A review by violetturtledove
Gallows Hill by Darcy Coates

dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I'm in two minds about this one because on one hand I enjoyed reading it and it kept me wanting to read on (and isn't that the important thing?) But there were also lots of bits that I found a bit silly and I can see how they would be off-putting to some readers. 

There's a bit of a mess of horror tropes - mysterious bells, spooky reflections, spiders - things that would be jump-scares in a horror film, so in a way it's like a cheesy horror film in book form. And as I'm a huge wuss when it comes to films, I did feel quite spooked, especially in the first half of the book. After that it got a bit less scary and focused more on solving the mystery.

The protagonist is also a bit of a horror movie type, easily spooked one moment and then shockingly brave the next (I think there's a thing where you're reading/ watching horror and because you know it's a horror you can't believe they don't just run at the first opportunity- of course in real life you probably would try to rationalise it more as Margot does here).

It was a lot more original than it seemed to be at first (there's some bits that sort of subvert some horror tropes, even if they're also very convenient for covering any plot hole), and while some of the final chapters made me groan, the ending was quite satisfying. It's at least one where everything is wrapped up neatly.

If you need to take your horror seriously this won't be for you, but it might suit you if you like a bit of silliness with your spookiness.