Reviews tagging 'Torture'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

34 reviews

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

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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

amputation

,

severed limbs

,

eye trauma

,

needles

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

livnmoore's review against another edition

dark funny reflective 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? Yes

3.5

At its best, it’s a solid 4 star “thriller-lite” story for passing time, with really compelling characters that evoke a lot of emotion. My only problem is the pacing felt inconsistent. It would feel quite slow at times and then jolt along, and then slow up and then jolt ahead, before settling on a good steady pace. Maybe that works toward the thriller feel!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Torture, Blood, Medical content, and Car accident

Minor: Cursing and Alcohol

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

yellowease's review

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

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.

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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.

shubka's review

adventurous challenging dark 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

3.75

This book definitely makes me never want to be around puppets or dolls ever again! Full of twists & turns I never could have guessed. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Emotional abuse, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Torture, Grief, Gaslighting, and Toxic friendship

amy14's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

blackeyedraptor's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

3.5

This book was... Weird, and not in a Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman kind of way. Tbh, I'm kind of disappointed. 
The writing style was fantastic, I would definitely read the authors other works, but I find myself being disappointed in it. 
It went from properly creepy to wannabe slasher fic in about a single chapter, and I hate slashers! They're needlessly gory and when a story has to depend on bloody shock factors, the writing is bad, which is sad because the author has style! I nearly dnf'd at least 3 times, but kept plugging on. 
*Spoilers* 
So turns out, it's not the house that's haunted, even though it initially comes off that way, it's her mom's creepy childhood puppet, who's haunted by her dead uncle who died young. Again, the whole thing felt like it was depending on the shock Factor too much, and was just weird. I love a good spooky ghost story, but I argue that this belongs in that category. If it were a movie, it'd be a slasher, but at least it would get marks for being unpredictable. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Emotional abuse, and Self harm

justaddwater's review

emotional mysterious tense 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

4.0

The first 100 or so pages felt extremely slow, a lot of annoyingness I find common in Grady Hendrix novels. However, after that it ramped up and just kept getting better. As an avid horror lover, it’s been a while since a book kept me up at night, but I couldn’t get the image of

Pupkins pointed hat sticking up over the end of the bed

out of my head. Also felt like the theme of accepting death and teaching children about death was handled very well, with obvious emphasis and mirrors without being heavy handed. 
 If you can make it through the beginning, it definitely worth the read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail