HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE by Grady Hendrix (My Best Friend's Exorcism, The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, Horrorstör)
We included this book in our February 2023 Night Worms package!

Release Date: January 17th, 2023
General Genre: Adult Horror, Grief, Psychological, Humor, Suspense/Thriller
Subgenre/Themes: Haunted House, Mind-Bender, Mystery, Reads Like A Thriller, Religious Stuff, Possession, Ghosts, Demonic activity, Haunted, Creepy Dolls, Family, Domestic Drama, Stages of Grief
Writing Style: Character-Driven, Brisk Pacing, Cinematic, Intricately Plotted

What You Need to Know: Going in, all you need to know is that a brother and sister that have a complicated relationship are tasked with dealing with each other and their parents' estate after they die in a car crash. This situation is a catalyst for an overwhelming amount of personal discovery. The two must painfully work through family secrets in order to sell their haunted house.

My Reading Experience: How to Sell A Haunted House is officially my favorite Grady Hendrix novel now. I love this book. I enjoyed every, single minute I spent here. The way everything unravels both slowly (methodically) at first and then fast & fiercely toward the end is genius. Hendrix introduces readers to the main protagonist, Louise, giving us careful insight into her relationship with her brother, Mark. We see everything through the lens of her experience and worldview.

And this is where the genius comes in because we develop this relationship with Louise, right? We get everything we need from her perspective. And this is a lot like real life too, the people we are close to, friends and family, co-workers, etc. their experiences and their narrative about what's happening in their life is filtered to us the way they tell it. They can decide to spin a story the way they choose to influence our perception of how we see it. They can leave out some details, they can add to it a little, or they can outright lie to make us believe they are the hero of the story and someone else is the villain.
But if we wanted to, we could ask the other person, the "villain" how it all went down and the narrative would be a little different, wouldn't it? Depending on what's at stake.
Hendrix reminds us that there are two sides to every story. Maybe even more.
Every complicated situation or event could be told from multiple POVs. The truth is in there somewhere, but getting to that source of information is complicated and in this case, dangerous. I love the way we get a lot from Louise and Mark but we don't get the fuller picture until the circle widens to include other family members, and holy hell, I love this family. Aunt Gail, Mercy, Aunt Honey... it's a powerful thing that only Grady Hendrix can do and that's his ability to give fictional characters all that quirk and weirdness. SO GOOD! So laugh-out-loud funny. Sometimes I feel like authors don't really *see* or *hear* their characters and so I have a hard time seeing them or hearing them too--they all kind of look or sound the same right? Not in a Grady Hendrix book. These people ARE REAL. The dialogue is REAL. Cinematic. That's some bookish magic.


This is possession horror.
Yes, there are puppets, dolls, and a haunted house. And two jump scares.
BUT
There is also the possession of truth. How it is decided who knows and who doesn't get to know. That gravitational pull some families have where everything is centered around one person, or one event, or a secret, a lie. And everything is centered around that whole thing like a rotten core of an apple spoiling the family from the inside out.
Generational dysfunction passed on from one cult of personality to the next.
Goddamn. I'll be thinking about this one for a long time. Because honestly, the only way some families can heal from a bad thing is a catalyst of destruction. A disruptor. In the case of this book, How to Sell a Haunted House, the journey of discovery is EVERYTHING.
Broken relationships.
Haunted people.
A haunted house with a haunted past.
MY FAVORITE GRADY HENDRIX BOOK!! I laughed, I cried, and I was terrified.

Final Recommendation: If you are looking for an intricately plotted haunted house story infused with a tale of possession and mixed with a domestic drama complete with suspense and mystery, you will love this book as much as I did.

Comps: The Book of Accidents by Chuck Wendig (kind of), I don't know! I can't think of anything quite like this with the family dynamic and the humor, the fun, and the scares.

🤡 How to Sell a Haunted House by @gradyhendrix

Thank you @berkleypub for my #gifted eARC!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
👻 genre: horror
🏚️ read if you like: dolls, clowns, haunted houses, Home Before Dark, Lock Every Door

Thoughts 💭

My first Grady Hendrix did not disappoint!

When Louise’s parents die unexpectedly, she heads back to the home she left for their funerals and to workout their estate. Louise and her estranged brother need to figure out their parents house, which is filled with creepy dolls.

I’m not going to say anything else about the plot because this is a great book to read blind.

I didn’t think I’d love How to Sell a Haunted House as much as I did. I thought I wouldn’t be able to believe all horror, but I totally ate up all the craziness of this book.

I think the end was a bit long, but the book was so fast-paced that it wasn’t that big of a deal.

How to Sell a Haunted House is CREEPY! I rarely get scared from a book, but this one definitely wasn’t one I wanted to read before bed.

First line: Louise thought it might not go well, so she told her parents she was pregnant over the phone, from three thousand miles away, in San Francisco.

