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How to Sell a Haunted House
AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "Wildly entertaining."-The New York Times "Ingenious."-The Washington Post New York Times bestselling author Grady Hendrix takes on the haunted house in a thrilling new novel that explores the way your past--and your family--can haunt you like nothing else. When Louise finds out her parents have died, she dreads going home. She doesn't want to leave her daughter with her ex and fly to Charleston. She doesn't want to deal with her family home, stuffed to the rafters with the remnants of her father's academic career and her mother's lifelong obsession with puppets and dolls. She doesn't want to learn how to live without the two people who knew and loved her best in the world. Most of all, she doesn't want to deal with her brother, Mark, who never left their hometown, gets fired from one job after another, and resents her success. Unfortunately, she'll need his help to get the house ready for sale because it'll take more than some new paint on the walls and clearing out a lifetime of memories to get this place on the market. But some houses don't want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them... Like his novels The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Final Girl Support Group, How to Sell a Haunted House is classic Hendrix: equal parts heartfelt and terrifying--a gripping new read from "the horror master" (USA Today).
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Community Reviews
This book is a deep inner look at what happens when your parents die and you have to go on without them. It is a book about grief and family secrets that get unearthed unexpectedly. It leaves you on the edge of your seat till the very end.
"There's the stone tape theory of hauntings, which says that powerful emotional experiences leave permanent traces behind. There's basic thermodynamics: energy cannot be created or destroyed. So what happens to the energy generated by intense emotional experiences? It has to go somewhere. That's just science."
Characters - 6
Atmosphere - 9
Writing - 7
Plot - 6
Intrigue - 10
Logic - 6
Enjoyment - 7
Characters
You might find this funny, but the character I related to and liked the most is the father of our main characters, Mark and Louise. Yeah, the guy who we never actually "meet" - the book opens with Louise getting a call from her brother Mark that their parents were killed in a car accident. Some of the memories the siblings have of him, as well as things they remembered him saying, are things I say or think. I felt he would have been a kindred spirit.
I also liked mostly the secondary characters - the cousins, Aunts and Barb.
As far as the rest of the characters....didn't care. Mark and Louise bickered incessantly and got on my last nerve.
Atmosphere
I love haunted house settings! Grady Hendrix did a fantastic job describing this house, its ambiance, the scenes that took place, noises, shadows - honestly, I was almost panting with fear a few times. I also had trouble sleeping after certain chapters...lol I swear I could feel the malevolence wafting up from the pages.
Writing
No complaints here, Hendrix has a nice, easy to read and follow writing style.
Plot
I can't get into too much detail here because of spoilers. What I will say is that while a lot of the plot points do get explained, there are some pretty big holes that were flat out ignored and left unaddressed that left the story a little bit incomplete. Now, this is subjective - not everyone may be as curious as me or have their brain jump immediately from: Okay, so this is the result....but wait - how did this even start exactly?
I would also say the first 30% of this book is a super slow burn. There were maybe 3-4 lines regarding the house that gave the vibe something was off kilter, which is what kept me turning pages, but I did consider DNF-ing about 25% of the way in. It felt like the entire book was going to be the siblings fighting over the estate and I'd had enough of their bickering. So glad I kept going a little longer though!
Intrigue
Once this sucker shifted gears into the good stuff - I couldn't put this one down. I was reading late into the night, even though I was spooked to high heaven, but even then - knowing I'd be scared to go to sleep - I didn't want to stop. It's rare that a book will keep me that involved late into the night. I'm old - I barely make it past 10:30 these days, lol!
Logic
I mean, this is a story about a haunted house that is supernatural/paranormal in nature. Logic doesn't factor into it much, does it? Some suspension of belief is required, which I can do - provided you make it make sense. Hendrix did a pretty good job with this one mostly, but he tanked pretty hard in a couple places. One section, if I'd been his editor, I would have advised him to just cut. It just made the story take a turn into B movie territory. If removed, readers would never know as it wasn't needed to flesh out the book.
Enjoyment
I'm glad I picked this one up and stuck with it past my usual DNF-ing territory. I had a good time with it overall, but it's not one I'll ever feel the need to revisit with a reread. I think it'd make a fantastic movie!
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