REVIEW: HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE

Title: How to Sell a Haunted House
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Bub | Books-A-Million | Goodreads | Google Play | Kobo | Story Graph

Author: Grady Hendrix
Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter

Publisher: Berkley

Date Published: January 17, 2023

Pages: 419

Genres: Fiction, Horror, Paranormal, Thriller

Obtained: Purchased

Format: Hardcover

Synopsis:

Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past—and your family—can haunt you like nothing else.

When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn’t want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn’t want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father’s academic career and her mother’s lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn’t want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world.

Most of all, she doesn’t want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she’ll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it’ll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market.

But some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…

My Review:

Estranged siblings Louise and Mark suddenly find themselves back at their childhood home after both of their parents die in a car accident after leaving in a hurry one rainy night. Almost suddenly after returning, Louise begins to have odd events happen to her. Being attacked by a squirrel nativity is one of them. After a fight with her brother, the pair call on their realtor cousin to help them sell the house. The hiccup? It’s haunted, and no one wants to buy a haunted house. So they decide to cleanse the home of every single one of their mother’s dolls, art, and puppets. Including Pupkin. As they reached the locked attic, the siblings find something both of them have been trying to burry into their past, never to be confronted again. There are a lot of questions…Can they explain their past behaviour? Can they find redemption? Can Louise protect her daughter from a family curse? And why did their parents leave the house like they did the night of the accident?

This was my first Grady Hendrix book, so I wasn’t sure what I was getting into. At first, I was excited to read this book. Then, when I started it, I was let-down, I wasn’t enjoying it. It wasn’t until I got to “Depression,” that I started to love it, and let me tell you, that’s far into the book, like almost to the end. But I was glad I hung in there and finished it. The more I read, the more I realised just how phenomenal Hendrix’s writing skills are. And there are twists and turns I didn’t see coming. In short, it’s a great read (I’m only giving it 4 stars, because it took so long in the book to find it enjoyable) and if you’re a fan of films like Annabelle and Child’s Play, I would look into this book.

Random side note: I felt bad for Pupkin, he was misunderstood.

My Rating: