Haunt Sweet Home

May 1, 2024

Twentysomething Mara starts a new job as the night-shift production assistant on a reality TV show that's part ghost hunt and part home makeover. She manufactures harmless scares for the show, but unnervingly real incidents begin to occur. The latest from Hugo and Nebula Award-winning Pinsker (Lost Places) receives a 100K-copy first printing. Prepub Alert.

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Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from August 1, 2024
Mara is seen as a family dropout, always quitting, never committing--unlike her cousin Jeremy, a once model who now hosts a home-renovation show focusing on houses that might be haunted. He hires her as the show's new night production assistant, which she soon learns involves a lot of setting up fog machines, recordings, and other fake scares to freak out each episode's new homeowners. It's silly, but it's well within her range of skills, and she finds she actually likes the gig, strange and exhausting though it might be. At least until things start going sideways at their latest job. Is someone else messing with her fake hauntings? Or has a real ghost entered stage right? This novella from Pinsker (Lost Places, 2023) is fun, eerie, and campy. Mara is a solid protagonist, people pleasing, constantly feeling invisible, and trying to make herself useful instead of ignored. The ultimate ghost story is unexpectedly beautiful. Fans of HGTV will be entertained by the twist on home-renovation classics, but most fantasy fans will enjoy this soft-horror tale of haunting that ultimately centers on a young girl just hoping to be appreciated for once.

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January 31, 2025

Mara is failing community college, failing her family, and just generally failing at life when her cousin offers her a production assistant position on his reality TV show, Haunt Sweet Home. Of course, in typical Mara fashion, she drags her feet until it is too late, but jumps at a fortuitous second chance. As the night shift PA, it's Mara's job to set the stage for the spooky occurrences that happen throughout the day. Soon, however, there are haunted happenings that aren't her doing, and Mara begins to wonder who is really controlling this paranormal production. Pinsker crafts a short, somewhat ineffectual, paranormal fiction. Though it ends with a good ghost plot, the exposition fails to build any anticipation or engagement. Episode transcripts interspersed throughout the story are an engaging way to combat the staleness of the slow-going narrative. Aimed at adults, this story is appropriate for YA readers; there is sparing use of expletives and no sexual content. VERDICT This haunting story may appeal to readers seeking a short, spooky paranormal fiction that is light on adrenaline or suspense, but is an optional purchase for most YA collections.-Lauren Hackert

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