I think the premise is a little bit misleading - it was less of a haunted house as it was a haunted puppet. Still creepy (or even creepier, if you're like me and hate dolls), but not the same thing.
Second of all, the characters often just made me so mad I could barely concentrate on the actual story. For the first 100 or so pages, I desperately wanted to punch Mark in the face. And while it got better later on when you got an explanation, I still thought it didn't completely justify his behaviour in the past (despite the fact that everyone acted like it did). The tense scenes were often impossible to read because it was often just Louise getting hurt and not being able to defend herself despite constantly talking about "If I just do XX, I'll be save".
Plus, the denial was incredibly strong with her, and it drove me nuts. Especially later in the book when you found out that Louise already had a lot of supernatural experience with the puppet, because why on earth did she have several near-death experiences in the house and still tried to tell herself it was nothing.
The later half of the story was better in my opinion. Getting Pupkin's backstory, and the way the characters dealt with it, made it a lot deeper and intense, and I genuinely enjoyed that. But I do think the story could've benefited from being a tiny bit shorter.
Second of all, the characters often just made me so mad I could barely concentrate on the actual story. For the first 100 or so pages, I desperately wanted to punch Mark in the face. And while it got better later on when you got an explanation, I still thought it didn't completely justify his behaviour in the past (despite the fact that everyone acted like it did). The tense scenes were often impossible to read because it was often just Louise getting hurt and not being able to defend herself despite constantly talking about "If I just do XX, I'll be save".
Plus, the denial was incredibly strong with her, and it drove me nuts. Especially later in the book when you found out that Louise already had a lot of supernatural experience with the puppet, because why on earth did she have several near-death experiences in the house and still tried to tell herself it was nothing.
The later half of the story was better in my opinion. Getting Pupkin's backstory, and the way the characters dealt with it, made it a lot deeper and intense, and I genuinely enjoyed that. But I do think the story could've benefited from being a tiny bit shorter.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
meredithnudo's review
dark
emotional
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, and Abandonment
Minor: Gun violence
jeynawill's review
dark
funny
hopeful
reflective
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Medical trauma, Car accident, and Death of parent
mindoflex's review against another edition
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
If you’re feeling nostalgic for campy horror, this novel is a great pick. It follows two adult siblings with a strained relationship as they cope with the sudden death of their parents and decide to sell the family home. Unfortunately, the house is haunted.
Cue generational trauma manifesting as haunted puppets and dolls. While I found the book more silly than scary, it still managed to inspire some pretty weird and creepy dreams.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and Grief
Moderate: Gore
extravagantly's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
i picked up this book simply because it was set down the road of where i live (thanks to goodreads 1 book from each state list), and i did no further research into it. this rating is completely my fault because i failed to check the genre before reading. i’ve never read a book with any psychological or thrilling elements, so when murderous entities sprung up it took me much by surprise—the kind of surprise you don’t want when reading a book
i gave it 3 stars cus there isn’t anything particularly wrong with it, a good exercise in suspension of disbelief if anything. it’s just not for me. i can see why someone would like, though
i gave it 3 stars cus there isn’t anything particularly wrong with it, a good exercise in suspension of disbelief if anything. it’s just not for me. i can see why someone would like, though
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence
Moderate: Death and Death of parent