I wanted to like this more. I'm a huge fan of the Jackson novel, but this felt derivative. Hand is a solid writer. I just feel that the the Hill House name constricted the story to hit similar beats.

Grateful for the opportunity to dive into the ARC of this book, though it didn't quite captivate me enough to reach the final page.

First of all, I think it is so cool that the author was granted permission to use Shirley Jackson's iconic Hill House as the setting of her new novel. And this cover is super cool!

Unfortunately though, for me this one fell flat. While I enjoyed the writing style and short chapters, I wanted the house to be more of a main focus, but it just seemed to sit in the background for the most part. I also found the characters to be self-centered and annoying. Most of all, I was expecting this to be at least a little creepy/scary, but sadly, I didn't find it to be.

Thank you @netgalley and @mulhollandbooks for the #gifted earc of this book!

In Elizabeth Hand’s “A Haunting on the Hill,” four individuals plan to live together for a few weeks in a creepy-looking and secluded mansion. Holly Sherwin, a playwright who is hoping to revive her career, invites her girlfriend, gifted singer Nisa Macari; Stevie Liddell, an actor and sound designer; and veteran actress Amanda Greer to workshop Holly’s play “Witching Night.” The play draws its inspiration from the tragedy of Elizabeth Sawyer, who was condemned and executed for being a witch. In Holly’s version, Sawyer retaliates and triumphs over her accusers. Nisa’s evocative vocals add flavor to the production, and Amanda is an expert at commanding an audience’s attention.

The agent who rents Hill House to Holly warns her to reconsider spending time in this cursed place, since tragic things have happened there. However, Holly hopes to use the house's eerie vibes to inspire her cast. For a while, the quartet makes the best of their shabby surroundings, but soon there are signs that something is seriously amiss. The residents are shaken by strange sights and mysterious voices that are difficult to dismiss as products of an overactive imagination. In addition, Holly, Nisa, Stevie, and Amanda all harbor secrets, anxieties, and petty jealousies that contribute to the fraught atmosphere.

The novel’s evocative and menacing mood are more impressive than Hand’s thinly developed plot. Furthermore, some readers may write off the book’s protagonists as reckless fools, since they could have left before the inevitable heavy snowstorm cuts off their escape route. Yet “A Haunting on the Hill” works, mostly because the author is a talented descriptive writer whose portrayal of Hill House is sinister and frightening, but never overdone. Those who are drawn to tales of psychological suspense and the supernatural may appreciate this imaginative homage to the great Shirley Jackson’s classic work, “The Haunting of Hill House.”

After stalled success as a playwright, Holly Sherwin has received a grant to develop her play, Witching Night.  With the help of her girlfriend, Nisa, who is contributing haunting, original vocals, her friend, Stevie, playing the Devil dog Tomasin and lending sound design as well as renowned actress Amanda Greer as her leading lady, Holly believes she had a hit.  When Holly stumbles across a gothic estate called Hill House in the remote Hillsdale, Holly believes it will be the perfect place to rehearse without interruption.  With the rental secure, Holly, Nisa, Stevie and Amanda excitedly begin rehearsals; however, no one seems to be getting along and everyone is experiencing strange and different things at Hill House. 

A Haunting on the Hill is a gothic horror that returns to the world of Shirley Jackson's Hill House.  A Haunting on the Hill offers a slower and gradual buildup of horror elements that creates a deep sense of foreboding as soon as Hill House is within view.  The characters and the play help create the tension that Hill House feeds off of. There are many parallels between the characters in Witching Night and the characters staying at Hill House, women who have been burdened with the blame of misfortune and are paying the price publicly. Hill House doesn't create a haunting in a typical way with ghosts and scary sounds or strange movements, but seems to play up the character's flaws and subconscious worries.  Holly's intense need for success creates a sense of necessity for Hill House and it's ambiance, Nisa's covetous nature creates a need for her to explore every nook and cranny of Hill House, Stevie's addiction issues cause him to become obsessed with parts of the house and Amanda's need for a positive comeback makes her ignore all of the warning signs of danger.  The horror aspects ramped up in the end for a satisfying ending.  

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.

