I loved this. After the Netflix show adaption became my favorite horror series to date, when I saw this book I knew I had to have it. We enter a new era of Hill House, set in present day, where a playwright, her singer girlfriend, and two actors travel to Hill House to perfect their new screenplay. While in the house, weird things happen, as they do in this universe. I thought the slow burn of events was perfection, the nods to the original, and the descriptions of the house were essential to this novel being nostalgic and wonderful but also fresh and new! Now all I need is Flanagan to create a Return to Hill House season of The Haunting!

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I think if I were rating this book in a vacuum it would be a 3 🌟- fine but forgettable. And I debated if I should do just that, but ultimately decided that if a book is going to explicitly put itself in conversation with Shirley Jackson, it is fair for me to evaluate it as such. This one pretty much evacuates the subtlety and subtext of the original and in doing so makes it way! less! scary! Ultimately, it just feels so banal, especially for a novel borrowing the prestige of a masterpiece.

This book, a follow up to Shirley Jackson’s seminal A HAUNTING AT HILL HOUSE finds playwright Holly stumbling across the manse. She rents it thinking it will be the perfect place to workshop her new play based on the true story of an alleged witch from the 1600s. She comes for a two week stay at the house accompanied by her partner, singer/songwriter Nisa who has modified old folk songs for the play, sound man/co-star Stevie who will be playing a demon dog and doyenne of the theatre scene Amanda who will play the lead.

Hill House, though, has been waiting.

So, it’s a tricky, tricky business to try to follow a classic. You are never going to do it better, right. And this author doesn’t. But she tries to follow Jackson’s lead by going for the slow burn, the dread. Little things go wrong, things that can be ignored, maybe, though they shouldn’t be, and then, before you know it, it’s too late. Well, except that’s not EXACTLY true here - unlike the original it’s clear that most of the worst results could have been avoided if only (as with so many horror books and movies) people would, for God’s sake, LISTEN to people once in a while, maybe?!

So, is this a worthy successor to HAUNTING? Of course not! But nothing was going to be. As a stand alone book, though, I liked it fine and would recommend it to those who like the genre….just don’t go in expecting the moon and stars.

The exposition felt a little long but once the main characters were in Hill House, I had a hard time putting this down! Definitely a great atmospheric read to get into the October/spooky spirit. The characters are all deeply flawed, but they keep you intrigued as to what they’re going to do next. I did not expect the ending but I did like the choice by Hand to wrap things up the way she did.

I had incredibly high hopes for this one, with it being an official revisiting of Shirley Jackson's Hill House. I can't say that I was disappointed, but I had hoped for a 5 star read and Elizabeth Hand didn't quite deliver that for me.

My actual rating is closer to 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 for the cover and the last 30% of the book that I read under the covers in the dark. The house itself was still creepy as all hell, and I do feel that Hand did an amazing job of taking me back to the scene of one of my favorite haunted houses. The sense of dread and foreboding was also on point, and I consider this one a page turner despite the complaints that I had with it.

My complaints are with the plot itself, and the characters. The story as it pertains to a playwright writing a play, and actors rehearsing it was just not my cup of tea. I don't like the theater and I feel like I was really beat over the head with it in this book. The characters also had no redeeming qualities and I despised them all. I hope people as awful as Nisa and Amanda Greer don't exist in real life.

Overall, check this one out if you like horror, haunted houses, page turners, ghosts, and theater.

**Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC and Mulholland Books for the physical ARC of this book!!**

Wow, wow, wow! This book was fantastic! I couldn't put it down. I loved the premise of a group of creatives workshopping a witchy new play, it was the perfect cast of characters to put in the "not-haunted" Hill House. This was a perfect book for spooky season and gave me the chills on several occasions! The scene in the nursery had my heart RACING! I think this is absolutely a worthy "sequel" to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House.

This is a worthy successor to the original classic. Ms. Hand uses her background in the performing arts very well to craft characters from a theatre background that are uncompromisingly real and then thrusts them into an extremely harrowing haunting. The characters may not be likeable but you will not be able to stop turning pages to see what happens to them. As always Ms. Hand's prose is beautiful and when needs to be repulsive. See the link for my full review!

