Scan barcode
lcyarnall1's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Animal death, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, and Gore
Moderate: Death of parent, Grief, Death, and Animal death
thanksfrthemoomeries's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-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
I’ve now read 3 of Grady Hendrix’s books and this one is my favorite this far. I actually thought as I read it “oh, so he can write a good book!” Compared to the other two I’ve read, Final Girl Support Group and A Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, I found this book to be the most entertaining and well-written. It was still predictable, but I had more fun reading this and I believe the story played out better than the other books of his I’ve read. One thing Hendrix always manages to do is make me squirm and pause my reading, so at least that is consistent.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Medical trauma, Grief, Gore, and Death of parent
Moderate: Self harm, Injury/Injury detail, Excrement, and Vomit
Minor: Animal death
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
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Child abuse, Body horror, Gore, Violence, and Self harm
Moderate: Animal death, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, and Gaslighting
thekeyescollection's review against another edition
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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Animal death, and Death
omair's review against another edition
dark
medium-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? No
1.5
Coming in at over 400 pages, you would think the the tension from the haunt(s) would be tense and prolonged. But you would be wrong. It left me with a feeling of having read a Goosebumps book, just without the camp and instead a lot of arrogance.
Which is my main contention with the book. The characters spend so much of it in a stubborn, hubris driven interpersonal conflict that it is hard to like any of them for me. To go so many years without seeing your family and to continuously only treat them as if they are the same people they were all those years ago with zero possibility of growing is not a problem with them, it is a problem with you.
I was interested early on, butafter the excruciating detail in which the home and the puppets were described, I was severely disappointed at how blurry the details of the first attack were. No matter, I thought, we're finally to the good part! Nope. Back to the interpersonal relationship drama for pages on end.
Maybe if you like either or both of the main characters, the book would become much more interesting. I did not, so instead,the repeated arguing was just mud to trudge through. The abrupt shift to the brother's story with a whole chapter of backstory just to get to the reveal that's supposed to be the driver in repairing the sibling relationship was awful. Nearly had to DNF just reading through so much inconsequential mess.
For a title about a haunted house,there is surprisingly little haunted about the house itself. Or at least that's what you'll believe for 85%. It gets there in the end by pulling some huge shift with zero build up, but regardless this is way more just a haunted puppet story.
Which I can get over... if the puppet was actually memorable, or frightening, or in any way a strong villain in itself. It is not. Maybe if you find someone yelling peepee poopoo funny, then you might find this book worth it. Otherwise probably not.
Honestly, I should've gone with the DNF about 2/3 of the way through when the first "ending" was reached. I would've missedsome of the important details, the actual emotional resolution, and the only redeeming parts of the story , but I'd make that trade. The "twist" felt so forced, like it was written with a future movie franchise in mind, but even straight-to-DVD would be too good for this. Instead, the "twist" just opened up significant questions (to put it kindly, otherwise just call them plot holes) .
Like Mark's driving, I really feel Grady should just slow down and pick the right lane.If it's a story about a haunted house, then give us the fear of time in the house experiencing the unnerving. If the story is about an evil puppet, then give us a layered evil that builds to the final standoff. If it's about an otherwise innocent ghost, then give it a more human, nuanced, arc or, at least, give us a reason to believe it would just resort to killing at every opportunity. But in every case, leave out Spider (an imaginary-but-also-real fantasy dog). And leave out the puppet golem.
Those are huge departures from everything else in the story and make a complete mess of the rules of your world. To me, that's where most horror dies its fastest death. Ghosts, zombies, evil puppets, magic, whatever fantastical elements are part of your world - and they are totally valid to have - have to have developed and consistent co-existence with our real world. There has to be some guiding principles, laws, to abide by. Without that, your world will fall flat and lose me from the audience. For anyone else like me, walk away from this book and fast.
Which is my main contention with the book. The characters spend so much of it in a stubborn, hubris driven interpersonal conflict that it is hard to like any of them for me. To go so many years without seeing your family and to continuously only treat them as if they are the same people they were all those years ago with zero possibility of growing is not a problem with them, it is a problem with you.
I was interested early on, but
Maybe if you like either or both of the main characters, the book would become much more interesting. I did not, so instead,
For a title about a haunted house,
Which I can get over... if the puppet was actually memorable, or frightening, or in any way a strong villain in itself. It is not.
Honestly, I should've gone with the DNF about 2/3 of the way through when the first "ending" was reached. I would've missed
Like Mark's driving, I really feel Grady should just slow down and pick the right lane.
Those are huge departures from everything else in the story and make a complete mess of the rules of your world. To me, that's where most horror dies its fastest death. Ghosts, zombies, evil puppets, magic, whatever fantastical elements are part of your world - and they are totally valid to have - have to have developed and consistent co-existence with our real world. There has to be some guiding principles, laws, to abide by. Without that, your world will fall flat and lose me from the audience. For anyone else like me, walk away from this book and fast.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death
Moderate: Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Car accident, and Death of parent
Minor: Animal death and Child abuse
sarah984's review against another edition
dark
emotional
slow-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
2.5
I enjoyed parts of this, but I always want to like Grady Hendrix's books more than I end up doing. This was way too long and felt like it spent a lot of time spinning its wheels, the characters felt like they were mostly acting however it was needed to keep the plot moving, and a few plot points strained credulity even keeping in mind it's a horror novel. The anarchist puppet collective putting on a show critical of the Bush admin in the immediate post 9/11 era to third graders and then a group of people dressed as clowns with a puppet trash one of the teachers’ houses and no one ever reacts to this or talks about it?? This would have been bigger than the killer clown craze in 2016.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Child death, and Death of parent
Moderate: Ableism, Car accident, Gore, Violence, Fatphobia, and Medical content
Minor: Vomit, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Gun violence, Suicidal thoughts, Alcohol, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, Religious bigotry, and Self harm
dr_aimz's review
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
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? No
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness
Moderate: Child death, Death, and Grief
Minor: Animal death
alexisgarcia's review against another edition
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
this was pretty good but a little too silly to really scare me. i’ve never thought dolls were scary so this didn’t get to me that much, i also thought the ending was kind of out of nowhere?? idk. i do love Hendrix’s writing though.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Ableism, Addiction, Alcohol, Animal death, Murder, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, Animal cruelty, Alcoholism, Cursing, Gore, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Body horror, Death, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Mental illness, Toxic friendship, and Violence
apoppyinthewind'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? 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.
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Death of parent, Grief, Vomit, Toxic relationship, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Car accident, Child death, Death, and Medical content
Minor: Gun violence