A Haunting on the Hill is an atmospheric story with allusions to witches, familiars, demonic possession and ghosts. This is all takes place with a backdrop of Shirley Jackson's Hill House. For fans of Shirley Jackson, I suggest going into this book without any comparison. I think this book needs to be read without any kind of reliance on Shirley Jackson's book The Haunting of Hill House. This is not a retelling, in fact this is a story that pays homage to the book. A lot of the same elements are there and Hand does a great job of making little nods to the original story throughout the book. Honestly, I think that is the only way to go into A Haunting on the Hill without carrying unfair comparisons.

Play write, Holly, has gathered their partner, Nissa, their friends and actress Amanda Greer for a workshop in Hill House. Previously, Holly found an old script that told the tale of a woman accused of being a witch and executed. She works to rewrite it, using elements of the true story but making it modern. Holly convinces a realtor to rent the house to them for two weeks to prepare for the play. Like most stories with haunted houses, the group arrives at the house, is greeted by the housekeeper then divide into their own chosen rooms. From that point strange things start to happen that makes them question the house, their relationships, and even in some respect, what they are all experiencing.

I love a good paranormal story. I really enjoyed the atmosphere, the characters, and the backgrounds. The characters are very defined and have well written and developed backgrounds which really adds to the overall story. Hand also does a wonderful job of writing dialog. It is all natural and not put on to push the plot. I will admit it took a little while to get into the story. Once I had a grasp on the premise that Hand was creating for the story, I was fully engaged. The atmospheric nature of the story really kept me on the edge of my seat and propelled me through the book. The best part, is Hand writes the story as if the house is a character. It is a living breathing thing that plays it's own role in the entirety of the story.

Overall, this is a pretty solid book. It's creepy and spooky without being over the top scary. It's definitely one I will put on my personal shelf as well as at the library for our patrons.

Full Disclosure: I received an Advanced Reader's Copy of A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand from Mulholland Books via NetGalley.

A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand is set in Shirley Jackson's world of Hill House. You don't have to have read Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House or seen the TV show to enjoy this book. It's got legs enough to stand on its own. October was the perfect month to start this book. It is squarely in the spooky haunted house category of horror. The characters have gathered to rehearse and hone a play about a witch who sells her soul to the Devil to exact revenge on her enemies. I want to see that play. While the house may or may not be haunted, the characters certainly are haunted by demons of their pasts. Is that really what is at play here, and it just takes a creepy old mansion to ignite psychological breakdowns? Also, if locals tell you to take shelter elsewhere during a snow storm, take their advice!

This book should come with a soundtrack so you can listen to the music written for the play they are rehearsing. I imagine it would be quite haunting.

Bonus points for making hares absolutely terrifying. Move over, Bunnicula!

2.5 stars - I absolutely adore The Haunting of Hill House but this didn’t hit the spot for me.

The story is a modern return to Hill House in a post-pandemic world with a diverse theatre group, workshopping a new play.

The haunted house elements were a 5/5 to me, the author did creepy, vile Hill House justice and the hauntings were well crafted with nods to the original.

I just couldn’t get into any of the characters! I disliked all of them - not that I needs to like characters in order to enjoy a story (especially not in horror), but they were all so one-sided and uninteresting to me. In theory the play is an intriguing set up but I felt bored whenever it came up. The „townies“ read like caricatures, the story would have worked without them.

I liked revisiting Hill House but the storyline and characters were unfortunately a miss for me.

I'm a huge fan of Shirley Jackson's original Haunting of Hill House, and of creepy gothics in general. When I saw that Elizabeth Hand, who already has a few intriguing gothics under her belt, had been given permission to write the first new book set at Hill House, I had to read it.

Hand's Hill House pins the original's nonspecific geography to modern upstate New York, where playwright Holly and her girlfriend Nisa taking some time away from the city when Holly encounters the mansion. Hill House, in all its cadaverous and derelict glory, gives Holly the burst of inspiration that she needs to power through her writer's block and finish her play on time to meet her grant's deadline. They decide to rent Hill House for two weeks and invite the play's two stars, their close friend Stevie, and storied actress Amanda Greer, who hasn't appeared on stage since her last stage production ended in a tragic accident.

