Reviews tagging 'Gaslighting'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

63 reviews

maukingbird's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

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

4.5

One of the most upsetting yet wonderful books I've read.

A rollercoaster of experiences. Sad, angry, scared, disgusted... It challenges what you think of the characters and what you think you know about the world they inhabit.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, Self harm, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Grief

Moderate: Car accident, Gaslighting, Murder, Animal death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Death

queersubtext's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective sad 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Child death, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Abandonment and Car accident

Minor: Fire/Fire injury

johnnalasswell's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Death of parent and Death

Minor: Animal cruelty, Child death, Medical content, and Self harm

teafrog's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gaslighting, Death of parent, Violence, Gore, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Pregnancy

haileyhardcover's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-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

5.0

How to Sell A Haunted House tells the story of Louise and her brother, Mark, who are grappling with the sudden, violent death of their parents… and all of the many secrets they left behind. This is more than a horror story. It’s about grief, complex family relationships, generational trauma, secrets, and puppets. 

So much about this book surprised me in the best way. I wouldn’t say it was scary, per se, but it definitely made my heart race! Multiple times, my jaw dropped, my eyes bulged, and I pterodactyl-screeched at what I was reading. There is another chilling surprise around every corner, and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Mental illness, Emotional abuse, Gaslighting, Cursing, Murder, and Physical abuse

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Pregnancy, and Self harm

gopackandstats's review against another edition

dark funny sad tense medium-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Medical trauma, Body horror, Gore, Car accident, Death, Physical abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Toxic relationship, and Animal death

Moderate: Murder, Gaslighting, Child death, Vomit, and Death of parent

Minor: Alcohol, Drug use, and Animal death

rocketsaurus's review against another edition

challenging dark funny mysterious 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Self harm

Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Gaslighting

thetinyhealer's review against another edition

mysterious 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? Yes

3.0

This book was pretty interesting and strange. I never thought I'd listen to an audiobook about haunted puppets, but here we are. 

This was a story about loss and generational trauma told as two dysfunctional siblings try to uncover the mysteries surrounding their familial past and strange happenings in their deceased parent's house.

There are some things about this story that just don't make sense, and there are some pretty unforgivable things the characters do that seem to just get glossed over and are never mentioned again. I also don't believe the redemption arc in certain characters that I think we're supposed to feel. The story kept my attention but it also had me frequently thinking, really? I'm supposed to be scared of puppets? It could make a good PG-13 movie for spooky season, but I wouldn't go super out of my way to recommend this book to a friend.

On the positive side? I think this author did a great job of writing a strong, sensible and independent FMC. And I appreciated that she was a meaningful character on her own, without needing any kind of romantic relationship in her story. This book also kept me interested pretty consistently. It normally takes me a while to get through audoobooks but I ripped through this one within a couple of days. A very strange concept, but a ride of a book for sure. 



Trigger warning! There are a few gory scenes. May include: eyes, limbs, blood. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence

Moderate: Domestic abuse, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, Murder, and Gaslighting

Minor: Vomit and Gun violence

more detail on trigger warnings: eye gets stabbed with a needle, dismembered limb, multiple hospital scenes, scenes where people are scratched or cut bloody by a knife or claws, building burned down with people inside, multiple attempted / successful murders of children by other children, generational trauma that relatives refuse to acknowledge, parental death, child death, and the brother constantly being a complete and utter jerk to his grieving sister.

andyandnormski's review against another edition

dark sad medium-paced

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

2.5

As much as I wanted to like this book, it fell flat for me. The dust jacket more or less promised a haunted house story. What I got instead was a possessed puppet, and while the reveal of its origins at the end was well written, the puppet itself came out of left field a little too fast for me. It felt jarring when, up until that point, over half the story revolved around the siblings and a haunting sense of foreboding. Once the puppet arrived on the scene, it went from feeling somber to slapstick horror. I think my problem was there was no sense of build-up towards the puppet being alive and to the extreme levels that it was. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Toxic relationship, Death, Gore, Death of parent, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Gaslighting, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Gaslighting, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Child death

Minor: Violence

sshpurple1's review against another edition

dark sad medium-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? It's complicated

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Blood

Moderate: Gore, Toxic relationship, Fire/Fire injury, Bullying, Death of parent, Gaslighting, Violence, Murder, and Death

Minor: Car accident