A review by breacommelafromage
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny 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

5.0

WE HAVE OUR FIRST 5-STAR READ OF 2023

Y'all this book fucking slapped. It was so damn good. There is a reason I keep going back to Grady even if one of his previous books doesn't land just the way I expected it to. This book was brilliant, horrific, absurd, and hilarious all wrapped up in one. It was PERFECT.

At its core, this isn't just a ghost story this is a story about grief, generational trauma, dysfunctional families and people's inability to process difficult emotions and therefore they repress them and allow them to fester within. But at its surface, this is a campy paranormal haunting novel about Lousie and Mark Joyner, who are just trying to sell their parents' house after their passing but can't seem to escape the killer puppets and creepy dolls that lurk within. 

Things to know going in: 
- If body horror isn't your cup of tea tread with caution. There is a bit of that in there. I'm not squeamish and there was even a scene in here that had me full-on PACING as I read.
I don't fuck with garbage disposals for this reason


- If you're already in the midst of some heavy grief this might not be the right book for you or at least maybe not right now. I don't think this book was written to intentionally be emotional or poke at grief, but having just lost someone so recently there were a lot of scenes that really hit me hard and quite literally felt like a gut punch. I do not think that was Hendrix's intention, and the average reader wouldn't think twice about those scenes -- so again, just tread with caution ♥

I cannot stress how much I loved this book, and while we're not even 10 days into the new year, I know this is going to be one of those books that just STICKS with me, so I am confident to say that it will end up one of my favorite reads of 2023. It's giving me the same emotional energy as Such Sharp Teeth -- I love authors who have the ability to tackle deeply personal and serious topics with blood, guts, and humor.

Thank you, Grady, for this delightfully deranged book I didn't know I needed!

Thank you to Edelweiss and the publishers for early access to this title for review purposes. 
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