As in the original, Hill House is attended to by a couple, in this case the Libbys, who refuse to stay overnight, and the legends surrounding the house's dark history have grown to include both the events of Jackson's book as well as a later tragedy in the 1980s.

The theatrical group is both intrigued and repulsed by Hill House, but there is no denying that it brings out something exceptional in their performances. It's the perfect venue, they think, for the play, which is an adaptation of a 16th century play about a witch and the talking devil dog that serves as her familiar. They commit to stay, even as the caretakers, realtor, and a mysterious neighbor all tell them it would be safer to leave.

The haunt is creeping and atmospheric, with many of the same gorgeous gothic elements that Jackson relied on in the original. My only complaint is that there were several narrative threads, both relating to the characters' interpersonal drama and the haunting itself, that were never really explained or resolved.

That said, I'm impressed with Hand's approach to the classic haunted house story, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

‘A Haunting on the Hill’ by Elizabeth Hand was a great (& spooky) return to Hill House! I read this book SO FAST, it was creepy and ghostly, just how I wanted it. It would make Shirley Jackson proud.

Holly is a struggling playwright. She receives a grant to develop her play ‘Witching Hour’ and now all she needs is for it to come together. Stumbling upon the gorgeous Hill House, she thinks ‘this is it!’ Holly and the cast will live there together and work on creating her dream play in this eerie house. But the house has them descending into madness… 😱

While I was reading this I went down an internet rabbit hole. Do you know about the death watch beetle? Now I do and I’m better for it. Apparently the tapping sounds they make in the quiet nights is a harbinger of death. Cool.

Thank you @mulhollandbooks for this gifted copy, as well as @librofm for the audio. ‘A Haunting on the Hill’ will be out on October 3rd! Be sure to add this to your spooky stack!

Have you read any Shirley Jackson or watched the Hill House show on Netflix? I just loved that one!

🖤🖤🖤

This was an interesting take on The Haunting of Hill House but not for me. It was funny, nostalgic.. but bland. At the end I didn’t feel any horror or any kind of other feelings over this book. Kind of forgettable. The audio experience was fun, with sound effects and great narration.

Thank you Libro.fm and Mulholland books for my review copies.

Good atmospheric spooky read that rachets up the tension in a slow-burn take on Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House". The story centers around a group of actors who rent out Hill House to practice the play they are putting on. The cast of characters includes a creepy neighbor who warns them against renting the house and the housekeeper and cook, who inform them that they never stay after dark. Of course the group doesnt listen and despite various odd things that happen, continue to stay, despite the fact that a storm is coming, and the housekeeper warns that power will probably be out and they will be stranded. No worries, the group ignores the warnings and soldiers on. This is where the story becomes a little unbelievable. Odd things happening plus various warnings and they still don't leave. All in all a good read with a good creepy vibe, but not too scary where you wouldn't want to go to sleep at night. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced copy.

I’m sad because I was hoping to love this story but it was just an average read for me. The cover is gorgeous and it’s what drew me to this book. I still haven’t read The Haunting Of Hill House but I love the movie and series adaptations.

A Haunting on the Hill started out promising. The story felt eerie and I loved the descriptions of the house itself. The atmosphere felt sinister and I was excited to read about the experiences of this group of people in this creepy house. However, it seemed that not much happened for most of the story. There are chilling moments and weird hares running around, but I got pretty bored while reading this book. The pacing picked up towards the end, but I wasn’t a fan of the ending.

I would recommend this book to lovers of slower-paced gothic fiction. I tend to like faster-paced horror books, so this one just wasn’t for me. I did like Hand’s writing so I might eventually read one of her other books.

3/5 stars

This is the version of Hill House that I've always wanted! Spooky, eerie, and just wonderful all around. Perfect for spooky season, and honestly perfect for all the time. I thoroughly enjoyed being spooked by this book. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a digital ARC of this book.

Maybe we don’t need to rework everything.

I’m generally skeptical of novels based on a return to a story written by a different author; but I had some hope for this one because it was authorized by Shirley Jackson’s estate. Alas, Hill House should have been left alone.

Tonally and atmospherically this has nothing in common with the original. It isn’t scary, it creates no sense of menace, it has no solid sense of place. The only thing bordering on remotely creepy was the caretaker, who quickly becomes superfluous to the story. The “horror” element mostly manifests in a series of suddenly appearing black hares, which elicit more pity than terror.

