Grady Hendrix, we meet again!

Having read my fair share of Grady Hendrix novels—The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, The Final Girl Support Group, My Best Friend’s Exorcism, and now How to Sell a Haunted House—it’s fair to say that I’m a fan. If you’re a horror fanatic like me, I highly suggest making your way to your local library or bookstore and getting your hands on one of his novels.

If you haven’t read one of Hendrix’s books before, I’d describe them as Tucker & Dale vs. Evil meets The Cabin in the Woods meets Goosebumps, with a hint of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead. Or put in a much simpler way—horror comedy. I feel like describing his books as just “Horror Comedy” doesn’t due them justice.

All this being said, How to Sell a Haunted House was giving me Slappy reading the Necronomicon vibes.

After finding out about her parents’ sudden death, our main character, Louise, makes her way to her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina to help her family arrange their funeral and deal with her parents’ estate. As if things couldn’t get any worse, old childhood squabbles slowly start to re-surface between her and her younger brother, Mark. As they try to get their parents’ house ready to sell, Louise and Mark both start to feel something isn’t right. Between the strange noises they keep hearing in the house and their mother’s creepy collection of dolls that seem to have a mind of their own, Louise and Mark start to think they may have signed up for more than they can handle.

Louise and Mark’s relationship is riddled with tension and unspoken contempt, which is further boldened by their opposite personalities. Louise is the definition of “Type A.” She is filled with ambition, possesses an unbridled work ethic, and has a competitive edge. Mark on the other hand, is perceived by Louise as a failure to launch—a college dropout who their parents always bail out, even in death.

I lived for the bickering and manipulation between Mark and Louise, especially as it related to their parents’ funeral, the handling of their estate, and the resurfacing of family drama. It frustrated me and annoyed me, and it made them feel all the more real. Hendrix truly nailed the sibling dynamic in this book. It drives the story and supplies a lot of humor.

A favorite moment of mine is when Louise and Mark try to comfort each other after experiencing something horrific. Both believe they are comforting the other person, which dissolves into an I’m comforting you…No, I’m comforting you…kind of moment. While not the best example of their intense dynamic, it’s a moment that ticked me and stuck with me.  

Hendrix’s humor truly shines in this book, not only through Louise and Mark’s relationship, but also the complete hilarity that ensues in their individual experiences with the supernatural. Mark’s college experience with a puppet collective (yes, you read that right, a puppet collective) was hysterical. The puppet collective’s politically charged performance at an elementary school is something I will never forget.

Just as memorable as its humor, this book also has its moments of intense gore. I was fully forewarned of the gore by my partner, but I brushed it off thinking it couldn’t be that bad. Boy was I wrong. While there are gorier things out there, this book went from pg13 to nc17 right quick. This combined with the creepy atmosphere Hendrix creates around the house and its dolls/puppets, made for a thrilling read in the best way possible.

As entertaining as the horror elements were, what was even more interesting was the deeper message behind them. This book is very much about familial trauma and how it can affect different generations if it remains unaddressed. It is up to Louise and Mark to dig up the source of their trauma and, together, learn how it has affected them and how they can begin to heal from it.

If you are looking for a fun read, something to get you out of your reading slump and into the spooky season spirit, I cannot recommend How to Sell a Haunted House Enough.