How to Sell a Haunted House
Forthcoming January 2023!
Every childhood home is haunted, and each of us are possessed by our parents.
When their parents die at the tail end of the coronavirus pandemic, Louise and Mark Joyner are devastated but nothing can prepare them for how bad things are about to get. The two siblings are almost totally estranged, and couldn’t be more different. Now, however, they don’t have a choice but to get along. The virus has passed, and both of them are facing bank accounts ravaged by the economic meltdown. Their one asset? Their childhood home. They need to get it on the market as soon as possible because they need the money. Yet before her parents died they taped newspaper over the mirrors and nailed shut the attic door.
Sometimes we feel like puppets, controlled by our upbringing and our genes. Sometimes we feel like our parents treat us like toys, or playthings, or even dolls. The past can ground us, teach us, and keep us safe. It can also trap us, and bind us, and suffocate the life out of us. As disturbing events stack up in the house, Louise and Mark have to learn that sometimes the only way to break away from the past, sometimes the only way to sell a haunted house, is to burn it all down.
Reviews
“A spirited nightmare story about death, but also, what comes after: grief, guilt, family secrets, and estate administration. Oh, also, did I mention the evil puppets?"Chuck Wendig, New York Times-bestselling author of The Book of Accidents
“It's tempting to point out the balance of horror and humor here, and the comingling of the two really is something else, but the true power behind How to Sell a Haunted House is in its emotionality, the sister-brother dynamic, the family matters. It's life and death in the childhood home, and Hendrix has masterfully rendered the journey from one end to the other.”Josh Malerman, New York Times bestselling author of Bird Box and Daphne
"A madcap fun house of a novel. Zigzags from hilarious to horrifying to heartbreaking and back again in the blink of an eye. I loved it!"Riley Sager, New York Times bestselling author of The House Across the Lake
“Take a deep breath before you start How to Sell A Haunted House, because you won’t be able to breathe until it’s over. Haunted spaces, creepy puppets, family secrets, and emotional trauma are all meticulously pieced together to create a story that won’t just get under your skin —it’ll tunnel down to your bones. This book is a missile designed to obliterate you emotionally and absolutely annihilate you with terror. And let me tell you, Grady Hendrix does not miss.”Mallory O’Meara, bestselling author of The Lady from the Black Lagoon
"With his trademark charm and ingenuity, Hendrix upends the haunted house story. Chilling, surprising, and at times downright frightening, How to Sell a Haunted House is ultimately about how we're all haunted by our families and the lengths to which we must go to make peace with the past."Alma Katsu, author of The Fervor and The Hunger