Summary: Louise is going back to her childhood home after the tragic death of her parents. She has rarely returned and is dreading the reunion with her brother, Mark. The two have never gotten along and from the moment she arrives in Charleston it appears that nothing has changed. As they prepare their parent’s home for sale they have to clear out years of memories and hundreds of dolls and puppets. Her mother spent years creating puppets for her ministry work and now they have been left to Louise.

However, the cleaning out of these items is trickier than she expected. Dolls keep reappearing after being thrown away. Eyes seem to follow her as she walks through the house. And the appearance of Pupkin, her mother’s oldest puppet brings back nightmares from their past. It appears that the house has other plans for Mark and Louise.

My Thoughts: This book was frightening. Dolls and puppets are creepy! And this helps reinforce that belief. I plowed through this book in just 3 days. I was splitting time listening to it and reading it. I found that I kept wanting to listen/read just a little bit more. At one point I thought the story had come to a natural end but then Hendrix throws another twist into the mix making it even more sinister.

Even though I really enjoyed it there were some parts I found a little odd or annoying. Some parts of the brother/sister relationship made me angry especially after their experiences together in the house. And the very end was a little underwhelming. I don’t want to spoil it but I kind of wished it had finished a little earlier in the story or in a different way.

If you find dolls scary then this may or may not be the book for you depending on if you want to be scared or not. It gave me chills at moments. Enter at your own risk.

Another amazing book club pick! I really do feel like spreading this out over several weeks and discussing what we thought every few chapters made it so much more immersive. I spent so much time thinking about these characters and this family until they felt like people I knew, who'd been in my life for a long time.

Two estranged siblings reunite to take care of their parents' estate and clean out their childhood home in How To Sell A Haunted House, no easy feat due to their mom's lifetime commitment to puppet ministry. The house is filled to bursting with homemade puppets and dolls, and siblings Mark and Louise have very different ideas about what to do with the whole macabre collection.

Unfortunately for them, but amazing for us, the puppet collection has some ideas of its own.

This manages to be both a crazy, rollicking story about haunted puppets as well as a brutal look at the way childhood trauma follows you into your adult life. Mark and Louise react very differently to the same traumatic events. Louise moved across the country after college, threw herself into her work, and tried to make herself so busy she wouldn't have time to dwell on her traumatic childhood. Mark never moved out of their hometown, dropped out of college, and built a lifestyle where he could avoid risk and avoid being hurt. They each judge each other harshly and attempt to use each other's choices to claim the other got off easy, that the other doesn't really know what it's like to suffer, that if the other had truly been traumatized they wouldn't have reacted like THAT. It isn't until they can stop competing over Whose Trauma Counts that they're able to compare notes and work together to get back at what hurt them.

I laughed, I cried, I was bombarded with far too many memories of people bringing their deceased parents' novelty collections to Half Price Books for lack of a better place to take it. Grief is all-encompassing but grief is also ridiculous, and it transforms the silly little objects our loved ones held dear into an insurmountable problem. I really can't think of a better metaphor for that feeling than mowing your way through a wall of possessed puppets with a shovel.

Grady knocks it out of the park again! For best reading experience, take it to Waffle House.

Another scary, exciting romp from the delightfully twisted mind of Grady Hendrix. Louise must return to her hometown to bury her parents, Nancy and Eric, with the help of her brother Marc. While attempting to prepare their parent's home for sale, long simmering resentments derail the process. And then there are all of Nancy puppets. A story of secrets and possession that at first seems farcical becomes terrifying and heart pounding. All this with Hendrix's dark humor in the mix. Great fun and hard to put down!

I can very honestly say I have never read anything quite like this book, and I mean that in the best possible way. This is a wild story that read like a horror movie, but it’s also written with a very self-aware, dark sense of humor about the subject matter. At times, the story is heartbreaking and the plot covers heavy topics like family trauma, unexpected death, and how much our upbringing can affect the way we parent. There is more than one twist, and details are woven into the story in a way that helps things make sense without feeling predictable. This was my first read by the author, and I will definitely be going back to read his earlier books based on how much I enjoyed this one.

This was so weird lol I think I’m good if I never have to read another book about haunted puppets.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for the eARC!

Another swing and a hit by Grady Hendrix! The creepy dolls were almost too creepy, and the family dynamics kept the plot interesting. I really enjoyed this book.

This is the second book in a row by Grady Hendrix that I found immensely disappointing. The characters were incredibly unlikable, the horror was middling at best and all around I found myself bored--which is the last thing you want from a scary story. It seems like Hendrix has lost the plot a bit by focusing more on his concepts than his characters.

Grady Hendrix does it yet again, with a well-crafted blend of horror and charm.

Coming home is always hard. But after sudden death of her parents, Louise must return to Charleston to deal the lives they left behind. That includes her family's home, her mother's puppet ministry, and of course, her younger brother, Mark.

Mark who never left Charleston, who never had to hold down a steady job. who never had to work for a single thing in his life doesn't want to deal this the house either. He'd rather gut it and sell it to the first interested party. But there's more to selling the house than hiring a realtor and a few new coats of paint. While their parents are dead, something else still lives in this house and it has no plans to move out.

