Reviews tagging 'Panic attacks/disorders'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

20 reviews

faduma's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Drug use, Gaslighting, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Alcohol, Gore, Death, Death of parent, Drug abuse, Emotional abuse, Abandonment, Child abuse, Torture, Animal cruelty, Body shaming, Physical abuse, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, and Forced institutionalization

bookishcookiemonster's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

As far as horror stories go, it qas predictable, but still unnerving and some moments were definitely downright terrifying. 
I enjoyed it! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Self harm, Child death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Torture, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Grief, Death, Gore, Blood, Body horror, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, and Violence

Minor: Gun violence

gaiadances's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

brilliant horror writing - at some points i literally had to skim through the descriptions of gore and violence because i was too scared to picture it in my mind. i loved how the book was organised via the 5 stages of grief and it genuinely went in depth exploring how denial, trauma and grief can be carried across generations affecting families long after people have passed. the realism of the family drama made it slightly tough for me to suspend disbelief about the puppets and dolls coming to life but i thought this showed the strength of grady’s writing. i loved that we got to see two very fully fleshed out characters with great complexity and backstories. the first conflict with the dolls/puppets was expected but the second twist really shocked me. i thought the story was well wrapped up, not too neatly but with the slight tinge of mess that marks every family 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Self harm, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death of parent and Child death

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders

julieyael's review against another edition

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? It's complicated

3.75

3.5 stars but rounded up

This is a book that I took time to really appreciate. 
The first half of it (that’s the first 200 pages!) were just ok. It’s a bit slow and I did not care too much for the characters. 
For a moment, I even thought about not finishing the book, because I felt that this was not what I expected from the story. 

But then it becomes more intriguing and you feel that there is more to it. 
When you enter the last third of the book, it becomes hard to leave it. 
I wished the slow part of the begining was not that long, because it’s all well written and you feel the creepy atmosphere building up. 

In the end, the book kept its promises, it’s a fun and creepy horror novel, with a good dose of paranormal, and a light touch of gory details (very light, but I guess it can be triggering for some people)

So I would recommend it, if you are ready to spend some time on the first part which is less exciting and a bit long to my taste. 
The second half of it really deserves a good 4 stars.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Violence, Death, Car accident, Physical abuse, Child death, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Gore

Minor: Abandonment, Alcohol, Panic attacks/disorders, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Mental illness, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Vomit

sarahyjackson's review against another edition

dark mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

Grady Hendrix’s tinkering with horror tropes continues to be so good.  I loved the horrorfication of generational trauma and the line “to mother is to manipulate” was a punch to the gut. 

The final act was a little bit drawn out for me, but the last line was perfect. 

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Vomit, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Fatphobia

darumachan's review against another edition

dark funny lighthearted mysterious tense fast-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

4.5

I enjoyed the dark humor and wild twists.  The sibling relationship went through just as many rollercoaster swoops as the plot, but was touching and rang true in how they connected. This was a total romp with plenty of good suspense, peril, and creepy thrills along the way. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Schizophrenia/Psychosis and Medical trauma

Moderate: Self harm, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Death of parent, and Emotional abuse

Dissociation

aniwillow's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• 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: Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Death of parent, and Death

Moderate: Child death and Confinement

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Panic attacks/disorders, Mental illness, and Gun violence

alittleliterary's review against another edition

challenging dark 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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Gore, Death, Blood, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Body horror, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Self harm, Murder, and Grief

aprilbethp's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

3.5

I’m a huge Grady Hendrix fan but this was my least favorite of his books.

Listen, I enjoy camp but this was just over the top. I usually love how Hendrix is able to blend camp humor and horror together. The problem for me was that there wasn’t one moment I was scared for the characters. There were a lot of “well, that’s gross and horrific” moments of body gore but not many if any moments of “how are they gonna survive this” moments.

I appreciated the themes of generational trauma and family systems. I always love how Hendrix tackles bigger issues with compassion, humor, and spot on analysis. I also appreciated how unlikeable most characters are because sometimes when in a family you see too much of what makes our own family members, ourselves included, unlikeable. Yet, we still love them. Those dynamics rang true to me.

But the haunting of puppets…

Pupkin

was so ridiculous that everything

he

said and did,  it just wasn’t scary. And while humor is key to all of Hendrix’s books, this humor pulled me out of the story. I like horror that feels realistic even if it contains implausible creatures. I would have perhaps been able to go with it more had

Pupkin not been a hand puppet. Maybe a regular doll or regular ventriloquist dummy? I don’t know the Pupkin commedia masks made sense to me. Completely coverage of the puppeteers the swallowing of them whole. But a small hand puppet made for a child’s hand

…
it was too silly for my brain to take seriously. 

But I did enjoy the read even if no thrills were had. I laughed some. I did cringe at the body gore. I appreciated the themes. I give it a better than average score of 3.5. It achieved what it needed to if not in a fashion I would have hoped for. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Self harm, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Panic attacks/disorders, Grief, Body horror, Blood, Death, Medical trauma, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Gun violence, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

soshereads_'s review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I am not sure what I just read but I am HERE FOR IT. I really want to get into Henrix’s brain and see how his mind works because how one person could come up with this book is beyond me. I never get scared by books but this creeped me the f*ck out. I still stayed up late reading it through. I didn’t want it to end! One moment you think it has to be done but the next a whole other off the wall thing happens that’s even more outlandish than the last. I will never look at puppets or squirrels the same way!
I promise it’s better to go into reading this book without knowing a lot. It’s much better that way!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Self harm, Death of parent, Child death, and Death

Moderate: Confinement

Minor: Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic relationship, Torture, Fatphobia, and Gun violence