How to Sell a Haunted House

**Author: Grady Hendrix**
**Published January 2, 2024**
**Page Count: 448**

Kiela ha

Reading Audience:

Adults or older teens.

Stuff to be aware of:

Gore/Violence - There are some graphic scenes described in the book. A car crash is described in which two people die and there is a severed arm. There is an evil doll that tried to get one child to hurt another child and hurt other people. A character gets a needle stuck in their eye, but only minor damage to the eye is done. There is a discussion about dogs being roasted over an open fire and eaten. A house is broken into and ransacked. A man is hit in the head with a hammer. There is a gruesome scene involving a person getting their arm sawed off by a table saw.

Language - I don’t always do a curse word count for books, but this one needed it.

A*s - 8 D*mn - 6 FBomb - 33 Hell-8 D*ck-5 Sh*t-24 RE - 18

LGBTQ+ - There is mention of a lesbian puppet collective, but details are not given.

Sexual - There is a brief conversation that is had for humor in which the focus is a character being sexually repressed. Paper mache penises are made, which are supposed to be missiles.

Scariness - This story is about a haunted house full of puppets. Be prepared for reanimated taxidermy, evil puppets that move on their own, and creepy things that are also kind of funny. There are also some intense scenes involving people being controlled by supernatural forces and loosing themselves.

Other - Characters flip each other off. There is lots of family drama and trauma. A child almost drowns in a frozen pond. There is some religious humor and Bible characters and themes are mentioned. There is a joke about a character refering to himself as an atheist and another character saying, “nope you’re Presbyterian.”

Overall

I have never read an author that intertwines humor and horror so well. Hendrix balances family drama, grief and loss, humor, and the supernatural in a well written story that had me at the end wanting more. The characters are very real. You can feel their emotional pain, and fear, but then also laugh when the time is right, even if the situation seems an inappropriate time to laugh. I have never found myself laughing the way I did while reading through the section of the story that deals with a crazy, over the top southern funeral. Then, I also found myself close to tears living through some of the trauma and family dysfunction that arises as the reader gets to know the characters. Needless to say, I like Hendrix’s writing style and the emotional depth he gives characters.

My only complaint is all the unnecessary cursing. I’m an odd guy. A Christian who likes horror. That is my only complaint. I might be reading some more of his books in the future, but I will also be beeping out words in my mind. For other Christian’s reading, there is a bit of humor directed at religion, but nothing too over the top. It is mostly just overly dramatic caricatures of stereotypical southern religious types.

Where Did TJ Go?