How to Sell a Haunted House
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3.8 • 294 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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).
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grief, generational trauma, and some sinister puppets animate this wildly entertaining haunted house tale from bestseller Hendrix (Final Girl Support Group). Hyper-competent single mother Louise Joyner and her estranged layabout brother, Mark, come together in the wake of their parents' death, a reunion that consists largely of miscommunicating, airing simmering resentments, and bickering over their parents' estate. Their Charleston childhood home was left to Mark, but their mother's extensive puppet collection and whimsically creepy artworks went to Louise, meaning they'll have to work together to clear the house out before selling it. After chapters of weird vibes and possibly moving dolls, it's both refreshing and hilarious when the siblings get a realtor to the house and she frankly declares, "Your house is haunted and I'm not selling it until you deal with that." Mark accepts the haunting as fact immediately, while Louise refuses to believe in the supernatural, even when the evidence is right in front of her. Hendrix does a fantastic job shading the sibling relationship, making the love, pain, and fundamental misunderstandings between them clear even before their intense backstory is revealed. The blurring of the supernatural and the psychological, meanwhile, is an effective engine for both suspense and humor on the way to a bloody confrontation. This is a gem.
Customer Reviews
Frustrating
This book was… frustrating. Like almost all books over 400 pages, it was too long. Maybe by 50 pages. I really didn’t love the middle, where the story takes a sort of odd turn and where it seems the book could have just ended. The (real) ending slightly won me back, and I’d recommend to horror fans.
Dolls! Dolls and more dolls.
What really creeps me the most are stories on possessed dolls. And this one covers it. Not only is it creepy, but you even got me shouting telling the characters to not do it. Nerves going on crazy with the momentary chases. And the lurking round the corner. And darn it!! Why does every room have a smashed light bulb?!
This book had me going till the end. But it did take me several days to finish it as it really creeped me out. I needed calm breaks in between to calm my nerves reading it. Well done to the author for making the book feel like I am watching a horror movie. Definitely a great read.
How to sell a haunted house
I really liked this book. I was in a reading slump and this book got me out of it!!!! I would definitely recommend this book, not only spooky but how important family is.