Savannah Watson

As an introvert, it sometimes takes me a while to come out of my shell and warm up to people. It probably makes me seem unpleasant or unapproachable sometimes, but it’s not that… it’s just that social anxiety is a bitch. But there are some things that can expedite the warming-up process; books are absolutely one of them. And that’s exactly how I bonded with one of my coworkers. When I first started at my job, my coworker across the hall and I started talking books, and now it’s something we do regularly. We recently ended up on the topic of horror novels and exchanged books – I lent him The Haunting of Hill House, and he lent me The Haunting on the Hill.

The Haunting on the Hill was written by Elizabeth Hand and published in 2023. The story takes place in Hill House, an old mansion with a history of strange occurrences – first brought to life by Shirley Jackson’s novel The Haunting of Hill House, published in 1959. Just like in the original story, four people meet to stay at Hill House together, where they experience strange, unsettling, and dangerous situations. They try to find rational ways to explain things, but some find themselves more susceptible to the influence of the house than others.

This was the first modern horror I have read, so I found modern references to be slightly jarring yet amusing in the same way I found the modern references in Welcome to the Hyunam-Dong Bookshop. I enjoyed the fact that this book was a modernized retelling of sorts of the original story. However, while the original story was more of a slow burn, with the horror elements not becoming obvious until almost the end and relying more on psychological horror, The Haunting on the Hill introduces the horror elements early on and uses more direct horror in the form of the house and creepy black hares. And true to the original, The Haunting on the Hill establishes the influence of the house on the characters through angry outbursts, losing track of time, and obsessing over the house.

As this was building off of the history of the original novel, I really appreciated the subtle references to the original story. There are direct quotes from the previous story, as well as the ending of The Haunting on the Hill being a word-for-word reflection of the ending of The Haunting of Hill House. But without having read the original, it would be easy to miss the references. I also thought the shifting perspectives was clever; not only does it allow the reader insight into every character’s thoughts, feelings, and motivations, but it also gives a bit of an off-kilter feeling as you jump from perspective to perspective – especially going from first person when following Holly to third person when following everyone else.

The only “downside” for me was that I didn’t find any of the characters particularly likable. Their relationships with one another felt disingenuous, and I thought they were shallow and motivated by their own selfish gains. They each had some kind of tragic backstory, which gave them a hint of depth, but I felt like those were only included to be used for the scare factor or to be referenced more in passing than anything.

I would recommend The Haunting on the Hill. It is a clever, well-written horror novel; although, I would also suggest reading the original The Haunting of Hill House before reading The Haunting on the Hill so you can fully appreciate the connections and references between the two stories. Overall, it was an enjoyable read for those who enjoy psychological horror!

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