How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
How to Sell a Haunted House
by Grady Hendrix
Horror | Thriller | Fiction
419 Pages
Released January 2023
Rating: ★★★★★
Goodreads
Content Warnings
This is the second book I’ve read by Grady Hendrix (the first being The Final Girl Support Group) but this one is hands-down my favorite so far.
The book opens with Louise receiving a call from her brother, Mark, letting her know her parents have suddenly passed away in a tragic car accident. Louise does not have a close relationship with Mark, with Louise strongly resenting Mark for the different ways they were raised (Louise being a sort of stereotypical older sibling - mature, responsible, driven, and Mark being more of a deadbeat - failing out of college and get fired job after job).
Begrudgingly, Louise flies home to help settle her family’s affairs but in doing so, Louise will need to address old memories and events that lead to her leaving home to begin with.
This book’s description and title is a bit misleading, for I would not call this a haunted house story - which is ok, I absolutely loved the direction that it went in instead. This book is a haunted puppet story, which, for me, was everything that I never knew I wanted.
I love that this book made me question Louise’s sanity. I love that this book basically weaponized the imagination and fears of children. I cannot go into too many details, because really I just highly recommend going into this with a relatively blind eye. It gave me Bunny vibes in the sense of this weird, psychotic departure from reality but in the best way possible. It’s definitely not going to be for everyone, but I could not put this one down.