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maggiekateb's review against another edition
dark
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail
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, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal death and Child abuse
thetinyhealer's review against another edition
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
This book was pretty interesting and strange. I never thought I'd listen to an audiobook about haunted puppets, but here we are.
This was a story about loss and generational trauma told as two dysfunctional siblings try to uncover the mysteries surrounding their familial past and strange happenings in their deceased parent's house.
There are some things about this story that just don't make sense, and there are some pretty unforgivable things the characters do that seem to just get glossed over and are never mentioned again. I also don't believe the redemption arc in certain characters that I think we're supposed to feel. The story kept my attention but it also had me frequently thinking, really? I'm supposed to be scared of puppets? It could make a good PG-13 movie for spooky season, but I wouldn't go super out of my way to recommend this book to a friend.
On the positive side? I think this author did a great job of writing a strong, sensible and independent FMC. And I appreciated that she was a meaningful character on her own, without needing any kind of romantic relationship in her story. This book also kept me interested pretty consistently. It normally takes me a while to get through audoobooks but I ripped through this one within a couple of days. A very strange concept, but a ride of a book for sure.
Trigger warning! There are a few gory scenes. May include: eyes, limbs, blood.
This was a story about loss and generational trauma told as two dysfunctional siblings try to uncover the mysteries surrounding their familial past and strange happenings in their deceased parent's house.
There are some things about this story that just don't make sense, and there are some pretty unforgivable things the characters do that seem to just get glossed over and are never mentioned again. I also don't believe the redemption arc in certain characters that I think we're supposed to feel. The story kept my attention but it also had me frequently thinking, really? I'm supposed to be scared of puppets? It could make a good PG-13 movie for spooky season, but I wouldn't go super out of my way to recommend this book to a friend.
On the positive side? I think this author did a great job of writing a strong, sensible and independent FMC. And I appreciated that she was a meaningful character on her own, without needing any kind of romantic relationship in her story. This book also kept me interested pretty consistently. It normally takes me a while to get through audoobooks but I ripped through this one within a couple of days. A very strange concept, but a ride of a book for sure.
Trigger warning! There are a few gory scenes. May include: eyes, limbs, blood.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Gore, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Domestic abuse, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Gun violence and Vomit
andyandnormski's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
As much as I wanted to like this book, it fell flat for me. The dust jacket more or less promised a haunted house story. What I got instead was a possessed puppet, and while the reveal of its origins at the end was well written, the puppet itself came out of left field a little too fast for me. It felt jarring when, up until that point, over half the story revolved around the siblings and a haunting sense of foreboding. Once the puppet arrived on the scene, it went from feeling somber to slapstick horror. I think my problem was there was no sense of build-up towards the puppet being alive and to the extreme levels that it was.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Child death, Emotional abuse, Blood, and Gaslighting
Minor: Violence
sshpurple1's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Bullying, Death, Gore, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Minor: Car accident
sshpurple1's review against another edition
dark
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Toxic relationship, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Death, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Abandonment
oktrouble1401213's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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
2.75
I really liked the idea of this book, it felt really fresh and unique. However, something about the execution of it made it difficult for me to get through. I felt the second half dragged on a lot. The first half was a great time and the ending was alright, but this is definitely my least favourite Hendrix book so far.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Body horror, Child death, and Car accident
kgartung's review against another edition
dark
medium-paced
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
honeybeewitched87's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
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: Child death, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Ableism, Fatphobia, Gore, Violence, Medical content, and Car accident
Minor: Animal death, Confinement, Gun violence, Self harm, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Sexual harassment