How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
The premise of this novel is simple: The parents of a squabbling adult sister and brother die in a car accident, and the sister, Louise, flies out to their parents’ town, to meet with her obnoxious younger brother, Mark, in order to inspect and prepare their parents’ house for sale.
The house turns out to be full of creepy-ass puppets made by their mother throughout her life. And is also haunted, possibly by all of those puppets…or something else.
The Goyner family has skeletons not only in the closet, but also every other room in the house, not to mention the attic, which Louise and Mark find has been boarded shut for reasons that become horrifyingly clear later
Grady Hendrix applies his usual combo of wit, horror and gory action here as he puts the characters through the dual wringers of dealing with a dark and unresolved past, and a bunch of seemingly murderous puppets, particularly one named Pupkin, who has a very possessive effect on anyone who chooses to don said puppet on their hand.
Hendrix lays on the puppet abuse pretty thick at times, almost but not quite taking me to the point of, “Oh, come on” but in the end, this is a rollicking adventure that makes puppets seem even creepier than dolls. Don’t worry, there are creepy dolls, too.
Recommended for old school horror fans, especially those who like a bit of droll wit to leaven the carnage (even if the carnage is mostly puppets being shredded and ripped apart. Mostly.)
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