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jeremybearimy303 's review for:
A Haunting on the Hill
by Elizabeth Hand
This is a sequel to my favorite novel, written by someone other than the original author. Risky. And do I feel it quite lived up to the original? Perhaps not quite. But darn it’s good, and fun, and captivating. Highly, highly recommended.
First things first. I was completely captured by this book. I read it basically in two sittings. It’s exceedingly rare for me to say this, but I genuinely couldn’t put it down.
I won’t recount the story of Hill House, but the book The Haunting of Hill House is in my view the best contemporary horror novel, period. It has given birth to two movies, one pretty good and one terrible, and one TV show, which is good, but ultimately not really at all the same story.
This book does a wonderful job of capturing the feeling of Hill House, better than any of the other successors. It captures the psychological horror and the sheer oppressiveness of Jackson’s work far better than the others. It’s a little more cinematic than Jackson’s work, especially at the very end, which in this case is not necessarily a good thing. I think the ending is not quite equal to the rest of the book - the last chapter or two feel a bit abrupt and it feels like some of the recurring images and elements of the story aren’t really brought to conclusion.
More than any of the other works produced in its wake, this one feels like visiting the old haunted house again. And though I still prefer the original, it’s good to see that Hill House, not sane, has continued to stand.
First things first. I was completely captured by this book. I read it basically in two sittings. It’s exceedingly rare for me to say this, but I genuinely couldn’t put it down.
I won’t recount the story of Hill House, but the book The Haunting of Hill House is in my view the best contemporary horror novel, period. It has given birth to two movies, one pretty good and one terrible, and one TV show, which is good, but ultimately not really at all the same story.
This book does a wonderful job of capturing the feeling of Hill House, better than any of the other successors. It captures the psychological horror and the sheer oppressiveness of Jackson’s work far better than the others. It’s a little more cinematic than Jackson’s work, especially at the very end, which in this case is not necessarily a good thing. I think the ending is not quite equal to the rest of the book - the last chapter or two feel a bit abrupt and it feels like some of the recurring images and elements of the story aren’t really brought to conclusion.
More than any of the other works produced in its wake, this one feels like visiting the old haunted house again. And though I still prefer the original, it’s good to see that Hill House, not sane, has continued to stand.