Take a photo of a barcode or cover
maryleong 's review for:
Gallows Hill
by Darcy Coates
Claustrophobic, unrelenting haunted house horror set at the award-winning Gallows Hill Winery, built atop former hanging grounds. The dead are restless – and they've come to torment Margot Hull, the latest in generations of Hulls to reside on the property. Sent away to live with her grandmother at a young age, Margot returns upon hearing of her parents' sudden death. Both heart attacks, the coroner said, but her first night at Gallows Hill makes it abundantly clear that darker forces are at work.
Banding together with a crew of plucky winery employees, a local witchy woman, and the best dog ever, Margot has to find a way to break the curse before it claims her life. While this novel doesn't do anything particularly innovative, the descriptions are incredibly vivid and drew me right in. There's something incredibly sinister about Margot hearing the perimeter bells go off, knowing the dead are here, then being chased around this massive empty mansion and cornered into empty rooms.
And the ending – whew! I've read a lot of haunted house novels, but this was probably one of the most visceral endings I've read in a long time. It's actually really understated compared to the rest of the novel, but so perfectly nauseating and unsettling. Overall, I enjoyed my first Darcy Coates novel, and can see her becoming a comfort horror mainstay.
Banding together with a crew of plucky winery employees, a local witchy woman, and the best dog ever, Margot has to find a way to break the curse before it claims her life. While this novel doesn't do anything particularly innovative, the descriptions are incredibly vivid and drew me right in. There's something incredibly sinister about Margot hearing the perimeter bells go off, knowing the dead are here, then being chased around this massive empty mansion and cornered into empty rooms.
And the ending – whew! I've read a lot of haunted house novels, but this was probably one of the most visceral endings I've read in a long time. It's actually really understated compared to the rest of the novel, but so perfectly nauseating and unsettling. Overall, I enjoyed my first Darcy Coates novel, and can see her becoming a comfort horror mainstay.