Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

489 reviews

yunaquack's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

Marks info dump about Pupkin reads like a fever dream (not the good kind) which turned a five star read into a four star read for me. The last 150 pages or so is where it turned into a 3 star read. Far too long in my opinion, couldn't help but be bored with the supernatural stuff of the story at that point since we had a really thrilling climax in the middle and it became repetitive after.

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Content Warnings

Minor: Body horror, Child death, Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

paronomaniac's review

dark emotional 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Animal death

ineedrhythm's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, and Grief

Moderate: Death and Death of parent

joxinabox's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-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

4.25

A mystery book with a strong premise, a rich and complex cast of characters, and incredible plot twists-- Just what I've been looking for! "How to Sell A Haunted House" is a masterclass in re-contextualization, presenting a reality to you only to completely shatter it later down the line. Each character feels alive and you can really bite into why they are the way they are. Not to mention the twist-- without giving anything away, a good twist is when you can guess a piece of the puzzle but NOT the full picture. The how, but not the why. The when, but not the who. The where, but not the what. Hendrix cleverly sets up your expectations and pays them off all while gesturing your attention away from the bigger truth underneath the truth you've already discovered. Nothing short of genius.

The only reason this gets a 4.25 and not a perfect 5 is because there's a moment near the end where the pacing REALLY starts to drag. It picks up after awhile, but there's a good handful of chapters in the final act where you'll be going "Oh my god, seriously? I thought this was over with already." It does ultimately end in a much more satisfying conclusion to this story with all of the arcs wrapped up in a nice bow, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't take some getting there.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, Torture, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Fatphobia

Tagging as fatphobia as there's a reoccurring bit where someone refers to a character as "Fatboy." Given this character is both an antagonist and a very young child, I assume we're not meant to find this humorous. It doesn't happen very often, but still I figured I'd point it out just in case. There is also extremely graphic eye trauma, Hendrix does not hold back when describing the injury. I can handle a lot but it made me have to take my headphones out while this was being read.

justjessing's review

dark slow-paced

• Loveable characters? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Car accident

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

popham05's review

emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Car accident, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death and Car accident

Minor: Self harm, Medical content, Medical trauma, Toxic friendship, and War

rheagoveas's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Violence, Blood, and Death of parent

box_wine_hero's review

dark emotional 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

5.0

I really loved this book. Generational trauma wrapped in horror is some of my favorite story telling. I enjoyed how the characters developed and how their relationships changed. Without spoiling anything, I liked how the key to solving the books main "problem" involved openly addressing a family's secrets and traumas.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death and Death of parent

Moderate: Toxic relationship, Car accident, and Injury/Injury detail

Spoilers for people who don't like seeing kids hurt.

One scene involves a toddler nearly drowning; the imagery is upsetting, to say the least. Later in the book, a child's death and remains are discussed in heartbreaking detail.

alaris's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death and Car accident

beccathewitch's review

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

I loved this book. It kept me up at night, but probably because I’m a puppeteer and can relate to a lot of the content. I chose this book by accident, not realizing that the thing I love is the villain. I would wake up in the middle of the night and think that my puppets were going to come alive and turn against me. Chef’s kiss on making me terrified. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Cursing, Death, and Blood