Customer Reviews

Homemade Haunting: A Novel

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4 star:		(3)
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A horror novel on the shelf of your local Christian bookstore? Not what you'd expect, unless you found Ted Dekker's section. Even less likely is a horror novel about a man writing a horror novel, but thanks to one of the most creative minds in fiction, that's what you'll find in Homemade Haunting.




Rob Stennett tells the story of Charlie, an English teacher who decides to take six months off from work to finish his dream--write a bestselling horror novel. But only a few weeks into the process, Charlie realizes that his draft isn't very scary. The problem? Charlie isn't scared and doesn't really believe in supernatural things. So to experience the eeriness that is necessary to write the suspense he needs, Charlie begins to sample occult practices.




First he tries a Ouija board, then a book of spells, and then finally ghost hunts. All of this is meant to be harmless fun in the name of research, but it soon turns serious as Charlie and his family are faced with evidence of another world within their home. It isn't long before Charlie realizes that his wife and kids' souls are at stake.




Homemade Haunting is a great novel. I was worried that it would essentially be a cautionary tale against dabbling in the occult, but it was far from preachy. There are Christians in the story that explain their abhorrence of the things Charlie is dabbling in, but they are realistic and never have words placed in their mouths. For the most part, Stennett just lets the characters react to situations that they create, and you can't ask for more from an author.




While this novel isn't as thick on the satire like his previous works, if you've enjoyed Stennett's past books, you'll love this engaging and sometimes creepy tale.

Not too bad. Definitely no Peretti but better and more believable than Dekkers' Adam which was just too over the top and like some action movie. This is what a real demonic haunting would be like. This is also a good warning against messing around with the occult. It convicted me a bit about some stuff.

1. The plot seems straight forward but there are some very interesting twists.

2. The pace is good and the writing is clever. I like the shout out to Peretti that the author gave by having the main character's English teacher named Mr. Peretti. Also, for those that don't know, they lived on Voorhees street. Jason Voorhees is the name of the hockey masked living dead killer in the Friday the 13th series.

3. I will say I was a little disappointed in the Blond hair and Blue eyed angel. I like how Peretti has his angels of all ethnic backgrounds and Randy Alcorn just has all of his angels look Middle Eastern.

4. The portrayal of Pentecostals in the story was interesting. Not too off the mark with some of the more overzealous demon hunters among us.

5. There was something very strange that I noticed. The main character kept mentioning the fact that his Christian neighbors wore designer jeans. This is a dead give away that this was writing by a Christian. I highly doubt an unbeliever would be so fixated on the fact that his Christian neighbors were trendy. Christians more than anyone else stereotype other Christians as being behind the times.

All in all, it's a pretty good book. The audio version had one major draw back, the voice actor, who is good, didn't set up the haunting and creepy atmosphere that he could have. He read this book as if it were any other fiction book. That was a let down. Still good though.

I won't summarize the story - that has already been done quite well by the other reviewers, but I
really enjoyed this book. It had the familiar Rob Stennett structure and idiosyncracies, i.e.
occasionally distracting, but always awesome footnotes. Mind you, they were only distracting because
I caught myself several times jumping ahead to the footnotes - which are often as entertaining as
the text.

While Homemade Haunting never had me gripped with fear, almost immediately I began to feel a sense of
unease as I read. Look how easy it is too dabble in seemingly harmless things for the advancement of
some goal - entertainment, career, etc. - and suddenly find circumstances beyond our control. We can
so easily invite things into our lives and our homes, that really ought never be there.

This was a very thought-provoking, entertaining book (only one careless Ricky Schroeder reference from 5 Stars), and I eagerly await his next project.

Rob Stennett's Homemade Haunting is a twisted thriller that will have you at the edge of your seat gripping your book so tight that your knuckles turn white. Though intense, it's peppered with hilarious moments that relieve your tension and gives you a chance to remind yourself to breathe. In this tale, Charlie Walker uproots his wife and two young children to pursue his dream of writing a horror novel. As a method writer, he digs too deep into the supernatural and the consequences of his decisions are tearing his family apart. With demons, angels and an epic battle between good and evil, Rob's funny yet suspenseful story has you gripped with fear and desperation hoping that it's not too late for Charlie to save his family.

Written so well that it paints vivid images in your head of Satan's barista, an angelic plumber, terrifying demons and Charlie's love for his wife and children. I highly recommend this captivating book about family, God, and the heaviness of dabbling in darkness but I warn you that you might be sleeping with the lights on and the doors bolted. A brilliant novel from Rob Stennett, yet again.

