How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix [book review]

Book: How to Sell a haunted house

By: Grady Hendrix

Published: January 17, 2023

Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 419

Genre: Horror

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About How to Sell a Haunted House

In How to Sell a Haunted House, two grown siblings lose their parents in the blink of an eye. Now they have to come together and figure out what to do with the home along with her mother’s hoarding of dolls and puppets.

The only problem with Louise and Mark working together to get the house ready to sell is that they hate each other. At one point they were close and enjoyed being around each other. Then one day things changed. Louise thought it was because Mark was just acting out until he messed up his life but Mark sees it as something else entirely.

At first, all they can do is argue with one another and wind up wasting so much time on getting the house ready. However, when things start happening that cannot be explained, they end up becoming closer. Will they be able to figure out what’s going on with the home so they can get back to their lives?

What I thought

Grady Hendrix is a very popular author in the horror community and for very good reason too. He has a very creepy setting and his stories flow well. There are good reasons why he’s so popular with the horror community. His books are great for those who are just getting into horror and want to dip their toes in it. Because of the hype I wanted to be able to read How to Sell a Haunted House.

With that being said I’m not a fan of Grady Hendrix. I don’t get the hype around the books. I always hear about how scary and creepy his books are. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m a seasoned horror fan or what. To me How to Sell a Haunted House isn’t scary. Paranormal subgenres have always been one of my favorites. For the most part, quite a few of them have given me the creeps.

I have to admit that a lot of Grady Hendrix’s books don’t scare me all that much. Most of his stories are pretty cheesy. Maybe that’s how it’s meant to be.

I listened to the audiobook version of this story and I’m wondering if that’s what threw me off. Don’t get me wrong she did a fantastic job with the story but when it came to the voice of the puppet I just wanted to laugh. Bringing the puppet to life wound up just being so cheesy and so cringe-worthy. It was almost as if I was watching a B-rated movie in book formatting.

This is really sad since I would love to be able to read an overhyped book. I just hear so much good about Grady and his books but I find them extremely cheesy.

I don’t think it helps that the biggest characters in the story are annoying. Although I’m not sure if any other readers feel this way, I got tired of reading about their rivalry. The book may have been better if it took a different direction.

How do you feel about Grady Hendrix’s books?

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