How To Sell A Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

I would like to thank Titan Books for an advance copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher – Titan

Published – 17/1

Price – £19.99 hardback £8.99 Kindle eBook

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.

Mostly, 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. But 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.

Some houses don’t want to be sold, and their home has other plans for both of them…

While lots of stories have a focus on death – the prelude to it, the act of it or the cause the subject of grief is less explored. It’s a raw emotion of loss; it can bring back memories and require us to re-appraise both our past and our future. Dealing with death can be dark, terrifying, heart-warming, and occasionally bring moments of laughter. Grady Hendrix in their excellent new horror tale How To Sell A Haunted House manages to encapsulate all of that in a tale of a family broken by loss and being haunted by something increasingly malevolent.

Louise and Mark are an estranged brother and sister living in their late thirties and voiding each other. Louise the forever focused and practical one now lives in San Francisco with her daughter Poppy. She tries not to think much of Mark a bartender who she sees forever messing things up and being coddled by her parents. But then Mark calls her from South Caroline to inform her a few days ago their parents both died in a car accident. Louise flies to her childhood home and immediately argues with Mark who wants a beach ceremony and while eventually he is persuaded to change their mind the reluctant duo then have to tackle the joys of their parent’s wills and also what happens to the family home. A home that makes strange noises; is covered in their mother’s home-made sinister puppets and as everyone says just feels weird. Louise and mark are about to find their family’s secrets are about to once again cause trouble and cause even more heartache.

This novel amazingly treads the fine line between silly, tender, and chilling horror and Hendrix constantly keeps us on our toes. The star of the tale places us firmly in Louise’s shoes the sibling, who is practical but never feels wanted and then stares at the horror of her brother’s strange and likely selfish behaviour. We feel her shock at the death and then her attempts to get back control of events from Mark. We’re quickly invested in the story. The skill Hendrix though shows is that both of these characters have flaws, and we slowly unpeel the family dynamics and secrets. Be prepared to have an open mind as characters become unlikeable; understandable and then you may change your mind a few more times for good measure. Hendrix perfectly captures a sibling dynamic where two opposites have a bond by just being family and very little else in common. For Louise and Mark, it’s a tale of them coming to terms with one another…well that and the haunting oh and the puppets.

Yes a house filled with puppets should be creepy and Hendrix manages to both show the zany side of puppetry including a fantastic funeral scene and an important revelation about Mark’s youth that will make you laugh; see him in a very different light then finally create a stunned silence. We adults shouldn’t be afraid of little fake humans and creatures let’s say stuffed squirrels made to look like humans…and yet. Hendrix initially makes us feel that silliness and then havoc gets unleashed. This house has a force that has an army to send at you and a particular puppet shows it can control its wearer to devastating effect. These scenes are filled with action; often ending bloodily and just when we think we have a handle on things Hendrix in the final act raises the stakes in an unexpected and particularly chilling way. It’s a storyline that keeps us on our toes throughout and yet neatly by the end all the pieces explaining why this happened come together.

How To Sell A Haunted House is a tale that reflect death can be terrifying; tearful and just on occasion laugh out loud funny. It captures the joys, shared memories and secrets all families may carry and no one wishes to talk about until its too late but also has a examination of love and forgiveness that makes you care about the people wrapped up in this nightmare. Highly recommended!