How to Sell a Haunted House

How to Sell a Haunted House is another great novel from Grady Hendrix. Exploring grief, loss, guilt, family, sibling rivalry, and generational trauma...with a house haunted by dolls and puppets. There are tons of images and scenes that are really horrifying in the best possible way. The book is also often very funny. Hendrix returns to Charleston for this one, and it also effectively blends horror and humor much like his prior South Carolina stories My Best Friend's Exorcism and The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires. There was also one section that, which to reveal a minor spoiler, included a radical puppet collective...and I thought it was one of the greatest things I've ever read in a horror novel. Granted as someone who trained in more than a little bit of devised and experimental theatre, I'm probably biased. The book wasn't necessarily a perfect home run though. Despite the introduction of several dolls and puppets in this book, only one* really seemed particularly meaningful. In fact, I might even say that the involvement of the other puppets came perilously close to not being adequately explained and was certainly underutilized. Still, the way Hendrix explored challenging subjects concerning  family and loss was really moving. In some ways I think this might be his most mature work, despite being so funny. The audiobook was read by Jay Aaseng and Mikhaila Aaseng, and they did a great job! Overall ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

*Except for an early scene that was really spectacularly horrifying, and reminiscent of another scene in Southern Book Club's Guide.