This was a really fun read! I am a fan of Hill House, so it was cool to read a modern retelling of sorts. It was sufficiently spooky and dreadful, as one hopes when reading a haunted house story. It did lag a little bit in the middle, and some of the playwright tropes/theater references went a bit over my head, but overall I was hooked from the beginning. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4!

The cover of this is one of my favorites of all time, the book? Not so much.

I honestly got into a huge book slump after reading this. It wasn't scary at all and it felt like it was 800 pages too long.

This was disappointing.

Don't open the door...hare else

Hand brilliantly executes this homage to Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House. With a cast of some what vaguely familiar characters renting out Hill House to prepare for an upcoming live reading of a play they all desperately need to see succeed. All hesitant to stay in the eerie house at first but before they know it the house has staked it's claim and it won't let go until it gets what it wants.

"There's defenitly something strange about Hill House, It's not what I thought it would be like. It knows we're here."

It's weird, it's eerie, it's chilling it's thrilling.

Scary? Eh not so much.

Don't get me wrong, your given the occasional jump scares here and there but the creepiness really shines through with the beautifully creepy atmospheric gothic descriptives Hand wrote on these pages. Which in turn immediately transports you to this haunted mansion in the middle of nowhere.

It felt cozy, yet unsettling all at the same time. And I loved every minute of it.

Thank you to Elizabeth Hand, @mulhollandbooks and @netgalley for the free advanced copy. I had the best time being back at Hill House.

So this book was interesting.....
I dont have much to say bc i have sooo many mixed feelings.
It had some weird moments, so creepy parts but it also had its dumb and annoying areas also.
I thought i was really gonna like this book and I wanted to but it was kinda a hard read for me.
Some parts bragged on and were slow for me and it made it hard for me to want to cont to read it. :(
The characters were really hard for me to like also. We have Holly (who had my name is it made me upset bc of how selfish she was in a lot of parts) and her girlfriend Nissa. Their relationship was odd and i was not fond of it either; just wait til you hear about it and some of the things Nissa says or does?!?!?!!? Their "friend", the other "older" actress and the other background characters, they all played such big roles in this book and it was a lot.
So there was dread and the house was creepy it had the spook fact, and honestly i was rooting for the house most of the time. Please don't come after me peeps. :)
The play was crazy and it had a lot of potential but it also felt like it was ripped off in some areas and idk.
This was just a hard book for me.....

Hopefully most of you are not like me and you all actually enjoy this book and it was better for you.
I feel bad bc i was given the opportunity to read this book (ARC) from the publisher and NetGalley. The above is my own review it is honest and voluntary.

What made Jackson’s original tale a masterpiece was the extent to which she conjured a truly convincing and haunting reality without crowding her canvas with the clichéd impedimenta of other ghost stories. Hand fails, therefore, to follow in her esteemed footsteps. So, a homage - and an undoubted page-turner - but not a work that rivals the stature of it’s inspiration.

Oof this was not a good successor to Shirley Jackson's classic. Derivative in all of the worst ways and I'm honestly disappointed it exists

A huge thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for gifting me a copy of this ARC!

I had the HIGHEST hopes for this book when I saw it was authorized to return to "Hill House." I'm a huge Shirley Jackson fan and think she is the queen of combining what I call "dread horror" with supernatural horror. I was a little disappointed overall with this book. It felt like maybe the easiest and most obvious way to return to Hill House, and it did not feel in line with what Jackson might have seen for the next chapter of this story. Overall, it was fine. Decent horror elements but A24 or Mike Flanagan won't be picking this one up anytime soon.

This book was okay. I found myself struggling to stay engaged and pushed through more than once when I contemplated DNFing. In the end, it was a so-so read for me.

Elizabeth Hand was granted the unenviable task of writing a spiritual sequel to Shirley Jackson’s legendary The Haunting of Hill House, and in my opinion she crushed it. A genuinely scary vision of Hill House, and one that somehow never feels burdened by the pressures of Jackson’s creation.

This was a bizarre take on the haunting of hill house. It was a convoluted twisty turny rendition of the story. While it was sufficiently eerie it was a little difficult to grab ahold of due to its disjointed storytelling. I liked it but wouldn’t read it again.

I had really high hopes for this book but it just felt flat to me. The setting was good, the premise was on point, and the characters were visible but also a little mysterious so it works with the book. I just can’t quite put my finger on what was missing for me. It’s a short read so I was able to get through it in a day.


Thank you publishers and @netgalley for this eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I absolutely loved this book. It was really well written and it was also surprising. Thank you for the arc. I really appreciate it.

A Haunting on a Hill is a chilling novel and I enjoyed my reading experience. While this book doesn't live up to The Haunting of Hill House (I'm not sure anything ever could), I found it to be rather creepy and foreboding. I recommend it to anyone looking for a spooky reading experience.

