Review of How To Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
A.E. Jackson Review Score: 4 / 5 Ravens
How was this review scored?
For an introduction to the fiction of Grady Hendrix, selecting ‘How To Sell a Haunted House’ is not a bad pick. The audiobook in particular was made all the more enjoyable by narrators Jay Aaseng and Mikhaila Aaseng. Their voices made the rich characters Hendrix developed really come alive.
Louise is a single mother living in San Francisco, but from Charleston, SC. When her mother and father die, she must return home to sell the house. That is, if her brother will cooperate. Through the employment of deep point of view, Grady Hendrix twists the reader’s nerves - and their heartstrings - in this fun and frightening horror novel.
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...
Unsettling scenes and uncanny incidents greet Louise as she begins her exploration and handling of the estate. Readers will be wondering as much as Louise - What’s happening in the attic?
Initial inspection of the house floods her with memories that convey character backstory. While handling the estate, the author manages to raise the main question of the story - What happened to her parents? Story pacing continues without much delay in story world time.
The sometimes humorous brother and sister interactions - where they uncover family history - feel quite real. However, the slow back-and-forth argument about selling the estate begins to wear thin. Where is all this squabbling going? And why does the reader care?
In fact, it would seem the house doesn’t become haunted until the realtor says it is - and refuses to sell. This happens a full one-third of the way through the story. Which may be too far in for some short attention span readers. The second third of the novel, they decide to cleanse the house of their parent’s ghosts using a family ritual the siblings remember from their childhood. It is the final third of the story that is full of suspense and horrific, visceral terror. The reader is treated to a real scare story at that point!
The wild and crazy unforeseen HUGE finale felt like a Hollywood movie, but with all the right beats. Overall, the cathartic full-circle ending made the entire experience a real pleasure. This reviewer will be hunting down more Hendrix to enjoy.
Grady Hendrix is an American author, journalist, public speaker, and screenwriter known for his best-selling 2014 novel Horrorstör.
His novel My Best Friend's Exorcism - which combines possession, friendship, exorcism, and the 80’s - is basically Beaches meets The Exorcist. The Wall Street Journal called him "a national treasure" and his work receives rave reviews from everyone from Kirkus to Southern Living.
From May through October 2020, Hendrix hosted his own podcast called Super Scary Haunted Homeschool. The show looked at the history of vampires in order to promote his book The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires.
Read more from Grady Hendrix at http://www.gradyhendrix.com and find him on social media at Facebook(@grady.hendrix.9), and Twitter(@grady_hendrix).