Reviews with content warning for Fire/Fire injury - How to Sell a Haunted House

If you aren’t good with body horror, creepy dolls/puppets, or possession- this book won’t be for you.

However if you’re good with that, you’ll probably love it like I did but also be ready to sleep with a light on and burn any puppet you ever see… speaking for a friend obviously 😂

The only thing that left me wondering is the note in the acknowledgment. About the funeral in the fellowship hall and any tips for the police? What am I missing there?

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czoltak's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

1.0

This felt like a punishment to read

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thatenbyisisreads's review against another edition

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challenging 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

3.75

I loved how Grady Hendrix was able to convey the importance of families working through their issues stemming from generational trauma. In this case, it resulted in a horrific story that later proved that importance in a life or death circumstance.

I related a lot to Louise when it came to her resentment towards her brother, Mark. As someone who grew up as a girl, I can say that Louise was fully justified in her anger towards her parents/brother. This following quote from the book made me have to take a break from reading because of how much it resembled my childhood frustrations. "The point was that her mom had a whole tough-love thing for Louise and let Mark do whatever he wanted and never face any consequences. The point was that she was supposed to look after him and give him everything and never complain, but no one was looking after her. That was the point." It's incredibly heartbreaking to grow up with this resentment only for the adults in my life to understand that resentment only when it directly affected them.

I thought that incorporating the 5 stages of grief into the storyline was beautifully done, and really expressed those emotions during whichever situation the characters found themselves in.

However, I did find a couple of things to be offensive and for Grady, to learn from moving forward. In the beginning of the book, I'm sure it's meant with the intention of the reader to dislike Mark as he can be an insufferable, immature man who says ignorant things from time to time. In both of these instances, there's mentions of cultural appropriation when it came to Mark suggesting that they "sage" the house and his recommendation of doing a Hindu ritual for his white parents' funeral. He had also thought it was okay to compare their parents' house to the conditions in Afghanistan.

I'm the type of person who refuses to have porcelain or ventriloquist dolls in my house because of stories like this. I'd like to learn the easy way instead of the hard way. Overall, I thought this story was written with an exceptional build up that had me wanting more after I had put the book down.

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gaiadances's review against another edition

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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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cc_shelflove's review against another edition

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dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

Well, that was something. This week, I learned what a radical puppet collective is, and I really wish I hadn’t. 😅 This book was CREEPY! Grady Hendrix is a mastermind. I was instantly transported into a world reminiscent of that in a classic King novel; Pet Sematary, anyone? For me personally, the story didn’t actually begin to pick up until about 200 pages in. I am totally okay with never reading the phrase ‘Kakawewe!’ again. Shit was terrifying. Also, why was the ending of this book so emotional? I mean that in a good way… it was an element that I had not expected from a horror novel. My fourth Hendrix read and while it was not my favorite, it was definitely worth my time.

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julieyael's review against another edition

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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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vercopaanir's review against another edition

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dark mysterious tense medium-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

Not what I expected based on the reviews I’ve seen! Some of the dialogue tags were repetitive and annoying to me as I listened to the audiobook version, but the story was compelling and captivating even when it didn’t totally make sense to me.

How did Pupkin bring Spider to life!?

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karly_ackley's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

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