This is my second book by Grady Hendrix; the first one I’ve read was ‘Witchcraft of Wayward Girls’ whilst that book was beautifully written it wasn’t the horror I was expecting. With this one I had that feeling, this one was going to be a nightmare and I was right. – nightmare in a good way, hmm –

It’s the sixth book in my 10 before the end challenge, so I’ve just gone over the halfway mark. This book is called ‘How to sell a haunted house’ and it’s amazing and scary; So, it checked all the boxes I wanted to be checked.

When Louise finished college, she stayed in the city instead of moving back to Charlestown and her family. It was one of the reasons she stayed, to not be close to her parents who always doted more on her brother. Of all the things Louise achieved, her mother always warned not to outshine her brother; “I am so proud of you, I just can’t put that trophy on display, it might upset your brother’s feelings.” It was always about Mark’s bloody feelings; after he acted out long enough his dad finally accepted to pay for his college fees at BU and he dropped out within the first months!

Louise always had her stuff together; always well organized and making her own money. When her phone rang, she didn’t expect it to be Mark, they hadn’t talked in years, what could he possibly want? The phone-call was short lived and shocked Louise to the core. Her parents had a car accident, they both died. Making arrangements for her own daughter Louise steps on a plane home.

So, half of this book is story building and leading up to the main event. When something awful happens, her family tends to erase it from their memory. If they don’t talk about it, it didn’t happen. Louise’s mother was a puppeteer, making puppets and having a wide collection of dolls in their house. The one puppet that was most dear to her mother was Pupkin; it was a puppet her mother had when she was little and still talked to in her adult life when things got hard or she was sad. Pupkin was handed to Louise when she was little and God-awful things started happening. Louise could hear Pupkin talk to her in her head making her do things, if she didn’t do them Pupkin would punish her. When Louise got to scared of this puppet she buried him in the yard, but he wasn’t buried for long.

When Mark was in his teens and flunking out of BU and joining a puppeteer group, he asked his mother to ship Pupkin over. His group instantly like Pupkin but to all good things come an end as they say.

Back to the present; Mark inherited it all and it made Louise so mad! The first thing Mark wanted to do was hire someone to clear out the house but Louise wouldn’t have it. Their whole lives were in that house, that of their parents. You can’t just let someone throw everything in the trash. But stepping in that house wasn’t the best idea because if there ever was a haunted house; this one would take the crown. Hundreds of dolls, her mom’s workroom filled with puppets; finished and unfinished, a taxidermy squirrel family and an imaginary dog.

You know that nightmare every kid has? The one where they dream a normal dream and then out of nowhere, their doll of stuffy comes to live and does some horrible things?! Yeah, this book is that nightmare and then some.

I’m giving this book ⭐⭐⭐⭐.5 stars!