Thank you Mulholland Books, NetGalley and Elizabeth Hand for an advanced copy.

Holly is a playwright who decides to rent Hill House to stay with a group of actors while they practice the play that she wrote. They start to experience strange things in the house and then a snowstorm arrives and things continue to go downhill.

The first half of the book dragged with so much discussion about the play and other plays in general. They also had all this drama with each other and I didn't understand how these people were friends or lovers??

I thought the house was creepy and felt like a character on its own. I wanted more creepy house. Things picked up in the second half of the book. I did like that each person had a backstory that they were haunted by and each chapter was short. The short chapters is what helped me to continue. What I found strange is you aren't told the POV for that chapter - you have to figure it out as you read. Holly was told in first person but the others were third person. I was able to figure it out but chapter titles would have helped!

I didn't read the original The Haunting of Hill House so I can't compare. There's definitely creepy elements, witches, some creepy black bunnies but if you're expecting a more scary story this isn't it. I wanted a little more from this.

I thought the atmosphere was spot on, eerie and haunting with moments where you are not sure what's really happening or if the house is just messing with its occupants. We start off a bit slower with those moments that could possibly be explained away, our characters slowly shifting the way they are behaving, becoming obsessed with finishing what they came to accomplish with the play. Then we get some larger more unexplainable things that shake our characters out of their stupor and make them see that they should leave... at least for a few moments until the house takes control once again. I would have loved it if this story were longer, and we got even more of everyone getting messed with in the house and more of those moments where we got glimpses of the past with Stevie's equipment.
I think my favorite characters were Stevie and Nissa. I loved Nissa's music and would love to be able to have heard it in the background while I was reading this story.
I have never read The Haunting of Hill House, but I thought this was an amazing compliment to the Netflix adaptation, and would love to see this on screen.

The Haunting on the Hill is a new book set in the world of Shirley Jackson’s Hill House. Holly is a play write who stumbles onto Hill House on accident and knew that she needed to rent it out to have her play practiced by the actors she chose. This group of actors is warned against staying in hill house but they don’t listen. They start to experience weird things and then a snow storm comes and things go downhill.

This book did not totally work for me. All of the characters are insufferable and so annoying. They were all so full of themselves and they had random drama between them for no reason. The horror parts were not very scary at all and I expected more from the scary part. This was not a bad book but I would've enjoyed it a lot more if the characters were more likeable and it was a bit more scary.

I know others have really liked this book so it might just be me. Thanks so much to netgalley and mulholland books for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I thought this was just okay. I felt like it dragged on a bit. But the ending was pretty wild. I have read better horror books.

Like it's source material, A Haunting on the Hill is an apparation; a gorgeously haunted tale rich in atmosphere and mood. Hill House has never felt more alive than in the hands of Elizabeth Hand. The setting, imagery, and psychological characterizations may be the closest we'll get to the ghost of Shirley Jackson. I admired the pacing, sense of foreboding, and building of dread. The core characters felt authentically flushed out even if the peripheral characters left little impression. The story would have been stronger had they been omitted and would have served to reinforce the sense of pyschological claustrophobia of the core inhabitants.
While I appreciate the slower pacing, it did drag in the middle at least for me. And while never hitting the highs of Jackson's original, it comes dangerously close. A Haunting on the Hill captures the spirit of Shrirley Jackson and does so with subtle flair. An admiral addition to the Hill House legacy.

For anyone longing for another walk down the lonely halls of Hill House, this will make a fine companion. Great for the waning days of summer and the beginning of spooky season. Keep a light on. Hill House is waiting.

I liked the idea and premise of the book however the characters and execution held it back for me. The chapters are written in different perspectives yet you don't know which perspectives you're reading in until a paragraph or two. Chapter titles would have helped tremendously!

A HAUNTING ON THE HILL by Elizabeth Hand was a fun entry into spooky season for me!

