Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

98 reviews

fionamclary's review against another edition

dark emotional funny sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

Never thought I'd say "puppet violence" when telling my friends about what I'm currently reading.

I have to say I guessed the twist very early on, which is extremely rare for me, so either I got super lucky or the twist wasn't as subtle as it should have been.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Alcoholism, Mental illness, Vomit, and Abandonment

Major themes of children in peril

vixenreader's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.25

An exciting, and yet heartfelt, horror novel of how failing to address the grievances of the past will come back to haunt generations to come. Plus if you are afraid of dolls and puppets, this book is nightmare-fuel. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Emotional abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Bullying, Child death, Gun violence, Vomit, Car accident, Murder, Gaslighting, Abandonment, and Alcohol

Minor: Racism, Xenophobia, Pregnancy, and War

Be aware that this book features estrangement within families, unstable sibling relationships, unresolved generational trauma, children drowning, cult-like behaviour, 9/11 and the Iraq War, bad exes, mother-daughter relationships, sewing needles as weapons, eyeball trauma, and killer dolls/puppets/imaginary dogs.

the_vegan_bookworm's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad slow-paced

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

3.75

Gardy Hendrix is such a talented writer and he's a master of his craft. This book exemplifies that. This book was genuinely scary, tapped into some very real feelings around family dynamics and grief, and it was an interesting premise and execution.

With this said, this was kind of meh for me. I didn't care for any of the characters , especially Louise, and the plot felt like it really dragged on. I also found the ending to be fine, but nothing really emotional or grounding.

Also the M&M scene was so weird and I could have lived without "sensual" as a descriptor of rubbing candy on a child puppet's mouth...

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Animal cruelty and Animal death

carbinara's review

dark emotional hopeful mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

Such a fun halloween read! I was perhaps after a little more mystery and a little less on the nose, but to be honest that’s my own fault; I know Hendrix tends to write quite explicit on the page scares. Clearly not that much of an issue though, as I always finish his books having enjoyed reading them. 

Loved the relationship between Louise and her daughter,

especially how it effected how she treated Pupkin come the end of the story. I’m glad after all the horror we still have this little nugget of warmth to sign off on.

Also in general loved the extended family and Mark, although Mercy was a personal favourite. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Self harm, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Toxic friendship

allisonsmith120's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Self harm, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

Minor: Animal death, Vomit, Pregnancy, and Alcohol

elindseyr190's review against another edition

dark emotional 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Car accident, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting

meganmoisant's review against another edition

dark tense

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Medical content, Car accident, Death of parent, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Alcoholism, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Alcohol, and War

clrouse's review against another edition

dark funny mysterious tense fast-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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Child death, Medical content, and Car accident

Minor: Cursing, Drug use, Mental illness, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

therewillbelight's review against another edition

dark funny tense fast-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

4.25

The creepy puppet book made me cry. How. 

I’m not a huge thriller book fan, but this is one of the best I’ve read. It was creepy but the smaller elements of humor and the depth in the exploration of grief and who we leave behind and the relationships we have in our families really got me. It actually made me cry towards the end

(“that’s how you know you’re real”)

and I’m a sucker for horror/thriller that uses the genre to reflect back on human experience. It’s dark and creepy and sinister but somehow without losing its grounding in what it means to be a human.

Such an interesting read, this wasn’t what I expected at all. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Violence, Death of parent, and Alcohol

Minor: Animal death, Drug use, Mental illness, Self harm, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

kaneebli's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense slow-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

3.0

weird

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Death of parent, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Ableism, Mental illness, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Fire/Fire injury and Abandonment