Title: HOMEMADE HAUNTING
Author: Rob Stennett
Publisher: Zondervan
March 2011
ISBN 978-0-310-33147-6
Genre: Fiction/Christian Suspense

Charlie Walker is certain that there is a book inside of him. It's just waiting to get out. So Charlie does what any other would-be author would do . . . he quits his job, sells his house, and uproots his family to move into a run-down rental place, "just for six months, so I can really concentrate on my book." One problem. Charlie's horror story . . . isn't scary.

Charlie is a student of the "method writing" movement. He figures that if he could only "experience" what he is wanting to write about, the writing will take care of itself. Thus begins Charlie's descent into a world that is best left undisturbed. A world where the supernatural is very real, very scary, and very, very dangerous. Beginning with what Charlie feels is an innocent purchase of a Ouija board, slowly his entire family is sucked into the vortex of evil that personifies Satan himself. The question remains. . . will Charlie live long enough to finish his book?

Rob Stennett writes a page-turner of a book, keeping the action moving and the suspense building, all the while offering spiritual wisdom that provides much food for thought, while making it easy to digest. Rob Stennett is very aware that the supernatural, and Satan, and God, and angels, and demons, are very real. He is also very aware of the way in which Satan first deceives his victims, and then destroys them. One quotation from the book (which I will be making a permanent part of my library,) continues to haunt me with its eternal truth: "if you want your family to be safe, you need to stop chasing the dark and you need to find a way to embrace the light." In light of the spiritual darkness in which this world seems to be immersed, these words shine a beacon of hope, which points unerringly toward the truth.

I recommend this book to those who are, or who knows someone who is, dabbling in the darkness, thinking that it's all a bunch of parlor tricks and party favors. It's time to wake up. This book could sound the needed wake-up call. This is an excellent book; the action grabs you from the first page, and the spiritual wisdom is presented in such a way that you find yourself learning without even realizing it. 284 pages. $14.99.

I think one of my issues with books is that I want to read great writing with a great story, but I want it to count for something in my life. As in, bring some kind of realization or encouragement or...

I think I struggle spending time on something (With something?) that may tickle my imagination's hunger but doesn't leave any healthy deposit in my heart when it's finished. And having a degree in Writing and Literature means I've read far too many books where I waited for something wonderful, and then realized something depressing and negative had taken root instead.

(Am I nuts? I don't think so.
No, I'm not nuts.
You totally know what I'm talking about, here.)

I want more from books that I read... which is probably why I'm so selective on what literature I let consume parts of my days... and why I'll flip between fiction and non-fiction. Fiction for the story, non-fiction for the deposit.

Then something comes along that is both.

When I began reading Homemade Haunting, Rob Stennett's third novel, I have to say I was a bit wary. I was excited, because I love Stennett's writing style... but the same question lingered, "There are so many things I should be giving my time and attention to... is this worth either?" (Besides, I'm kind of a weak-knees horror reader. Anything supernatural has a tendency to mess with me. I'm just sayin'.)

The way Stennett crafts his stories is exactly the way our brains flow. Thoughts interrupting thoughts. Explanations and interpretations breaking through the main event. So, reading Homemade Haunting is like reading your thoughts dictated onto the pages in front of you, making it easy to enter into the life of the characters... and dangerously difficult to put the book down. And Stennett's hits-you-before-you-know-it humor woven throughout makes the horror aspect of the book completely digestible for people like me. (Thanks, Rob.)

The glorious thing about a Stennett novel is the main characters are so... so Everyman. It could be you. It could be me. And the story develops as they give way to their flaws... our flaws. In Homemade Haunting, I watched as the main character, Charlie, so easily opens his family up to the influence of what every rational human being fears most: evil. I was upended at every literary turn thinking, "Oh, how could he? That could never be me. I would never..."

But, the reality is, we all make our own choices... that seem mostly okay at the time. We all open ourselves to something(s) in order to better ourselves... our career... our families. The issue is, what are we opening ourselves up to?
Or, what is it that we think we're opening ourselves up to? And what horrors lurk behind our false belief that we're in control? Stennett weaves his words in such an unassuming way that you don't even realize this book in so many aspects could be about you until you're almost done with it.

The deposit of self-examination, hidden between the pages of a great story. SO worth my time.

Bottom line: I'm hooked. I loved it and I'm hooked. You will be, too.

I read my first Stennett novel a few months ago, The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher: A Novel, and I knew I had potentially found an author worth my time. But, I'm not normally a love-at-first-site-girl... unless it's shoes.
I would definitely classify myself as a LIKE-at-first-site girl, but you've got to prove yourself for anything more.

Stennett has done exactly that.

His second book (remember, Homemade Haunting is his third), The End Is Now, has sat awaiting my attention since I unwrapped it Christmas morning. I think I'll go pick it up right... about...


