Reviews tagging 'Death'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

198 reviews

belady147's review against another edition

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

Minor: Death and Child death

vanessamariebooks's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes

4.0

This story is about grief and loss and I liked that Hendrix broke up each section into one of the stages of grief. I also thought it was interesting (and well done) how Hendrix not only shows us how Louise and Mark move through the stages of grief, but also how Pumkin (a puppet) deals with his grief as well. 

In the 3rd act, towards the end, the story started going in a direction I didn't expect and I would've been disappointed if it continued this way (simply because I don't like this trope in supernatural stories), but luckily it didn't and changed directions again (back to what I originally thought was going to happen).

I will say, if you're used to ghost/haunted stories like this, you'll probably see the "twist" at the end coming from the beginning (I knew where this was headed the moment we're introduced to Louise's family), but I still enjoyed it anyway. Something about Hendrix's writing makes you not want to put the book down even when you know what's coming.

Also, while this story does have a gross scene with squirrels, it's definitely not as bad as the rat scene in The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires (though I probably still wouldn't recommend eating while reading this). 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship and Grief

Moderate: Death of parent, Death, and Child death

Minor: Car accident

nicoletiff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Violence, Child death, Medical content, Death, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Death of parent

go2hellstephanie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.0

I really loved this book, and it really caught me off guard.

I've read a couple of other of Hendrix's books and usually I see more comedy that balances out the horror. How to Sell a Haunted House had moments where I could feel my heart racing from terror. And I don't even really find puppets, dolls, or clowns scary.

Hendrix did an amazing job with this story. This story about grief and about family and about secrets. Highly recommend anyone looking for a good horror book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Child death

skersnick's review against another edition

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

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

skyestorme's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

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

Minor: Abandonment, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder

narbine's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective 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: Blood, Abandonment, Death of parent, Medical content, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, and Alcohol

Moderate: Gore, Death, Blood, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, Child death, Grief, Alcohol, and Cursing

Minor: Self harm

justaddwater's review against another edition

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

alxisrae'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? No

5.0

I really enjoyed this book for it being my first “horro” genre book. The ending was just perfect, to me, and the entirely wrapped up the “house” and Louise’s history and trauma coming to a close. 5 stars because Pupkin was too scary good!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Blood, Body horror, Death, and Death of parent

Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, and Cursing

Minor: Child death

wganas4's review against another edition

dark

• 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, Death, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Cursing, Grief, and Violence

Minor: Animal death