Review: How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

Author: Grady Hendrix

Publisher: Berkeley

Publication Date: January 2023

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…

How to Sell a Haunted House involves Louise and her brother Mark. When their parents die suddenly, they must set aside their differences and figure out how to sell their childhood home. However, it seems that house doesn't want to be sold. 

I'll be honest, I didn't love this one.  It was a bit too campy and not creepy enough for me.  I also wanted a haunted house story, not a haunted/possessed doll story. But that is was I got.  The first half of the book was really boring.  I found myself not really caring about Louise or her brother. It wasn't until about halfway through that the story really took off. Even then, I was underwhelmed  Having said that, I felt like the author took storylines from other books and mashed them up into this story.  Putting aside the bloody, violent portions, this could have been a Goosebumps level movie.  The reveal was kind of underwhelming rolling into a just "meh" ending.  I loved this author's last two books.  Hopefully this one is just a dud and the next one will be back on par with the books I have loved.