I am always fascinated by what compels a character to choose to stay in a house with odd happenings. Here is a reasonable and artistic scenario that made the story fun!

Holly is a playwright and brings together her partner and vocal powerhouse, Nisa, along with tech buddy Stevie, and a long admired actress Amanda to this house to practice her new play about a witch! There are bonkers red flags everywhere, including a crazy black hare and the ever present villagers who give the creepy vibes.

This was a great break for me from heavier books. I loved getting taken in by the atmosphere and tone of the story. This return to Hill House makes me want to pick up Jackson's original again! I didn't care as much for one aspect of the story, but that didn't lessen my overall enjoyment.

Thank you to @netgalley & @mulhollandbooks for letting me read this ARC and share my thoughts! Mark your calendars for October 3rd when this publishes; just in time for Halloween reading!

I was given an ARC of this from NetGalley.

So let me preface this by saying, I liked this book, but truthfully, none of the characters were very lovable. But it almost feels like that was the point. Everyone of us is flawed, then this group of, maybe slightly more flawed than your average person, friends and actors goes to this house which seems to bring out the worst in all of them.

The pacing at times was a little slow, and I wish we’d gotten a bit more back story on the house and what had happened or other occupants, yet at the same time, it feels as if the not knowing lends to the eeriness of it all.

I must say, I’ve been a bit underwhelmed by some of the horror novels I’ve read lately, they were good, but didn’t give me that dread feeling or really creep me out at all. While A Haunting on the Hill didn’t give me the exact creeped out feeling I’ve been chasing, it still unnerved me and has left me with an unsettled feeling that I won’t soon forget.

Just by the very familiar title alone you can get an idea on what this book is about but what’s really cool is this is the first-ever novel authorized to return to the world of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House and I felt obligated to read it as the main characters name is Holly (hi) and she is a screen writer so what does she do? She takes a HUGE risk and rents an old creepy manor for her up and coming play. Everything seems to be going well, until you know, the paranormal shit happens. I’m actually not a fan of The haunting of hill house but I did really want to give this new addition a chance and I really enjoyed it!

4.5 / 5 stars
I am a huge fan of A Haunting of Hill House - both the book and show, which are very different. As soon as I saw the return to Hill House, I knew I needed to read this book! I enjoyed getting to know this interesting cast of characters. Part of me wished we could have dug a little deeper into them, but understand the book is not exactly about them - its about the house. The suspense had me so excited and waiting for something crazy to happen. I wish there had been a little more action because it all came at the end (my watch actually went off during the last 15 minutes that said I needed to relax). I also would have loved there to be a little more history that the characters learned or more about Melissa, Evadne and Ainsley. Was this book perfect, no, but it was exactly what I feel like I have been missing in some of my more recent books.

First, thank you to Netgalley for an e-arc!

I love haunted houses and this one is a follow up to the haunting of hill house. Unfortunately, that was a lot for it to live up to and it didn't just hit it for me.

The audio narrator was DOING. THE. WORK though. Even SINGING several times. Go off, queen.

I am such a fan of Shirley Jackson's horror novel The Haunting of Hill House, I had to apply for an ARC of this novel when I saw it as an option. Elizabeth Hand does a wonderful job of helping to continue the eerie, haunting story of Hill House while giving it her own flair and bringing it into a modern setting. The characters are new but still feel a bit familiar. The House is the same and still up to so many of it's old tricks. We have four primary characters visiting the house with their own stories to tell and their own eccentricities. The two house keepers who won't stay after dark, and the building's history which has been expanded only slightly from the original tale but still leaves so much to the imagination. This was such a good read for the fall and Halloween season. I loved reentering this world and seeing this new author pick up a very similar thread Ms, Jackson left so many years ago. I will certainly be recommending this as a perfect read for the up-coming season. I found it nostalgic and well worth the time.

👻 A Haunting on the Hill - I got to 65% in the audio and thought to myself, why am I torturing myself listening to a book I really don’t like. That’s it, that’s my review. This one was not it for me. The house was creepy but the whole rehearsing for a play at the house was just a total miss for me.