Reviews tagging 'Death of parent'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

483 reviews

elliebasta's review against another edition

dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, and Self harm

bananavana's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death, Cursing, Grief, Car accident, and Death of parent

Minor: Gun violence

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

yellowease's review against another edition

dark emotional funny 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? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Torture, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

mindins's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.25

Me gustó caleta, sólo que había partes en las que me costó como tomarla en serio, me daba un poquito de gracia, pero nunca estuve aburrida, lo mejor?  La vida de Mark, amé su personaje.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Violence, and Death of parent

chaoticgobzy's review against another edition

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Domestic abuse, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Moderate: Child death, Physical abuse, Self harm, Toxic relationship, Violence, Suicide attempt, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

whatsnewkaseyroo's review against another edition

dark medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Grief, Medical trauma, Car accident, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

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 against another edition

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