*(This was also posted at [...] where you can find my thoughts on fashion, family, faith as well as the occasional silly picture. Because life is always better with a few silly pictures in the album.)

Ok this isn't your average Christian fiction book. It involves demons, ghosts, and Ouija boards. It's about spiritual warfare but it's done in a very tongue in cheek sorta way. Most Christian books just talk about living out your faith but don't really go into detail about when you really need to use it. This book actually shows that there are times when you need to actually practice what you preach and just saying the "right things" isn't always going to cut it.
The main character, Charlie, is an author who is trying to write a horror novel but feels that in order to write it correctly he has to experience things. So it all starts off with learning about the game "light as a feather, stiff as a board" then escalates to the Ouija board before the real demons start arriving. He begins to back off from all this but finds out that his wife, who he had initially roped into joining him, has become fully enveloped in the supernatural.

What I think works best for this book is the combination of spiritual warfare with humor. Stennett is a VERY funny writer and mixed in with the normally serious topic is footnotes where Charlie explains things to the reader or adds in his two bits. While the main story in itself has lots of funny moments, I really found the footnotes to be hilarious at times. The whole Bloody Mary sequence was a hoot because I've been to many a sleepover where we tried doing it and ended up scaring ourselves silly and unable to go to sleep.

This was a really great read and one that I have been recommending to other readers. It's done extremely well and actually is really quite scary. This is the type of speculative fiction that I enjoy reading. It shows how easy it is to slip into the "dark side" without even really knowing it. All it takes is the first step to enter worlds unknown. Pretty much the moral of the story is don't mess with things that you don't really know about. While I haven't read the rest of Stennett's books, I do own them so they will be making it up the ranks on my TBR pile soon. I really enjoy his style of writing in this book and I'm looking forward to enjoying more of it in the future.

A driven author takes six months, with his long-suffering wife's blessing, to write THE novel. Their entire world and future hinges on this novel. If Charlie could just have six months to produce this sure-to-be-exquisite and best-selling novel all of their dreams will come true. They will be able to escape the cheap, wood-paneled, mildew-scented rental. Charlie might be able to get his job back -- or maybe, just maybe -- they could live off the book --

Okay. Anyone who's attempted to write for money is already thinking....AUGH!!!! SCARY!!!!. But hold on...there's more. Charlie discovers he's a method writer...i.e. he feels the need to really "feel" what the characters feel, that way he can truly write what he knows. That's great except he writes horror. His family's upheaval, new schools, moving down, financial pressures, loss of friends/neighborhood give him great "food" for writing killer first chapters. But then his writing falls flat, right when it should be getting very interesting. Charlies' research leads him to dig a little deeper into the thrills and chills that he is wanting to translate onto the page. This gives ample opportunity for the reader of this story to mentally scream. "No! Charlie. Don't go into the BASEMENT!"

To crank up the tension a little more, Charlie doesn't really believe in the supernatural...any of it, ever since his mom died of cancer while he and his dad were at church lighting candles for her healing. So no God would let a little boy down, would ignore a little boy bargain for the life of his mother, right? So no god, no satan, no little green men...and Charlie is certain of that.

This book is not going to appeal to many readers. However, I loved it. But I love quirky or deep and a combination is the perfect storm. And this is the perfect storm. If you hate chick or lad lit, quirky or sarcastic you will probably want to stay far away. Class A Chickens will either want to avoid Home-Made Haunting outright or buy extra lightbulbs and a few packages of adult diapers. If you can't deal with the idea of a Christian label putting out a book that includes instructions on using an Ouija Board, or have qualms about the lost acting lost, you should probably not put it on your to read list. However. Fans of Ray Blackston or Michael Snyder should find plenty to appreciate. And horror fans. If you like your horror with a lot of humor, then you might want to look into it, too. The Christian aspects are fairly light as in there's not a lot of preaching. But spiritual content is pretty hefty as in it gives the reader some things to think about.

Rob Stennett has done it again with Homemade Haunting. As a writer, his prose is both poignant and hilarious. As a storyteller, he has a way of creating memorable characters in a milieu that totally catches you by surprise. If you're looking for a smart, funny and sometimes frightening book about the spiritual side of life, check it out. Just don't read it in the dark.

Reading any book by Rob Stennett is just plain enjoyable. He engages you in the story and takes you for a ride. If you have read his previous books you will not be disappointed with this one.

If you take yourself too seriously you might not like this book. I could also see some Christians veering away from a "horror story". I encourage you to not take yourself too seriously and know that Rob highlights things that might look silly but have a basis in reality. Enjoy the read and take God and the fact that there is a spiritual world seriously.