The characters were unlikable, and not in a fun tropey horror story way. Just a bunch of narcissistic theater nerds bickering about the goofy play they want to stage and are nonsensically rehearsing at Hill House. That, along with the rest of the setup for placing the characters at Hill House, was pretty contrived, and the whole thing reads more like a domestic thriller than horror or gothic horror. And there’s very little action until the last handful of chapters, but not in that eerie, slow build way that marks out good gothic horror.

Elizabeth Hand is a solid writer and I’ve enjoyed several of her other books, but this is one you should pass on. Reread the original instead, or try one of the many other good quality haunted house trope novels out there.

Absolute must read for fans of the original work. The house that feeds off of the trauma and insecurities of the inhabitants had an all you can eat buffet with the characters in this book. I went between the physical copy and the audiobook because the audiobook included audio extras ( songs, atmospheric noises, etc.) Thank you to NetGalley and Mulholland Books for an advanced copy for review.

Thank you to @netgalley & @mulhollandbooks for a copy of this book! Was a perfect addition to my spooky season TBR!

One of my favorite novels was The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. It was a different kind of Gothic ghost story that just gave me the chills in all the best ways.

In this novel, we revisit Hill House in the modern day. Holly has updated an old play about Witches, and after stumbling upon Hill House, she is absolutely enthralled with the place.

Holly, her girlfriend Nisa, and two more actors decide to rent Hill House for a few weeks to have a space to reverse their play, despite warnings from the current owner, the woman who maintains the house, and the woman who lives on the property to keep an eye on things.

Almost as soon as they settle in, unexplained things begin to happen. From people passing out, wine stains that don't go away, to cold spots in nurseys, strange pictures in the wood, and a little door behind a dresser. Is it the house, Nisa 's ethereal voice singing dark songs for the play, or the story of the witches they are acting out adding to the unease.

Told in the third person, you travel from person to person to see what they get up to, what they are feeling, and what they encounter while on their own.

Hand does a spectacular job of capturing Hill House from Shirley Jackson's original novel. She nails the increasing anxiety of the characters and the dizzying crescendo of knowing something is going to happen, but you don't know quite what it will be.

I absolutely loved this visit back to Hill House, but it confirms that this is one house I'd never truly want to stay in myself.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️✨️

You can tell just by reading this book that it was a book written with love and attention to detail. Readers have been obsessed with Hill House since its inception and for any writer to successfully take readers back into its clutches, the story would have to be new and unique. Hand delivers on the perfect premise for a return; a struggling playwright, a struggling songwriter and not one but Two actors struggling to deal with their pasts are looking for a chance to rehearse and plan the big comeback play, about a witch no less. If you can’t see all the desperation held in that sentence, Hill House can definitely smell it and of course it will use it to get what it wants. What unfolds in the pages is creepy, dark, and unimaginable but that’s exactly why I pick books like this. I loved the small details that touch back to the original work and the characters feel like they were perfectly created for this twisted world. This is a perfect spooky season book.

At its best, "A Haunting on a Hill" somewhat evokes the subtle, psychologically unnerving impact of Shirley Jackson's original prose, as the house preys on its inhabitants' innermost fears and repressed desires. However, while "Hill House" is a masterwork in part due to its use of the Gothic to interrogate the monstrous feminine and gendered disassociation, I was disappointed that the first officially authorized "Hill House" "sequel" didn't take the opportunity to mine this legacy in a queer sense nearly as much as I was hoping. I think I might have enjoyed what this book wants to say about artistry and identity more if it had been a wholly original work.

I’m not usually a fan of supernatural horror stories but you have to read at least one during the witchy season, right? A Haunting on the Hill by Elizabeth Hand really fits the bill. Holly, a playwright, rents an old mansion and invites the cast of her new play to join her there for a couple of weeks to practice/work on the play. Weird things begin to happen almost immediately but Holly is determined to see this through for the sake of the play.

The story is sufficiently spooky with the required witches, ghost and demons. Told from several points of view with short chapters and believable characters, this is a creepy, fast, and entertaining read. Fans of psychological/haunted horror stories will not want to miss this one.
Spooky reading everyone!