My experience of this book is impacted significantly by my not being the target audience. Growing up in the 1990's (instead of the 80's) and not being a big fan of Chuckie-esque films in general, this didn't quite hit the mark for me. However, fans of that genre will, I think, appreciate and enjoy How to Sell a Haunted House. ( )

Not quite as creepy as I expected it to be, but this was a fun read! I love the badass aunties, and I wish we got to spend more time with them, especially Barb. I'm rarely pleased with endings, but Hendrix does a good job with this one. ( )

I don't quite know what to think about this book. It did keep me listening but it also made me roll my eyes a lot. Dolls and puppets and imaginary dog and a ghost...it just went on and on. But, the people were definitely interesting and after thinking more about it, I might move up to 4 stars. ( )

Grady Hendrix has become one of my hands down fave writers. This book was soo much more than the synopsis led me to believe. As a doll collecter myself I loved it!!.....and hated it, now I'm second guessing my collection Lol!

This book is a work of literary art. The story is deep, much deeper than you realize going in with twisty turns and surprises. Just when you think you have it figured out.....nope!

Hendrix captured southern family dynamics flawlessly, I could have been reading about my own family. As a southerner, born and raised, this is something I mention alot in my reviews. The majority of writers just aren't able to effectively catch the essence of the South.

The main protagonists are Louise and Mark, siblings. My alliance changed back and forth between the two throughout the story. Hendrix effortlessly portrays both characters as believable human beings, with all the positive and negative personality traits, myriad of emotions and personal demons that comes along with our species.

If I had one gripe, it would be that the story drug on a bit. At times it felt it went on forever and would never conclude. Some of it just felt unessesary.

That said, this is a great, and surprising book. A must read for Hendrix and horror fans!! ( )

The first thing I’ve got to say is this: I’ve always been creeped out by puppets, and some dolls give me goosebumps, too. But the review in Book Page made this horror novel sound interesting, and the library had it via download, so I went for it.

As soon as Louise Joyner turned of age, she fled the home she grew up in. She didn’t stop fleeing until she couldn’t go any further without falling into the Pacific Ocean, and there she stayed, making the occasional, obligatory, trip back home for a few days. It’s not that she doesn’t love her parents- she does, very much- but rather that she just cannot function around them. They are a family built on secrets, and her parents were slightly neglectful in small ways- her father obsessed by his academic work, and her mother with her Christian puppet ministry and constant doll making, stitching away with her door closed. When she gets a phone call that her parents are dead, both dying in a car accident, she is stunned. This means leaving her daughter with her ex, meeting with her brother that she doesn’t get along with, and spending time in the house she grew up in, none of which she wants to do. But she gets on the plane and goes back east. Maybe she can get in and out quickly, and be back to her normal life in a few days.

Things go bad right off the bat. It’s creepy being in her childhood home alone, and she and her brother get into it right away. The creepiness goes into the supernatural almost immediately. It’s one of those stories where you think “Oh, no, don’t do that!” all the way through. The creep is not *just* supernatural; there are jump scares, and there is a LOT of body horror around both Louise and her brother. Violence fills the book, the kind of violence that you wouldn’t think a person could survive- certainly not survive and get back up and fight some more. Believe me when I say the tension never lets up- no matter what the narrative tries to tell you. Four stars. ( )