By Opal Frazier Johnson (‘28)

The Haunting of Paynes Hollow

By Kelley Armstrong

Thursday, October 30 – Friday, November 14  

Rating: 4/5⭐

Images courtesy of Barnes & Noble and Penguin Random House Publishing

How did I find this book?

I found The Haunting of Paynes Hollow through Book of the Month, a monthly subscription service that picks around 5 books each month and allows you to choose one hardcover to get delivered to your house. Going into this book, I was excited because I’ve gotten other books from Book of the Month before, and I trust their book selections.

I really do recommend Book of the Month to anyone and everyone. It offers good quality hardcovers at much lower prices than normal, and it is a great gift idea for anyone going into the holiday season. If you’re a reader or just like pretty books, BOTM is definitely for you.

Summary & Overall Thoughts (Spoiler-Free!)

I might just be easily scared, but this book freaked me out a little. It is set in a lake house that Sam Payne inherited from her grandfather after his death. But, in order to actually get the house and the property around it, Sam needs to spend a month there (even though it is definitely haunted, but shh, she doesn’t know that). 

So much of the story and the tension that builds throughout the book is built on the idea of being alone in the woods in the dark, and this book plays into that (kind of niche) genre of isolationist horror perfectly.

Characters:

The main character is Samantha Payne, and she is accompanied by her aunt as she tries to earn her inheritance. Sam is trying to simultaneously get over the death of her father, who died at the lake house when she was a teen, and also get the money to save her mother, who needs to be in a care facility. These underlying motives make Sam a character that you can root for, and she is a very easy character to like and enjoy reading a story about. I wouldn’t say that there was anything special about the characters in this book, but there definitely wasn’t anything wrong with them. I liked all of the background characters a lot, and they were all really fleshed out. I didn’t feel like they were pushed aside in favor of the main story.

Setting:

The setting of the lake house surrounded by woods is such a perfect place for creepy stuff to start happening, and Kelley Armstrong sets everything up perfectly. Armstrong builds tension through the clause that her grandfather’s will that says that Sam can’t leave the property. The setting, along with Sam’s history there, makes for a perfect setting for a horror novel. 

Content Warnings:

• Murder 
• Gore 
• Horror 
• Animal death/abuse
• Stalking
• Firearms & other weapons

Spice Rating: 0/5