Review--The Haunting of Paynes Hollow by Kelley Armstrong

 

From New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong comes a nail-biting supernatural horror about a haunted lakeside property and twisted family secrets.

When Samantha Payne’s grandfather dies, she figures she won’t even get a mention in the will. After all, she hasn’t seen him in fourteen years, not since her father took his own life after being accused of murdering a child at their lakefront cottage. Her grandfather always insisted her father was innocent, despite Sam having caught him burying the child’s body, his clothing streaked with blood.

But when she does attend the reading of the will at the behest of her aunt, she discovers that her grandfather left her the very valuable lakefront property where the family cottage sits. There’s one catch: Sam needs to stay in the cottage for a month. To finally face the fact she was wrong and her father was innocent, in her grandfather's words.

Traveling to Paynes Hollow, Sam is faced with the realities of her childhood and the secrets kept hidden in the shadows of her memories. When her aunt goes missing a couple days into their stay, Sam begins to question everything again. Plagued by nightmares and paranoia, she begins hearing sounds in the forest and seeing shapes crawling from the water as the rippling waves of the lake promise something unspeakably dark lurking just below their surface.

I have finally picked up Kelley Armstrong's The Haunting of Paynes Hollow and wow! What a read! This is absolutely perfect for this time of year...or really any time of year if you are like me! It was perfectly spooky and eerie and gave me chills in trying to piece together this bizarre mystery! It was fantastic!

Sam has had it rough the last couple of years. She had to give up going to med school in order to take care of her mother who has early onset dementia and the cost of her care is almost too much to handle, but she gets by the best she can and takes on low paying jobs just to make sure her mother can get the care and treatments she needs. Then on the day she learns her grandfather dies, she goes to the funeral more at her aunt's behest and is then dragged to the hearing of his will as her grandfather was a cranky sort and said no one could get anything unless she was there and since she loves her aunt dearly, she goes.

Much to her shock she learns her grandfather left her the summer estate of Paynes Hollow. This new isn't taken well by her uncle and cousin, but if she manages to stay on the property for 1 month she would inherit it and it's worth around ten million dollars, so you can imagine her desire to take on her grandfather's bizarre caveat.

Like with any family, there are secrets, but the ones in Sam's family run pretty dark. And soon the past comes back to haunt her when she comes back to where she spent many childhood summers. Memories, both painful and happy plague her and it's not long before the spooky stuff starts happening...at night...naturally!

This book was pretty creepy! I love a book that is more creepy and eerie than straight up horrifying! There's something to be said about leaving one's imagination to go wild when presented with certain facts or scenarios! And my mind was whirling with all the creepy vibes in this one! There is a certain Sleepy Hollow vibe going on this one and the story gets mentioned as well in a vague sort of way but still connecting itself to the main plot.

I don't want to get into too much detail, even with a year old book, lol. Needless to say that many creepy things happen in this one and it was very mysterious as well. I love the mix of creepy and mysterious as there are so many more possibilities to be had with that combination. This is book that will keep you guessing and craving for answers, much like Sam.

This is a standalone, so while the ending may not be totally expected, I feel like it was a right fit for the genre! What you want to categorized this ending as is your call though, but I was 110% satisfied! As I naturally am with any Kelley Armstrong novel!

If you're looking for a good creepy read this fall, Halloween, or any time of the year, be sure to add this one to the mix! The Haunting of Paynes Hollow is just the right kind of creepy and is a book that you will want to devour whole!

Overall Rating 5/5 stars