This one was not my jam, no pun intended. How to Sell a Haunted House was a gift and I loved it so much I got myself a copy. It’s almost bizarre this is the same author. I’m sure it’s just wonderful for others. The first horde scene is just gruesome and this guy can write mega grizzly horror. It was a free listen on audible, so I couldn’t say no. Maybe it’s because I’m grunge and not metal. Happy reading ☺️ ( )

It's official: Hendrix's is perhaps, my favorite horror writer. Hendrix’s pulpy, satire like love letter to heavy metal music is a gloriously over-the-top scare fest that has hidden emotional depths akin to Hendrix's My Best Friend's Exorcism and is all the better for it. Terry Hunt—aka the Blind King, the former frontman of the wildly successful Dürt Würk—ruined guitarist Kris Pulaski’s life 20 years ago. Now Terry’s on an apocalyptic farewell tour with his new band, Koffin. Kris, now 47, poor and working at a Best Western, seeks the truth about the night Terry drew up contracts, striking a bargain with the devil that sold out Dürt Würk and doomed Kris to misery and obscurity while gaining fame and fortune for himself. She has to ward off murderous UPS men, hellish creatures, and much more on her way to the culmination of Koffin’s tour: Hellstock ’19 in the Nevada desert, where Terry will bring thousands of souls together for the devil to harvest. Terry is washed up and needs the devil to help make him legendary. Along the way she teams up with a woman named Melanie, who will help her get to Hellstock but might just sell her to the devil herself. Undaunted, Kris unleashes her inner badass and her wicked guitar riffs to stop Terry and his evil plan. This is a harrowing tale of redemption in the face of powerful evil and you'll love and identify with Kris every step of the way. Perhaps what is even more harrowing than the deal with the devil, the creatures, and the violence depicted in the book is the desolate, consumerist culture that Hendrix paints and critiques which is America. America just might be Hell after all.

"Now people sell their souls for nothing. They do it for a new iPhone or to have one night with their hot next-door neighbor. There is no fanfare, no parchment signed at midnight. Sometimes it’s just the language you click in an end-user license agreement. Most people don’t even notice, and even if they did, they wouldn’t care. They only want things… [H]ave you noticed how soulless this world has become? How empty and prefabricated? Soulless lives are hollow. We fill the earth with soulless cities, pollute ourselves with soulless albums."

Re-read 2021: Still one of my favorite books. Just an entertaining and enthralling the second time around.

"A girl with a guitar never has to apologize for anything." ( )

3.5 stars rounded up to 4

That was weird. Even for Grady Hendrix. Good and fun weird, but still weird. Kris is a brilliant main character and I thought the concept of the story was exceptionally cool. Things got a bit confusing at points with some of the more terrifying elements needing a bit more airtime in my opinion. Still a great read! ( )

I'm a huge Grady Hendrix fan. This is perhaps my favourite of his books. It is one of those times when you're reading something and you think to yourself... "this is written for me". Absolutely trogging fantastic!! ( )

I will read every single thing Grady Hendrix writes because he understands the 16 year old in me. He knows that, in the 80s, whenever I went to the mall I stopped at Walden's Bookstore where I always headed for the near back where the side shelves were against the wall. That's where I could find rows and rows of dark glossy paperback horror novels. I can't tell you how much money I spent on those books. The ones I loved most were about haunted houses, satanic cults, or vampires (real vampires, not the glittery kind).

Hendrix manages to bring the same feel of those forgotten horror stories, including all the nostalgia I can stand... and he gets it right. Every single time, he gets it right. ( )