Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

75 reviews

cj13's review

dark emotional tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death of parent and Alcohol

fkshg8465's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I remember the TV ads for Chucky when I was in high school and being so freaked out by just the commercials and posters. This book is full of the same heebie jeebies.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Cancer, Child death, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

tabea1409's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

witchofthemountains's review

dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, Mental illness, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Cursing, Fatphobia, Genocide, and War

belady147's review

dark emotional 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

3.75

I know I only rated this book 3.75 stars, but I couldn’t put it down while I was reading it. I had to figure out what happened next. My one complaint that knocked this book down from 4 stars was the pacing. There’s a climax about halfway or a little more through the book that felt like a final climax so it was strange to have so much book left. The second climax - the actual final climax - kind of felt like a repeat of the first one but with a better resolution. I didn’t like that, but generally liked everything else or at least wasn’t bothered by anything else  enough to have it effect my reading experience. 

My last comment is that the title of the book is a bit misleading. This is not a typical haunted house book, it’s more like Chucky. That didn’t bother me much, but it might bother someone else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Grief, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death and Death

skersnick's review

adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Medical content, Car accident, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

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

annieisawesome's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Very good. Parts of it were predictable, but there were enough surprises that it was still interesting. 

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Content Warnings

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

Minor: Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Child death, Death, Drug use, Torture, Car accident, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

hopesux's review

dark emotional funny mysterious 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

5.0

Wonderful book. Gripping and exciting. Made me cry in the end.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

ajay913's review

dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Mental illness and Gaslighting

Minor: Cursing, Self harm, Car accident, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol