Reviews tagging 'Violence'

How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix

285 reviews

bowlsofpasta's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Gore, Body horror, and Violence

Moderate: Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Death

tabea1409's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Animal death, Blood, Child death, Car accident, Gaslighting, Gore, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Animal cruelty, Emotional abuse, Medical content, Child abuse, and Violence

witchofthemountains's review against another edition

dark emotional funny hopeful informative mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Death, Body horror, Child death, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Gaslighting, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Car accident

Moderate: Confinement, Medical trauma, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, Alcohol, Mental illness, Abandonment, and Animal death

Minor: Cursing, War, Genocide, and Fatphobia

bookishmillennial's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

I think it’s safe to say that Grady Hendrix’s work is just not for me. I really tried & read a lot of his backlist. There’s something about his writing that is just not that compelling or enticing to me. I know some books have been optioned and are being adapted for film or tv, so maybe that form of media will be better (for me)? 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Child death, Self harm, Death, and Animal death

sighclopss's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

Rounded up from 3.75 ⭐
I liked this a decent amount. 

I found the beginning very slow and I almost dnf'ed but I'm glad to have pushed through the initial chapters. I found the family dynamic very interesting and slightly triggering in how some parts mirrored my own dysfunctional family. Louise's complicated relationships with her mother and brother were very relatable. I think the book did great at portraying grief and the human experience. 

The horror elements were overly cliche, I did guess at plot twists before they happened and didn't feel like there was a tonne of creativity. But the author definitely nails suspense and overall creepy vibes.

To be honest I'd probably have enjoyed the book more if it downplayed the horror and focused more on the siblings, their pasts and how they are going through the motions of mending their relationship.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Body horror, Child death, Death of parent, and Death

ajnorelli's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence and Death of parent

belady147's review against another edition

dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I know I only rated this book 3.75 stars, but I couldn’t put it down while I was reading it. I had to figure out what happened next. My one complaint that knocked this book down from 4 stars was the pacing. There’s a climax about halfway or a little more through the book that felt like a final climax so it was strange to have so much book left. The second climax - the actual final climax - kind of felt like a repeat of the first one but with a better resolution. I didn’t like that, but generally liked everything else or at least wasn’t bothered by anything else  enough to have it effect my reading experience. 

My last comment is that the title of the book is a bit misleading. This is not a typical haunted house book, it’s more like Chucky. That didn’t bother me much, but it might bother someone else. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Grief, Body horror, and Gaslighting

Minor: Death and Child death

hkrobock's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Gore, and Blood

Minor: Death of parent and Car accident

nicoletiff's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Car accident, Violence, Child death, Medical content, Death, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Blood, and Death of parent

go2hellstephanie's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I really loved this book, and it really caught me off guard.

I've read a couple of other of Hendrix's books and usually I see more comedy that balances out the horror. How to Sell a Haunted House had moments where I could feel my heart racing from terror. And I don't even really find puppets, dolls, or clowns scary.

Hendrix did an amazing job with this story. This story about grief and about family and about secrets. Highly recommend anyone looking for a good horror book!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Violence

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, and Child death