Grady Hendrix Slays Family And Frights With Latest Work "HOW TO SELL A HAUNTED HOUSE"
“Time only moves in one direction no matter how hard we wish it wasn’t so.”
- Grady Hendrix, How to Sell a Haunted House
The most recent novel from horror writing legend, Grady Hendrix, is packed with everything from family dynamics and overwhelming grief to haunted puppets and Rainbow Connections. Only a Horror master like Hendrix could write a campy horror comedy with mourning and death at its core.
What’s It About?
This story follows Louise Joyner as she travels back to Charleston, South Carolina, following the unexpected death of her parents in a fatal car crash. Louise dreads leaving her daughter with her ex and coming face to face with her irresponsible younger brother, Mark. On Top of grieving her parents, Louise must make funeral arrangements, meet with lawyers about her parent’s will, and try to sell her childhood home that is full of puppets, papers, and taxidermy.
Mark is Louise’s opposite in every way. He dropped out of college and has been living off of his parent’s generosity ever since. Mark and Louise fight at every turn as they attempt to plan the funeral and deal with the prospect of selling their family home, once she returns back to the town she had no desire to see again.
As Louise and Mark go through the museum of their parent’s belongings, strange things begin happening that could threaten the sale of the house and their lives. Told in sections that take you through the five stages of grief, this book will make you laugh, cry, gag, and scream in all the best ways.
Through death, family, and puppets, Louise and Mark will begin to understand each other in a way they never did before and discover their familial trauma is rooted in something much more sinister than they originally thought.
How Is It?
Hendrix artfully creates a highly emotional story that accurately portrays the hopelessness of grief and the frustrating reality of family dynamics all while using hilariously outlandish mediums. This story is extremely relatable from the feelings of loss and family disconnect to the seemingly absurd and universal fear of puppets and dolls. His use of storytelling is incredibly cinematic and completely immerses you in the story. Every scene was clear and easy to follow unlike several of his past works. His descriptions were extremely visceral at times to the point of personally going weak in the knees.
As a Grady Hendrix follower, I was excited when I heard he was releasing a new novel. I have read (almost) every one of his works to date and have loved most of his novels but genuinely hated a few. I was hesitant to read this latest work as I was worried it would not live up to the masterpiece that is Hendrix’s “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires”, but I was more than pleasantly surprised once I began reading “How To Sell A Haunted House.” I was hooked from page one and truly couldn’t put the book down. As the oldest daughter in my family, I immediately sympathized with the main character of Louise and her desire for order and control. In opposition, I was infuriated with her brother Mark for 95% of the book. I will hand it to Grady, he knows how to write realistically flawed characters. Hendrix somehow fleshes out each character in an organic, subtle, and natural way. Much like he did in “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires”. Crafting each character in an organic way by still using relatable tropes seems to be his M.O. of sorts and we personally feel it adds great depth to his work.
One of my favorite aspects of this book is that unlike most horror novels where the main character has to convince everyone else that something terrifying is going on (the easiest way to give me raging anxiety), everyone else in the story believes in the supernatural occurrences and Louise is the one who needs convincing.
Speaking of the “supernatural occurrences”, I love how Hendrix lets the supernatural simply exist in our world with little to no explanation and allows the reader to accept it and play along in his world. This saves the reader a lot of time and unnecessary exposition. For example, in this particular story, the reader accepts that there is an imaginary dog that can physically harm you and changes colors. No explanation, just vibes.
Of course, there is the terrifying villain, Pupkin. The haunted clown doll of all your childhood nightmares. In his previous works, Hendrix has created one major villain who is undeniably bad. In this case, he has crafted a sympathetic multilayered gremlin that ultimately uncovers the cause of the evil by bringing to light the danger of hiding skeletons in a closet.
Last Rites
This book was a thrill ride at every turn and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. It scratched the itch I needed for a campy, dark, tense, and hilarious story. I was pleasantly surprised that Hendrix exceeded my expectations for this novel after I decided “The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires'' was his magnum opus. I was wrong (I admit it, ok?).
If you haven’t gathered, I highly recommend this book and think it would be the perfect introductory work to the world of horror fiction. This definitely tipped the scale in a positive way in my “love hate” relationship with Grady Hendrix. Let’s just hope the inevitable movie adaptation is better than “My Best Friend’s Exorcism”.....
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