Reviews tagging 'Medical content'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

91 reviews

apoppyinthewind's review

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? It's complicated

4.0

The basic premise is that main character Louise gets the call no one wants to get and learns both of her parents have died in a car accident. She has to go back home to deal with the funeral, the estate, and the messed up family she's kept at a distance since moving away decades ago. Her younger and only sibling is the most difficult part as they continually bicker over the estate and past hurts/trauma but it gets a whole lot worse their mother's doll & puppet collection seem to be moving on their own.

So yeah, if horror series like Puppet Master and Chucky freaked you out you'll certainly find this story creepy. Be forewarned there is some eye stuff and body mutilation. And a fuck ton of grief and trauma over losing a parent/parents.

If you've ever had to go through an estate process you may relate hard to Louise's exhaustion and sorrow. At least I did and I think the author accurately captured the experience. My only complaints are: One, I felt like it dragged a bit near the end when Louise's daughter Poppy became a larger part of the story and two, while Mark's background reveal was interesting (and makes me want to know more about radical puppets) it felt disconnected from the story especially with the big reveal at the end. Like, what happened to Louise & Poppy makes sense with the reveal but Mark's made less sense once you know the real reason all these things happened.

Still, I'd recommend it especially if you already like Hendrix's other books.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Gun violence

snazzy10101's review against another edition

challenging 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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Self harm, Medical content, Medical trauma, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

maggieoc_x's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad 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? It's complicated

4.0

i love a camp demonic puppet moment.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Cursing, Self harm, Medical content, Stalking, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Pregnancy and Alcohol

korikam's review

dark emotional 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: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Alcohol

stardustvein's review

dark emotional funny reflective sad 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Mental illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Abandonment

glutenfreemaggie's review

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? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

This book FR terrified me I almost didn’t keep reading but I’m glad I did it was fascinating 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Abandonment, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad medium-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

horizonous's review against another edition

I was just so bored. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Medical content and Fire/Fire injury

lovelymisanthrope's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I was originally saving this book to read during peak spooky season in October, but I could not resist picking it up during Summerween.
"How to Sell a Haunted House" follows Louise, a single mom to a beautiful, young daughter. Louise left her life in Charleston behind for a new life on the west coast, and she hardly looks back. Especially because she has a very strained relationship with her younger brother, Mark. Louise feels like her parents favored Mark and always made his life easier, and Louise is resentful. One night, completely out of the blue, Mark calls Louise to inform her that both of their parents were killed in a car accident. Now, Louise and Mark have to decide together what to do with their parents' home, filled to the brim with puppets that haunted their childhoods.
Prior to reading this novel, I was quite ambivalent towards puppets, but now, I am kind of weary. These puppets are so unsettling, and especially the fact that there are so many in one home. Learning how much their mom loved one particular puppet, Pumpkin, makes the story all the more unsettling.
One of my favorite aspects of this book was the brother sister dynamic between Louise and Mark. Their relationship is very strained, and it is not too far off to say that they really hate each other at the beginning. I even really empathized with Louise in the beginning because Mark seemed like such a wreck of a human being. But the more I learned about the story and the more I learned what Louise did not know, made me really grow to enjoy Mark as a character, and feel badly for him. I ended up really rooting for them to work together and mend their relationship.
As with all of Grady Hendrix's books, this story is unsettling and has some very graphic scenes. There is one particular scene involving a needle that I cannot erase from my brain, no matter how much I try. I really enjoyed this story, and I will forever pick up Grady Hendrix's titles in the future.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Pregnancy

dogearedbooks's review

dark emotional 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Death of parent

Moderate: Car accident