I got about half way thru this one and then DNFd it was so boring and I felt like it focused more on the characters drama than the house. Also I didn’t like any of the characters which made it so hard for me to get into. As a lover of the haunting of hill house I was so excited for this one, but maybe my expectations were set too high.

A revisiting of Shirley Jackson's classic featuring the haunted Hill House. Not much happens for the first three quarters of the book which was a disappointment.

Elizabeth Hand is a master of unease, and her sequel to Shirley Jackson’s 1959 gothic horror classic The Haunting of Hill House (the only one authorized by the late author’s estate) is an exhilarating, disturbing successor to the original.

In the wake of the COVID pandemic, a group of theatre artists undertake a self-imposed residency to work on a new play at an isolated mansion. The cast of characters includes a struggling playwright; her singer-songwriter girlfriend; a sound designer with a sordid history; and an older actress angling for a comeback. They all have things to hide, and their complex tangle of egos, ambitions, and secrets would make for compelling reading even if they weren’t staying in a haunted house. But almost immediately something uncanny begins to make its presence known, and things quickly escalate.

Hand has a gift for unsettling images that linger in the mind’s eye: a lipstick with tiny tooth marks at the tip, a tiny hidden door set into a wall, a black hare smiling with bloody red teeth. Familiarity with the original book’s sinister history enhances the experience, but readers new to Hill House won’t feel lost in the dark (though they may wish to read with all the lights on).

(Published in the print and online editions of BUST Magazine, winter 2024 issue)

A great, big, gigantic thank you to Mulholland for the opportunity to read and review this book!!!

Synopsis: head back to Shirley Jackson's famous Hill House in this eerie, authorized follow up to the classic. This book follows a playwright, Holly, close to her big break, in need of space to bring the vision of her new play to light. She and her girlfriend, Nisa, discover Hill House and are immediately drawn to its Gothic ornateness - it's the perfect place to rehearse the play. Holly and Nisa, along with two actors, rent Hill House for two weeks to rehearse, despite warnings from locals to leave. Soon, eerie things begin happening - strange creatures, unexplainable voices, disappearing doors... the house has awoken, and the group beings to find themselves at odds with the house itself.

Review: an authorized follow up to a Shirley Jackson novel?? YES, PLEASE! This book was simply perfect for fall/winter. It's creepy from the very start and Hand does an immaculate job of maintaining the mood throughout the book. It's reminiscent of the original in that the mood of the story and the paranoia of the characters form the majority of the scariness. It's a ghost story for people like me who don't usually like ghost stories (but love Shirley Jackson). If you're looking for something to curl up with, something haunting, something with Halloween or depth-of-winter vibes, you've found it.

Returning to the world of The Haunting of Hill House? Excitement doesn’t even begin to describe how I felt. This is set in the same world as Hill House, but I wouldn’t call it a sequel. It’s been years since I read the original novel, so I can’t comment on Easter eggs or make direct comparisons.

Holly is a struggling playwright who’s sure her current play will be her big break. She rents Hill House for two weeks so the cast (her girlfriend, best friend, and an experienced actress) can rehearse. The realtor, who also owns the house, tries to dissuade Holly from staying there, but Holly is adamant and the realtor takes her money. Warnings and odd happenings surround this group, but it wouldn’t be a horror story if they immediately gave up and left.

This novel had positives and negatives for me. I love the colorful, sinister cover. You just know bad things happen inside the house. I’m a sucker for a good haunted house story, and this one provides tense moments that make you skim through the paragraph because you’re anxious to see what happens. Or if you’re another kind of reader, maybe skim through the paragraph because you’re too terrified to read it. The author does a fantastic job with atmosphere and imagery – the use of candles, rooms and corridors that seem to spring up out of nowhere, the black hares that keep watch. I also liked that the housekeeper and handyman tell the group they never come to the house after dark.

The premise of actors gathering in a house to rehearse didn’t really grab me. It also didn’t help that none of them are particularly likeable, and I found myself rooting for the house. The original version where the characters are looking for evidence of supernatural activity appeals more to me, but that’s just personal preference.

The Haunting of Hill House is an iconic novel, and kudos to the author for having the courage to create a story set in the same world. Although this novel didn’t check all my boxes, reviews are mixed. Several reviewers mentioned the audiobook narrator is outstanding, and the sound effects add to the suspense.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Shirley Jackson is my favorite all time writer, so when I saw that Hill House was once again opening its doors, I jumped at the chance to read this! I was NOT disappointed! Eerie, spooky, and a fabulous tale! Elizabeth Hand's writing is just mesmerizing,! Thank you so much!

What an amazing story! I was so excited to see that the first title that was officially allowed to take place in the world of Hill House after Shirley Jackson was here! Who even knew such a thing was possible?