In the most endearing way, HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE reads like an adult Goosebumps novel. While not unpredictable or groundbreaking, Hendrix's trademark voice and quirky characters make this haunted house story memorable and endearing.

This is the best scary novel I've ever read. Perfectly paced, the ideal blend of horror and commentary, I'm now going to work my way through Hendrix's backlist.

I got rid of all the old dolls in my house after reading this… so creepy- and excellent! This was one of my most anticipated books this year so far and it didn’t disappoint! I really enjoyed it and read it through quickly!

I love a good horror movie, and in turn, I equally adore horror books - it was a dark time in my life when I found and fell in love with Grady Hendrix's writing and sense then I cannot stop. My first book was The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires and from there I was in love ever since.

What is offered to us in How to Sell a Haunted House is everything that made me originally fall in love with the horror drama. Hendrix seamlessly mixes a truly make your skin crawl scenes with campy horror in a way that none other can. This feels and reads like the dark horror comedy of my dreams and genuinely had me laughing and hiding under the covers in the same scene.

This is perfect for horror fans, especially those of us fans of creepy dolls - feeling like a mix of Child's Play and Annabelle and will be the perfect nail-biting tale for you.

In this new book by bestseller Grady Hendrix, he opens with a punch, whetting your appetite from the very beginning, and giving readers a creepy and haunting story that explores grief, memories, and the ghosts of our past. In this rich story with gripping events, engaging characters, he explores the dynamics of families and how death impacts them in this exciting story.

Louise and Mark are both fantastic characters, each with very different points of view on their childhood, much like any family anywhere. And like families, they don’t get along until they need to deal with the death of their parents and the house that is left behind, along with their grief and past memories. Along the way, each must find a way to reconcile those memories and find a way to sell a house that might not be ready to let go of them. 

Much like in dealing with grief, this story is full of layers. While it can be enjoyed for the creepy and haunting story that it is, the novel delves into so many layers, not only exploring memories but also ghosts, generational trauma, pain, and ideas of what we can channel when interacting with puppets and dolls. Are there times that we reach other places and summon back those things we shouldn’t? I loved how the further into the story you went, the scarier it becomes, as the darkness envelopes both the reader and the characters. It is clear why Grady Hendrix is a best selling author, it is the layers in what he writes that comes together to create a frightening narrative that will stay with the reader long into the night. If you love scary horror stories, I completely recommend you check this one out. From haunted houses to scary puppets, it has everything I want in a good horror novel. It has a chilling story with an incredibly beautiful and powerful ending.

This book is CRAZY but so much fun to read. I will never ever look at puppets the same way again. EVER.

This is REALLY campy horror.
I enjoyed The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires a lot because Grady Hendrix has a way of mixing humor and horror in way that feels believable. In this case I felt like I was finding it hard to suspend disbelief. I went into reading this without knowing the synopsis, so I was surprised when it turned into a puppet and doll story. Even though parts feel absurd (chapter 25), there are still genuinely scary sections in this book especially if you still have dolls and plushies in your room. Overall, the thing that kept me along for the ride was the relationship between Mark and Louise. At first you want to really dislike a certain sibling but then you see the whole story as the chapters go on and you just want to root for them to work together.

This one wasn’t my favorite personally, but I will still read anything Grady Hendrix writes. I appreciate that there is still hope in his stories when things turn grim. So, if you want to read about bad vibes, killer squirrels, and a radical puppet collective then you might enjoy this but be aware there is body horror.

GH is hit or miss from me but I'm not a super "horror"/scary fan - this was a case of "its not you, it's me" - if you've enjoyed his other novels I'd definitely give this one a try.

Another hit by Grady Hendrix. This really wasn't what I was expecting, and I was pleasantly surprised! Love the wonderfully absurd imagery of the puppets, and it really creeped me out! I've love to read more with these characters.

"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)."

Oh, how I've been dying to read this book. Perhaps that's not the best thing to say about a book with a haunted house?

After finding out her parents have died, single mother Louise travels back to her hometown of Charleston to handle their affairs. Upon arriving, she has several uncomfortable and combative meetings with her brother Mark, a loser in Louise's eyes due to the fact that he can't seem to hold a job, failed college and has never left their hometown, relying on their parents for support.
After finding out the will didn't exactly go in her favor, Louise suggests she and her brother empty out the semi-hoarded family home and sell it ASAP so she can return to her young daughter.
Creepy puppets, seemingly living dolls, and other horrors await them and cause disturbing and terrifying childhood memories to surface for both Louise and Mark.
It appears the home, or something in it, does not want to be sold, and will destroy anyone who attempts to clear them out.
While I did enjoy this story and think it would make an excellent horror film, it got to be a little too unreal for me. I love horror, and the beginning showed much promise - but then veered into the absurd. It held my interest and kept me reading, but for me personally, I like my horror al little more 'realistic' if that makes sense.
I think libraries should purchase this title for die-hard horror fans and Grady Hendrix is definitely a writer that has a wide audience and I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next!