Reviews tagging 'Gore'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

282 reviews

sarahbiegelsen's review

dark emotional tense fast-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Ableism, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gore, Torture, Blood, Grief, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Gun violence, Medical content, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

maryellen's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

elysahenegar's review

adventurous dark emotional funny tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I'm a fan of Grady Hendrix's quirky Southern horror stories, which are always funny and weird and vividly gruesome, like a very southern sitcom with a good strong shake of Stephen King thrown in, so that one minute you're chuckling and the next you're wincing.  This one set in Mt.Pleasant, SC features creepy dolls and haunted puppets, dysfunctional family dynamics, family secrets, and a brother and sister who have never gotten along coming to a new understanding of one another after losing their parents. You'll have to skip over some parts if you feel squeamish about horror-style gore, or skip this alt gether if you don't like anything creepy. This is a fun Halloween read, and ending keeps you on the edge of your seat!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Death of parent

mcmolls's review

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

I had a hard time getting into this, for several reasons. The tense relationship between the two main characters (siblings) hit a little too close to home, and the first half of the book is a very slow burn. I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because once it picks up, it absolutely takes off. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent

socialpsysteph's review

dark emotional mysterious 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

5.0

Grady Hendrix has quickly become an immediate purchase/read author for me. I have loved all of his books. They have the perfect mix of horror and humor. His writing is also just soooo **chef's kiss**; I end up highlighting so many phrases cause they just hit so good.

I was warned that this book contains several of my own personal terrifying horror tropes and that was not a lie. Dolls, eyeballs, hauntings, puppets, this book has it all! It is fantastically creepy and unnerving but also funny and heartfelt. The ending actually made me tear up a little and I totally didn't see that coming; my emotions became very confused in the best way! Highly recommend for all horror fans.

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Content Warnings

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

heckinchimken's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad 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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child abuse and Emotional abuse

fionamclary's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Never thought I'd say "puppet violence" when telling my friends about what I'm currently reading.

I have to say I guessed the twist very early on, which is extremely rare for me, so either I got super lucky or the twist wasn't as subtle as it should have been.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Self harm, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Vomit, and Abandonment

Major themes of children in peril

jayla_hh's review

emotional funny mysterious

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes

3.75

Equally creepy and silly in a fun little back and forth until the very very sad end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death

Moderate: Body horror, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death

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. 

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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...

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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