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!

Having read all of Grady Hendrix's previous books, this definitely was the best. It was the perfect amount of creepy and insightful. Normally I find his books to be unnerving or thrilling, but this one was genuinely terrifying at times. Once I got to around the 75% mark, I had to keep reading so I could go to sleep after the resolution. I loved every second of it.

This book started very slow for me. I absolutely loved Hendrix's last book "The Final Girls Support Group", so I came in with pretty high expectations. About half-way through the book interesting events and backstories picked up speed and I read the last quarter of the book as quickly as I could. Words to sum this book up: creepy as hell, disturbing, what nightmares are made of. Perfect for hardcore horror fans.

I think this is my fourth book from @gradyhendrix I love to try to read some horror every now and then. I want to be reading it each month, but am happy to squeeze one in at least one every few.

I absolutely loved how this one started and all the talks about grief. Grief is such a universal topic that we can all understand and relate to what it feels like to be in the grieving process. This def started as a 5 for me, but around the midway mark it lost my attention. I finished it up using audio thanks to @prhaudio and I didn’t really like the ending or the last half. But I will say the audio narrator was good, very loud and intense, so def fitting for this book.

This book was different in the end than what I was expecting. I don’t want to say too much about why cause I don’t want to give anything away. But one thing that was displayed prominently in the book is something I absolutely dislike and had my skin crawling. I like to be scared, but I don’t like to feel like to feel like I’m cringing for a half of the book. So this book wasn’t for me, but I’ve seen all 5 stars! So if it is something you are thinking about I think you will probably enjoy it!

Thank you @berkleypub for my free e copy!

This was so very, very creepy.

Family trauma brings a whole lot of horror to the forefront after Louise and Mark's parents die. Their mother, Nancy, has always had a desire to create things, which included puppets, lots and lots of puppets. Louise thinks that Mark is a lazy good-for-nothing, but once their parent's will is read and Mark gets everything, Louise just wants to go home to her five year old daughter, Poppy. As they start cleaning out their house, their childhood trauma, and their family's trauma, just keeps causing more hurt and anger.

Having this split into the five stages of grief made it very interesting, but also just very sad. I've never really felt so creeped out and scared at the same time. While Mark and Louise aren't that great of characters and if people just communicated it would have been so much better, but shame is a powerful thing. The ending made me happy and sad all over again.